Show MID sill SHIP ff ING SANDS S facts about the famous fanous death valley CUTOUT FOR berr ISS MED Folit solitudes olito udes unredeemed bj by any signs ufa lira of f Ilk animal linal san francisco chronicle for all undertakings of the in magnitude 1 of that embraced in the project of Pr prior professor for merriam of brejt th the agricultural department for tho the exploration of the so called death valley and portions of the great mohave desert there ia is a singular lack of definite information concerning the territory to be evere covered by the expedition in the possession of the p public u alic death valley has bas it ia is true been the theme of almost innumerable newspaper articles but in most cases the writers of the articles have confined themselves to descriptions of the climatic horrors of there the re gion and added but little extra data to the common stock of knowledge on the subject and us as to the barren area to the north south east and west of death valley rall e y known variously as the colorado Alo mohave have or nevada deserts the obtainable information is of alike a like scanty nature when it comes to a question tion of dealing with actual facca until railroads penetrated a portion of the region there was very little known of the territory even by those living in its borders beyond what was to be gleaned from reports of ge geological logical survey and the records of individual experience peri ence and research in the desert was waste te general fremont in his expedition to tah coast in the forties traversed a part of the region and ana gave a narrative of some of bis his experience but even his his report was lacking in in many particulars concerning which the reading public would have liked to be informed the building of the railroads contributed somewhat to an increase of knowledge of the subject but there is much yet to be learned perhaps the beet beat account of the deserts of southeastern california and western nevada which has been published best because it purports to deal with accurate in information is that contained in whitneys Whit geological survey of california in chapter II 11 section 3 of this work the author bays says 11 1 A vast region of desert and m mountain extends over the southeastern portion of california it comprises all that region lying to the northeast of the san gabriel san bernardino and san jacinto mountains and exten extending to the colorado liver siver which forms the ecith irta boundary odthe of the state while it is limited on thu the northwest by the range of the sierra nevada as it curves round to meet the he coast ranges thia this region is s in in intimate connection with the great basin or the region lying chiefly in neva neada da and utah which has no drainage into the sea A large part of the great basin in in california has been hardly e explored x at all as yet and the topography of the most of it is as li little atle known in its details as if it lay in the heart of the continent the whitney survey was begun in 1860 and the report ot of the work was pubis published hed in eo it will be seen that the director of the undertaking wrote for the readers of years ago but what he eaid said then applies practically to the situation today to day mr whitney continues the shape of the great basin forming the southeastern corner of the state of california is nearly rectangular the state boundary on the east being about parallel with the ranges of mountains which bound it on the west and separate it from the region traversed by streams flowing into the pacific the Ca lorado on the cast is also approximately parallel with the ra range forming the southern termination mi of the sierras As thus limited the district would be about miles long from northwest to southeast and miles broad in the other direction making an area of not less than square miles or a territory three times as large as the state of maryland nearly all of which is comprised in san bernardino county ll 11 tho the whole of this region may pro properly perly be called a desert as far as its being suited for the residence of a civilized population is concerned cern ed yet it is not entirely destitute of those resources which can be made available for the support of life when one is driven to do so by necessity or by the desire of making money at present there are no permanent settlements settle menta of any considerable size size in this part of the tile state after devoting considerable space to the results of governmental and railway exploration of the mountain passes of tho the region and the geology and geography of the famous mohave trail mr whit ney refers to death valley as follows tho the amargoso river rises far to the north in nevada among utterly unknown and unexplored regions and flows northward brosi i ing ng the boundary line between C california I 1 and nevada in about longitude of course being like all other rivers in this region rather a channel ia which a river river might run than one in which it does in about latitude it makes a great bend northward for about thirty milea mile and then enters death valley which is in fact the eink sink of this river this river is one of the most interesting features of the topo topography by of the state as it is beyond a doubt depressed below the level of the sea and the only area on this continent at any considerable distance from the coast which is thus depressed the valley is entirely surrounded by very h high h verl and precipitous mountains having vig the Am aragosa range on tho the eust east and und the panamint mountains on the west it is eaid said to be from eig eight ht to ten miles in width and from thirty five to forty miles in length it ft lies in a direction parallel pral I 1 with the mountain chains I 1 in th this region or about east I 1 south west the formations surrounding death valley are described aa as being to a large extent volcanic obsidian being noticed in abundance on the west slope of the A amargoso amargosa marg osa the whole aspect of t the he valley ile i is 0 one of the utmost desolation the h e mountains surrounding it are naked arid of dark color and of imposing grandeur r andeer 1 of form the valley ilsc itself afi is a sort of marsh in the winter at least toward the center it is covered with a white efflorescence of alkali from which the rays of the sun are reflected with such power as almost to blind the eyes the name ominous of evil is said to have originated from the fact that a party of emigrants perished here from thirst and starvation as early as 1849 in this connection mr whitney v quotes from a report from dr J it ft N owen to the commissioners of the united states and california boundary survey dated april aril 15 1861 to the effect that dr owen eleven years subsequent to the tragedy followed the tracks of the emigrant wagon wheels for a long distance and camping at the last resting place of the party found its fires and wagons perfectly pro served from this he argues that but little if any rain had fallen in in the valley since the company had attempted to make ita way through the in inhospitable lopit a 1 I y region e g on k speaking pe kin g of b barometrical ronie i cical observations vat ion s ta taken en i in the be 1 valley I ley by the united states and california Bound boundary arX commission and which at the time lime were the only onea ones that had bad ever been taken mr whitney says they were but few in number and aud that although they would have indicated a depression of the valley below the sea as probable they would not have been sufficient to make it certain had there not been a stationary baro roeler meter observed at the time at no great distance and at a point whose height was pretty accurately known mal major or then lieutenant williamson Will lamson ot of the army who investigated vesti gated and computed the observations r ions came to the final conclusion that death valley is certainly over JOO feet below the sea level and that it may be as much as feet below the mean of all the observations giving aj as the approximate aroxi in ate result feet mr Wb whitney itney commenting on this says it may bo be noticed that the death valley depression ii is in the same latitude as the very highest elevations on the continent or anast the highest masa mass of mountains of which there is knowledge in north america only sixty miles due west from the north end of the valley the culminating points of the tile sierra nevadas rise to the height of feet above the sea and feet above the intervening ter plain of owens valley from death valley to owens valley continues mr whitneys Whit description the distance in a straight line is about fifty milea miles and there appear to be three paral lei lel ranges of mountains running in a north northwest west southeast sou theart course through the region with narrow valleys between the panamint mountains extend for miles or more from far in the north toward the sink of the Alo mohave have terminating mina ting before crossing the salt lake trail these form tho western border of death valley and of their geology little is known except that chat the rocks are crystalline and metamorphic baner bancroft 0 ft in his history of the pacific states speaks of death valley as a depression of death one of the dry sand lakes in the region through which passes the old trail from salt lake to los Au angeles geles a spot seemingly accursed forty miles long by twenty broad and surrounded except at two points by steep mountains wonderful things are said of it namely that it is far below the level of the sea that it never rains there and is totally devoid of mois ture that nothing grows there no not oven even sage brush that it is inhabited on only y by horned rattlesnakes and scorpions and that tha the shadow of a bird or wild beast never darkens its ts white glaring sands the quietude of death must indeed ba present present if it be bb true as stated that the he wagon tracks of a party which perished there in 1848 are ap paretic latently larent ly aa fresh and distinct now as is the day ay they were made in the new years issue of the appeared this description of the desert region of south eastern california including death valley beyond tho the taker lake bear vahey valley reservoir however lies the dehert in all its desolation and grandeur grin deur one can trace it far to tha ha west and then to the eastward ita its barnin burning 9 sands stretch away to 10 tie the colorado do river far aag off on the eastern horizon are the faintly outlined summits of mountains which the guide acquainted with tha ha whole region pronounces em to be a range on the other side of the river in arizona to the north tho the desert is bounded by other mountains their sides desolate forbidding turning to the east and southeast tia colorado desert cornea comes into view down there in that broad valley beginning at the base of tho the tain on which we stand ais is a sink hundreds of feet below the level of the sea there the heat beat raches reaches the highest point known on hiis continent any and yet whilo while we are we looking into these depths we are perchance standing on a snow unk lunk a score or bore more feet in bath down there are the bad lands with their tales of mirace lous wealth which have lured more than one man to destruction and im one gazes into those desert depths all tho the tales of suffering iri ITi and death from ion don and thirst that aro are so frequently told in this region come vividly to mind the desolation the drearr lesa iese of it all is yet it las ins a weirdly fascinating effle effect ct ind as one looks on this awful of sand and rock with no green treen thing no living creature no evidence ivi dence of the presence of man in ill 1 those hundreds of miles he acquires ic new ideas of the tremendous forces of na crand of the utter insignificance of the human worm the indian tribes of the region ordering bordering upon the great desert have lave a tradition that the immense waste was once entirely covered by water and find then only the highest mountain peaks wera were inhabited they also tell of a period when all the tho people in the world were drowned except a couple who were man and wife and who took refu refuge ge on the loftiest loft iest mountain summit until the waters subsided from that couple according to poor lo 10 sit U the nations of the earth live descended death valley is located on the naps maps in inyo county cal and nye canty nev it being mostly within this state and merely a ale slender ler tongue of it reaching up to nevada the exploring expedition under charge of professor merriam will not coti confine fine its investigations tu to death valley alone but will explore nearly the entire california Dali fornia desert region efte extending alil i ll 11 its operations to kern inyo y 0 tulare and san bernardino c counties ou n in this state and nye N ye county nev there are other square miles of territory 6 to ba be explored an attempt willbe made to finish the work in death valley during the winter months in order lo 10 avoid tho the terrible heat beat of sum mer in that desert furnace it is clammed that a temperature of begs in the shade has been registered in the valley during the hot season season and no one will venture to say how high the mercury has risen there udder the direct rays ol 01 the sun it is asserted that eggs have been cooked on the sands of ol 01 tho the desert without the aid of heat produced by artificial means and that wood or iton lion implements which have been ex exposed posed for a short time to the tile suns direct influence have become too hot to be handled tho the extreme heat and consequent rapid evaporation causes terrific gales at times by reason of the movement of great volumes of heated air which the cooler air from the coast rushes in to replace these gales frequently become tremendous sandstorms sand storms which aro are fatal to all forma forms of animal life unless proper precautions looking to shelter from their onslaughts are taken in the night time the direction of the wind is reversed and tha the ensuing rapid cooling of the atmosphere chills the desert traveler to the very bone although tha the preceding day may way 1 have ave been tolerably warm there can be no reasonable doubt that death valley isabe is the hottest locality on the north american continent the thermometer in daytime day time seldom registers below degrees in the shade during the months from april to october and the quicksilver frequently climbs to the notch or even higher the eff effect act of such terrible heat on him who attempts to cross tho the valley without a perfect knowledge bis his bearings and a most supply of hf water with which to qu quench ler pe h 0 his s thirst is simply ma maddening a thero there are cores scores of instances of men who have mado made the attempt lost lost their way and who becoming insane from privation and the contemplation of their desolate surroundings have laid down in the sand to die long afterward their bodies have been bee n found dried into a mummified mass from the effects of the hoap hot rarefied a air r of the region which possesses in in an uncommon i degree he the power to arrest animal decomposition the surface of the D death eath valley desert is largely composed of salt and alkali alka 1 i baked to a paste like consistency and covered with a crust destructive to nearly everything thin which breaks through it it eats the hair and aud hide off horses legs and burns to the bone the human anatomy that re remains ma ins long in contact with it now and then there is a tremendous fall of rain among the mountains where the amargosa amargoso takes its rise and then the river sometimes nearly a mile in width comes sweeping swee into the d desert esert only to have its vast volume of water immediately absorbed by the burning sands but in spite of all the terrors with which h the name |