A diverse glimpse into the consumate Death Valley anthology
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From the the introduction, WELCOME TRAVLER: "Prior to the existence of the human species, through periods of incomprehensible time, the stage was being sculpted from the raw materials of this fiery planet. As one might expect in preparation for a live theater performance, the scenery was being set, the props placed, and the lights prepared. As if directed by an unseen producer, multiple permutations were tried, adjustments made, and conditions perfected in readiness for the actors, or in this case, the creatures and people who were to eventually inherit the tormented landscape. Although popularly referred to as Death Valley, the human naming of this grand theater begins to pale and lose its sting as we lose ourselves in the magnificence of the setting. While still undergoing revision to suit the geologic forces at play in the wings, our stage now appears deceptively stable, enough so that we come here, contribute our own diminutive parts of the performance, and move on.
The human cast in this notable drama has been impressive, existing through several key scene changes that have occurred at a pace so leisurely as to be imperceptible by the players themselves. Only looking back on acts long since finished can we write of the dynamic setting. It is then that we realize the lakes of the valley have been replaced by an extensive desert expanse, the air of the sky has warmed, and the flowing rivers have moved underground. During this time, the troupe has grown in size, joined by new participants late in the performance. The original company spent thousands of years here, well versed in their roles with the land, and then when some wagons rolled in from stage left, with people reading from another script, the plot thickened and headed off in new directions.
The drama was entering a time of intense diversification, as the new actors, unfamiliar with the elements of the stage, often faltered. These troubles brought a state of disrepute upon the theater, as the newcomers spoke of the heat from the severe overhead lighting that interfered with their intended goals. While the first inhabitants of this stage were content to work and play harmoniously within the parameters of the setting with modest demands, the greenhorns sought to receive hefty payments for their labors, and advertised heavily to attract large audiences. Their experiences were promoted and publicized so well that these more recent acts have often overshadowed the direction of the original presentation.
A tiny band of desperate and lost gold nugget seekers from the East are credited with initiating the conversion of script, followed by the likes of a visionary entrepreneur from the financial hub of San Francisco, a shifty and unprincipled conman from Kentucky, and a rugged sheriff who walked barefoot through broken whiskey bottles to capture a criminal. They played out portions of their life dramas in this unique region many now call Death Valley, and in so doing, unwittingly provided more legendary spark for the territory's ambiance than anyone could ever foretell.
Hidden amongst these true accounts of this wild and woolly stage, we also stumble across incredulous dusty legends, those tall tales that serve to complete our expected visions of the Old West. Leading the pack is the legendary story of an intrepid man on stilts in a poisonous chasm of bleached bones, who single handedly cleared out stagnant lethal gases and opened up this supposedly deadly place for others to visit. Historical tales of all types provide a vast and fertile soil, in which we cultivate for future generations the seeds of a colossal enduring epic, saturated with enigmatic appeal.
This sweeping saga of the Death Valley frontier during times gone by has provided more curious exhilaration than even the best of fiction novels could possibly dream, and true historical drama is one of the foremost draws to this alluring region. Even though the need to separate fact from fantasy becomes necessary at times, it only serves to whet our appetites further. While much of historical lore centers around the adventurous prospectors and promoters who sought riches here, earlier people have existed in this primordial territory up to ten thousand years prior, living on and with this natural world in ways far different than their commonly known followers. Clearly, how humans have interacted with this land has always provided a certain inescapable lure.
Yet of course, there is much more to the inimitable Death Valley territory than what we mere humans have done on this stage for a very short period of time. Geology and the peculiar landscapes are the backdrops, providing additional magnetism for the hundreds of thousands of yearly explorers who now travel the region. Moving boulders on a dry lakebed, huge holes in stone cliff spires, deep shaded canyons amid perpetual sunlit desert, beautiful waterfalls, colossal craters hidden until upon them, and ancient forests on soaring skybound peaks are among the appealing scenic enticements that beckon us. The multifaceted flavors of this wild place provide a virtual feast that is eagerly devoured by our caged urban minds, allowing us to relive the excitement of divergent nomads in a very wild world, while escaping the bonds of our own more mundane existence."
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From the the Overview, THE LAND OF LEGEND:
"Just as we were ready to leave and return to camp we took off our hats, and then overlooking the scene of so much trial, suffering and death spoke the thought uppermost saying: 'Good bye Death Valley!' then faced away and made our steps toward camp."
Those were the famous words written in 1894 by William Lewis Manly in his personal autobiography, words that established the naming of what is now commonly known as Death Valley. William was a young member of the Bennett-Arcan wagon train that sought a shortcut to the California gold fields of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1849. After having heroically rescued his stranded party from the valley, the group looked back one last time to bid farewell to the land that had almost consumed them. The life threatening experiences of these folks painted a lasting picture that even today sets the tone for anyone interested in Death Valley National Park.
Although this epic tale may be the intriguing account that comes to mind most frequently when considering this wild territory, it is just one small facet of a much larger picture. Death Valley and the surrounding countryside has been around for a time inconceivable to the human mind, reaching back prior to our very existence as a species. Then, about 8,000 BC, humans began appearing, with climatic conditions and views markedly different from what we observe today.
Water spread some eighty miles north to south, ten miles east to west, in a lake so vast and a mountain valley so steep that it had to be hundreds of feet in depth. Melting ice from the surrounding mountains kept it well fed for long periods of time. No human eyes were actually here to see it however, during its most grand expanse between 186,000 and 128,000 years ago. Small bands of early people may well have camped at the shores of later lakes in this valley, perhaps with depths of 30 feet, beginning approximately 10,000 years in the past. The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, descendants of those communities, still remains today, tending to life's daily struggles in a locale that would have been at the bottom of this colossal lake in times of yore, but now is sun baked and dry. From 600 or more feet under water long ago, to often waterless today! Geologic transitions take eons to happen, while human changes, on the other hand, occur relatively quickly. It is how the humans have interacted with the landscape here that seems to intrigue us most however.
This is Death Valley, a land of fascination, mystery, and harsh extremes. It is a place maligned by the masses, viewed as a chasm of despair, but curiously visited by many of these people nonetheless. In fact, these negative undertones that are inexorably linked with The Valley are at the very core of our collective society's strange fascination with it. In our modern times, visitors flock here to witness firsthand the vividly unforgiving terrain, upon which thousands before them labored to live modestly, or quickly crossed to get someplace else, or came to extract the riches of Solomon. It was a countryside of opportunity, a land of dreams, and an abyss of hell. So much history has played out its drama here that a lifetime of study is needed to truly appreciate it all."
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From the the Encyclopedia portion, a few random entries taken from the 1,149:
"AMERICA'S LOW POINT: No, not another political scandal or economic downturn! America's low point is a place, unbelievably hot in the summer and wonderfully pleasant in the middle of winter. You've undoubtedly already guessed its name as Badwater in Death Valley's vast salt flat. Regardless of who you are, one trip at least is a must ... just to be able to say, "I've been 282 feet below the level of the world's oceans!" Where else in America can you go and know that you are at an elevation where normally you'd find only fish? Interestingly, you actually can find fish nearby - see the "Pupfish" entry. Badwater will require a walk out onto the immense salt flats of about four miles if you wish to get to the absolute lowest point in America, but if you just stop at the highway turnout, you're pretty darn close! Some scientific theories speculate that eventually this low point will be considerably lower once the Baja Rift (see entry) spreads sufficiently to allow the waters of the Pacific Ocean to enter from the Sea of Cortez and cover the region … all the way to Oregon, no less, in one massive trough. Don't loose any sleep over this flooding scenario however, because it's not likely to happen anytime soon! Be thankful now, as you stand here, that the topography of California is currently adequate to keep the seawater out.
"AMMONITE: These extinct marine animals can be found in the primal lands here, and they provide scientists a means of determining the age of the rock layer in which they are located. Ammonite shells resemble the classic nautilus shape, a spiral shell that becomes progressively and mathematically tighter towards the center, a Fibonacci spiral that is observed in galaxies. It is theorized that ammonites became extinct with the dinosaurs, leaving an extensive fossil record across the countryside and around the entire planet. Scientists note that the nautilus shape of the fossils, found extensively throughout nature, is very pleasing to the human eye for some reason. The chambers of the inner shell were used to add water or air as needed for the animal to rise or fall in the sea. Only the largest chamber at the open end was used by the creature for living, and as it grew, it added another chamber to accommodate its increased size. These fossils can range in size from very tiny to as large as six feet across, although the ones in Death Valley National Park are not that large. A good place to witness excellent ammonite fossils up close is Bighorn Canyon, where they are found in the walls in sizes up to four inches. You can still see the buoyancy chambers well preserved."
"BIZARRE TALES: Do you love to read atrocious and outlandish accounts of what some think happened out here in years of yore? Well, if you really get into what makes Death Valley the enigma that it remains to this day, you'll be very well rewarded with one odd tale after another, some of which are true, while others are transparent fabrications. Okay, some icing on the cake to prime your curiosity: One wild story from 1874 has it that a man named Jonathan Newhouse created a mechanism that would allow him to survive the dreadful summer heat and walk the width of Death Valley at its lowest and hottest point. He invented a suit of sponge material, consisting of a jacket and hood, about an inch thick. Under his arm was a pouch of water that could be pumped up into his hood via a tube by flexing his arm downward towards his body. Before he left on this walk, he saturated the sponge suit with water. Jonathan believed that the evaporative properties of the water would lead to levels of coolness that would make his trip bearable. Poor fellow … oh how he miscalculated! He was found the next day sitting against a rock, still in his jacket, and quite dead. But he didn't die from heat, even though the sun's rays were merciless. He was frozen solid, with a foot-long icicle hanging from his nose! The suit was too successful, and he couldn't remove it during his last moments of the freeze because it was laced up from behind his back. Another story tells of poisonous gas that filled the valley floor … see the "Stilts" entry for more info on that one. Whether true or not, all these stories fall into the brew that will keep the mystery alive in the Land of Legend."
"BROWN, CHARLES: Now here was a man who characterized the true meaning of wild west rugged. Charlie Brown was a peace officer for several old west copper boom camps in the Greenwater Valley, providing a sense of security to Furnace, Kunze, Greenwater, and Gold Valley during the early 1900s. His grand daughter, Susan Sorrells, tells of the time that Charlie arrested a local mischief maker called Death Valley Slim, who shot up a local bar. With jail facilities located a few hundred miles west in Independence, soft spoken Charlie just locked Slim in a room of a local house and took away his shoes, figuring that the criminal couldn't escape barefoot through the broken glass shards from whiskey bottles and the millions of small desert rocks. Well, the crafty con squeaked out of his quarters late at night after Sheriff Charlie was asleep, took Charlie's shoes, and made his getaway. Upon discovering the escape, Charles tried on the bad guy's shoes, but they did not fit, so he carefully walked barefoot in the night until he once again caught the lawbreaker nearby. Now, that's dedication to duty if I ever heard of it! Later, in 1910, Charlie married Stella Fairbanks, daughter of prospector and entrepreneur Ralph Fairbanks who founded the little town of Shoshone (see entry), east of Death Valley. During the winter of 1925, Ralph and Charlie cashed in on the tourism rush, building the Old Timer's Inn, a four room hotel in Shoshone. When the hotel filled up, they simply put the overflow tourists in the old miner's cabins around the area. Of course, for city slickers wanting a real old west vacation, this was precisely what the doctor ordered. In 1926, Charlie made history when he was asked by the borax magnates of Furnace Creek if he knew of a good spot where they could build a road for tourists to see all of Death Valley. He took them up to what is now called Dante's View, and the rest is history. Had not Charlie guided the businessmen up to the precipice, Chloride Cliff would have been the choice for the viewpoint. Charles Brown was indeed a driven man, and in the late 1930s, he became a California State Senator."
"CAMEL CORPS: Although mules, burros, and horses are most often associated as the beasts of burden linked with the exploration of the Death Valley territory, camels played a part … albeit only for a very short while. Camels can go far longer without water than mules (very important in this extremely arid region), haul much heavier loads, get to their destinations quicker, and thrive on desert vegetation not eaten by mules and horses. Because of their foot structure, camels are also more stable in sand. So, in 1850, Lieutenant Edward Beale of the United States Army, who was a participant in surveying Death Valley, figured that it would be a natural to use camels while doing so. Beale also knew that mules can carry up to 300 pounds, but camels could carry from 600 to 1,000 pounds of weight, depending on their size and variety. Camels seemed perfect for any activities in Death Valley and the surrounding Mojave Desert, thus an experiment soon ensued. Camels had been imported from the Near East into the United States in 1856, along with their native handlers, as an act of Congress to explore and control the new lands of the country. The initial U.S. experiments were conducted near San Antonio, Texas, where the animals had been imported. Three camels eventually made their way into the Death Valley territory as part of the California boundary expedition, which was an attempt to survey the precise line between Nevada and California, thereby hoping to end governmental disputes. The survey party came up short in reaching its goals, and the camels revealed one prominent flaw in their performance capabilities. Even though the incredible beasts were superior in traversing sand, carrying implausible loads, and doing well with little water, they could not do one thing that the mules could do exceptionally well. It took at least two mules to carry the load of one camel, but those two mules would agreeably carry that smaller load up darn near any steepness of grade. Camels, being the stubborn animals that they are, and not liking really steep ground apparently, could not be persuaded to walk up the steep slopes! Thus, any dreams of a Death Valley Camel Corps quietly vanished into the obscure pages of dusty history."
"DEATH VALLEY RAILROAD: In 1914, a narrow gauge railroad began to haul borax from the mining town of Ryan into Death Valley Junction, a company town built by the Pacific Coast Borax Company. Small railroad lines cropped up to deliver the mineral wealth to the larger rail lines, usually to the east (in western Nevada). The Death Valley Railroad delivered the borax to the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad that ran south from Beatty, through Death Valley Junction and Tecopa, and other destinations south. Today, Highway 190 runs along the old railbed for a ways, before entering DVNP. Construction of the Death Valley Railroad began in 1913, and reportedly used in excess of 350 laborers and 150 mules to get the 17 mile job completed. Each day, one train left Death Valley Junction in the morning full of water for Ryan, and then returned in the afternoon with minerals to be off-loaded at the railhead. For a three year period running from 1927 through 1930, after the cessation of mineral transport, these locomotives and cars were used to transport area tourists from Death Valley Junction to a hotel at Ryan. Part of this train can still be viewed today at the Laws Railroad Museum (see entry), north of Bishop, California."
"EPSOM SALT MONORAIL: In 1919, Thomas Wright discovered a rich lode of magnesium sulfate, commonly known as epsom salt, in an area near Wingate Wash. This man, who operated a flower shop in Los Angeles, was a grand mid-life dreamer, and constructed a monorail to bring the salts to market. Six miles south of Trona, California, he began his rail construction in 1922. It was a 28 mile route across Searles Dry Lake, through rugged Layton Canyon in the Slate Range, into the southern portion of Panamint Valley, over Wingate Pass, and then down into the wash. This wild idea was so widely publicized that investors sank much money into it. About $200,000 plummeted into the venture over the course of a couple of years, including the creation of Crystal Camp (see entry) near the mining operation. The locomotives and freight cars each ran on two wheels (think motorcycle), with outriggers on each side to stabilize them. Originally, Thomas used electric motors to power the locomotives. This worked well on the flats where tested, but failed to pull the heavy loads up and through Layton Canyon. Thomas then went through three different gasoline powered engine designs, each one heavier and more powerful than the last, until one finally pulled the load. After many mechanical breakdowns in the blistering heat, and the failure of the monorail track to hold up under all the weight, the assets of his company were ultimately exhausted. Bottom line was that despite the best efforts and years of trying to make it pay, the entire venture ultimately failed in 1927, and the monorail fell to the history books, while Wright returned to selling flowers."
"FATAL TO WOMEN: Well known Old West novelist Zane Gray had an interest in the Death Valley territory, and did his part to promote it through some of his writing. He is reported to have uttered the statement that Death Valley would be "fatal to women" during the times prior to popular visitation by tourists. It is likely that the majority of women wouldn't even need to hear that to remain distant, but those who did contemplate a visit in the earlier days of the region's mass media reporting might have thought twice. Of course, if a woman is one who seeks adventure, then such a proclamation would only serve to send her there in an instant. By referring to the "Grey, Zane" entry, you can learn more about this famous author."
"GETTING HITCHED: People come to Death Valley National Park for all kinds of reasons, a few even making the trip to tie knots. Want to get married here? Well, you are not alone, although you certainly are in a very tiny minority of folks who choose this incredibly unique landscape to say their vows of love. A small number of couples do choose to marry in the National Park, at such places like Badwater, Wildrose Canyon, Ubehebe Crater, or Zabriskie Point. Professional Death Valley photographer Phil Kember has commemorated a wedding or two here. A Special Use Permit may be needed, depending on where you wish the ceremony to occur. If it's someplace like at the Furnace Creek Resort, one may not be required, but if it is to be somewhere on the Federally administrated lands throughout the Park, then one will likely be needed. I would recommend checking with the Park officials just to be on the safe side, as each case is individually considered - sure don't want any surprises right in the middle of the love ritual. May you have many wonderful years together, and enjoy always returning to DVNP to recapture the special times!"
"GPS RANGER: Now here's a really great idea that the Park Service has recently introduced. It's like having your own personal Ranger with you as you tour the Park! The GPS Ranger is a personally guided tour for travels to Death Valley's key locations. You can rent your own handheld GPS Ranger at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, and take it with you as you drive and walk around Death Valley, watching the audio and video presentations on the small device for the attraction in front of you. As they say on the DVNHA website, "It's like having a ranger and guide in the palm of your hand." The cost is $14.95 for a 24 hour rental period (that's $16.11, including tax for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger). Personal service has now reached an all time high!"
"HELTER SKELTER: This is a really weird one folks! Feel free to pass this entry by if you prefer the natural side of DVNP. Helter Skelter was a the name of a song written by the world famous Beatles rock band in 1968. Shortly after the song's world wide release, infamous Charles Manson, whose group of followers committed many shocking murders in California during the late sixties, saw in it a message about an epic apocalyptic battle between black and white races that would end the rule of whites. After all non-whites had been exterminated, and Manson with his group arose from their sanctuary under Death Valley, his group would rule over the remaining blacks. In preparation for Helter Skelter, Manson and his followers began acquiring vehicles for an escape from Los Angeles once the wars started, and preparing an area in Sourdough Canyon in the Panamint Range that borders the western edge of Death Valley. This man was responsible for making the extremely obscure Barker Ranch near Goler Canyon a world-known location. Manson, who apparently believed he was Jesus Christ, reportedly committed the first murders of famous people to show the black race how to get Helter Skelter started (is this a weird story, or what?). Charles is said to have even attempted to contact the Beatles to invite them to America to join his family in Death Valley during the Helter Skelter wars. Much reference was made to the Revelation chapter of the Bible. Vincent Bugliosi, a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney, successfully prosecuted Charles Manson and his clan for the multiple murders, and later wrote a complete book detailing the entire story behind all this … the name of the book? Helter Skelter."
"NO SWEAT: A figurative colloquial phrase of our society indicating that something is easy, no sweat truly takes on a literal meaning out here in the lowlands of Death Valley. Sweating is the body's method of cooling the system in times of exertion and heat. It is a necessary manifestation for human survival so that internal processes do not overheat and lead to shutdown and death. When humidity, the amount of water vapor in the air, is critically low, sweat evaporates so quickly that little or no cooling benefit results. In the extreme summer heat and aridity of Badwater Basin, where temperatures can reach into the high 130s and humidity can dip into single digits, death by overheating and dehydration can occur (and it has). The bottom line here is to always carry copious amounts of water with you, even on the shortest hike or if you are just standing around. Drink continually, whether you feel a need or not. Please also refer to the "Dehydration" "Humidity" "Thirst" and "Water" entries for additional important information essential for human survival."
"SUN: Far away, spins an enormous fireball that has made Death Valley the icon it is today. Even though 92,955,820.5 miles separate Earth from the sun, this gaseous hydrogen and helium behemoth directs its most intense gaze squarely into the chasm between the Panamint and Amargosa Ranges. The Bennett-Arcan party cursed it, the animals hide from it, and the land cracks from it. Water evaporates, people dehydrate, and scorpions lie in wait. The sun has proven Death Valley's worst enemy for many years, but today, its presence is largely responsible for Death Valley's fame and appeal. The surface temperature of the sun (a mere 9,801.3 degrees hotter than Death Valley) is slowly rising, and it is predicted that in about a billion years it will be responsible for heating the Earth's surface enough to boil off all the water, and thus end all life (nothing new for Death Valley at least). If you were to walk the length of Death Valley 664,285 times, you would have traveled an equivalent distance to the sun. Either trip will kill you! Bring a hat, canteen, and a good book."
"TOPOGRAPHY: When used in the terrestrial sense of our planet, topography is the study of the features of the Earth's surface. It can also be applied to other planets and universal bodies, but that's a little too far out for discussion in this book. The word comes from the ancient Greek words topos, meaning place, and graphia, meaning writing, hence, the writing about a place. Using latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, as with a graph, delineates the position of a physical feature, and the identification of particular land formations is also part of the study. Regarding Death Valley, the topography is typically described as basin and range (see entry). The topography of this region was studied and mapped by early topographers such as Robert Chapman, who, from 1905 to 1907, mapped over 10,000 square miles of Death Valley and the adjacent Amargosa Desert region. His were the first maps upon which folks could rely. Soon after Robert's efforts, Walter Mendenhall made notes of water springs in these desert regions of California and Nevada, creating maps for other explorers and travelers that revealed where the precious liquid could be found. Through the endeavors of men like these, the tales of death and mystery finally began to fade, but never will they go entirely away because of their ability to keep this land as oddly alluring as it has always been."
"UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: On March 03, 1879, the United States Congress established the USGS in their desire to survey and map the vast new lands of the United States, including those acquired by the country as a result of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 by President Thomas Jefferson. Clarence King initially took the helm of this fledgling organization, under the oversight of the U. S. Department of the Interior. Clarence had the unenviable job of organizing several separate entities to operate under one roof. After his tenure, John Wesley Powell took over leadership. The United States Geological Survey is the chief civilian mapping agency for this country, a fact-finding organization comprised of four scientific disciplines: geology, biology, hydrology, and geography. The USGS has played an ongoing role in the Death Valley territory, from the first days of attempting to determine its great depth below sea level, to producing maps that showed significant mining towns and mineral deposits like borax, and then to help define the Nevada/California common state line so that the powerful people of politics and finances would know where all the unusual landmarks were located and where the gold and silver fortunes were being made. You can visit the USGS today online at: usgs.gov (their motto is "science for a changing world")."
"ZABRISKIE, CHRISTIAN BREVOORT: Zabriskie Point in Death Valley is named after this man, who was the Vice President and General Manager of the Pacific Coast Borax Company. He started with the company in 1885, when hired by Francis Smith (Borax Smith) to oversee Chinese laborers. Christian retired from the company in 1933, the same year that this territory became Death Valley National Monument. He was born at Fort Bridger in the Wyoming territory in 1864, and also tried other ventures including a partnership in a mortuary business."
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From the the chapter, GHOST TOWN EXPLORATION by David A. Wright: "I trace the roots of my love of ghost towns, and exploring the pathways to them, to my maternal grandmother. Growing up in the Mojave Desert of southern California, she and I used to bounce around in the desert in her old, post World War 2 Chevrolet sedan - with its six cylinder engine and "three-on-the-tree" transmission shift. My grandmother was barely tall enough to see over the dashboard and thus had to view the road and world ahead by looking through the giant spoked steering wheel; such a large wheel was a necessity in those days before power steering was invented.
My grandmother and I loved to drive on the myriad of dirt roads that ran hither and yon into hidden coves in the desert mountains, looking for abandoned homesteads to explore. I loved to ride on that vinyl and cloth seat in those days before seatbelts right next to her, sharing in the adventure.
Personal wanderlust also evolved from that post war sedan to my motorcycles, as I explored and poked about on every cowpath in the desert and in the nearby San Bernardino Mountain Range and soon learned every way in which one could get to Big Bear Lake and other mountain hamlets in the pine forested range. Wanderlust rooted early in my life and it has stuck with me into middle age (as this is being written).
Though enjoying the outdoor life, my parents didn't venture into Death Valley very often. Most destinations involved the cool heights of the eastern Sierra Nevada. But I do recall riding the long distances to Death Valley on the back of the motorcycles ridden by either my father or mother a time or two. Dad rode big bore English iron, Mom rode the small bore Japanese machines then starting to make inroads on the late 1950s and early 1960s American roads. And into my high school years we'd occasionally mosey into Death Valley in an old Volkswagen camper van with the accompaniment of friends driving their Ford pickup with a big camper on its back. They had three lovely daughters, I was a teenage boy. Was it Death Valley or the girls? I like to think it was a little of both.
Those experiences fueled my desire to see more and in time I came to spend my lunch breaks during high school years in the school library pouring through Desert Magazine, it's articles on ghost towns fascinated me and I yearned to visit them for myself. Ghost towns were found everywhere I wanted to be - in the eastern Sierra Nevada, Nevada and Death Valley country. I photocopied everything I could to provide fodder for further exploration and to help pass those last months of high school before freedom would allow me the chance to make good on my ambition to go exploring on my own. The heady odor of the early photocopy process became the smell of sagebrush in my mind. Or maybe it was those fumes impregnated into the paper by the old time process. I guess sniffing photocopies was better than sniffing glue.
I made my first inroads into the 1970s and Death Valley as a young adult on my honeymoon. My new bride and I camped our second, third and fourth night together in Death Valley, taking in all the sights we could see from paved roads. We were driving an old friend - my parents old Volkswagen camper van, so it was sort of being like home.
Our first night was spent at Furnace Creek, the second at Mesquite Spring, the third night at Bonnie Clair just outside the park and a short distance into Nevada from Scotty's Castle."
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From the the chapter, THE LEGEND THROUGH THE LENS by Phil Kember: "One of the World's great photographers said of this special place, 'Death Valley is very difficult to photograph: A few obvious opportunities and a vast number of recalcitrant situations that try the photographer's patience and craft.' Those words were spoken by no less than Ansel Adams. Such philosophy from a master of his craft is enough to make anyone pause before endeavoring to photograph mainland America's largest and perhaps most intimidating National Park. Death Valley covers a vast area of open desert encompassing well over three million acres of harsh terrain, from scorching salt flats and giant sand dunes to seemingly endless dry lakes and alpine-like mountain tops.
The challenge Mister Adams faced more than sixty years ago still faces us today: how to make a visual record or photograph of our time in Death Valley National Park. In this chapter of the book, I will guide you through the steps required to make the most of your photography in Death Valley. I will also point out some of the difficulties and offer my experience in helping you to improve your images.
My first visit to Death Valley was in June of 1985, and all I remember of that brief encounter was that it was hot and desolate. My next visit was in 1996. I had just taken up a new hobby, photography. I had recently spent a week with my camera in Yosemite National Park, and although I was taken by it's beauty and grandeur, it wasn't for me. I found myself drawn to a landscape where I had spent many years camping with friends as a younger man - the inland desert region of southern California.
In the late fall of 1996, I set out with my camera, and returned to a place that had intrigued me more than a decade before. I returned from that second trip to Death Valley excited by what I had seen. I loved the wide open landscape, the sense of personal space and freedom that so many of us appreciate about the park. I also returned with images that made an impression on me - they didn't look like images I'd made up to that point, nor did they look like any images I'd ever seen of the park before … I was hooked! Many of the images I had made on that fateful trip looked as though they could have been made on another planet - the surreal landscape held a fascination for me.
In fairly short order, I migrated through various cameras and formats, finding my way to an 8x10 camera using black and white film. This choice gave me what I was looking for, ultimate sharpness and detail. Of course, I also had to deal with a very large camera in a dry and windy climate. I would spend my first ten years as a photographer working almost exclusively in Death Valley, and although I didn't realize it at the time, the challenges I faced in those early years would teach me my craft. It is no exaggeration to say that Death Valley National Park taught me how to be a photographer.
Some of what I learned during this time was how to read the environment, the weather, the light, and conditions in general. As photographers, we are accustomed to being at our chosen location with a little bit of time to spare, in order to set up and record an image. The importance of this exercise is magnified when working in the Park. Most of Death Valley's attractions are widely spread apart by many miles, meaning that not only will we need to drive long distances to get to a particular location, but should we arrive to find poor conditions such as wind, cloudless skies etcetera, it will take us perhaps more time than we have to find a new location.
If you are planning a photographic trip to Death Valley and have some flexibility with your schedule, there are some seasonal conditions that you may want to take into account … some are obvious, others are not. There are no prizes for guessing that it gets pretty hot in the summer, but just how hot? July and August average around 115 degrees Fahrenheit, and it's not uncommon to see days close to 130 degrees - and that's in the shade, should you be lucky enough to find some! Clearly, peak summer months are to be avoided. Spring time (February through early April) is the most popular time for visitors: the flowers are out and so are thousands of people. I've noticed in the last few years that there are so many people out on the dunes near Stovepipe at this time of the year that it would be a challenge to avoid photographing them, let alone their foot prints.
My favorite time to photograph the park is between November and March, avoiding holiday weekends. At this time of the year, the park is relatively quiet and the conditions are more conducive to a successful photo trip. Regardless of the time of year you visit, once in the park, you'll want to closely watch the conditions.
It is worth noting at this time that Death Valley can be windy. I'm not speaking of 10 to 30 mile per hour winds here, those being mere breezes. Consistent winds above 40 miles per hour are common (particularly in the spring), with extreme winds of up to 80-100 miles per hour possible! Death Valley National Park can become very dangerous in such events. I've personally seen the dunes at Stovepipe Wells whip up into a full-on sand storm in a matter of minutes. Be careful when the winds are up … don't commit yourself to long walks in the environment."
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From the the chapter, VACATIONS, HIGH WATER & LOST SOULS by Matt Jones: "First and foremost, the incredibly remote and seldom traveled regions that encompass Death Valley National Park demand the respect of all backcountry travelers. Many of us start out during our younger years innocently enough, giving nary a thought to mishaps or hazards, yet if just the right set of circumstances ominously falls into place during an expedition, the "perfect storm" can result, and leave us in dire straits. This story I now tell, in hopes that the unforgiving experiences might be avoided by future greenhorns who enter the Valley of Death.
These three tales, two with happy endings, one without, unfolded primarily in the southern reaches of Death Valley. So as to orient you to the region, on your map locate the names that will appear: Harry Wade Road, Ibex Springs, Ashford Mill, Warm Spring Canyon, Butte Valley, Anvil Spring, Mengel Pass, and Ballarat. These locales provide the backdrop upon which I have been a party to, and aware of, a few hazardous miscalculations. Living life is learning lessons, learning them well enough to be able to return again in the future so as to behold the marvelous grandeur of this legendary country.
PANAMINT TRAVERSE My first experience with the "Valley" occurred Thanksgiving weekend, somewhere around 1987, when my girlfriend and later to be wife, Maggie, and I found ourselves entering the mouth of Warm Spring Canyon just as the shadows crossed the canyon floor. In retrospect it could have been disastrous: no supplies other than a cooler full of beer and no idea where we were actually going. The silence of the canyon was overtaken by the low-pitched growl of our tires as they wrestled with the road. The headlights fought their own separate battle with the darkness, revealing brief encapsulated views of a harsh but beckoning desert.
Through the bouncing beams of our headlights appeared a cluster of mustard colored buildings, although a prominently displayed NO TRESPASSING sign prevented further investigation. Later we learned this was the Warm Springs Talc Mine. Through the darkness our Samurai 4x4 vehicle moaned an over-revved song as we climbed the slight grade leading to Butte Valley. We could see no further than the headlights, except for skyward where an occasional shooting star accompanied a growing blanket of stars. We pressed forward to a small rock strewn pass.
At the pass the Samurai grasped for traction, first spinning one wheel and then the other, hopping from one rock to the next. There was a lag of forward motion, then as the tires grasped and caught traction a sudden explosion of forward momentum. This was replayed several times before clearing the pass, all the while the cross member screamed in anguish. Forging forward into the darkness, the road narrowed and the canyon walls grew steeper and higher until their tips were no longer visible except for their contrasting blackness against the night sky. Overwhelmed by this surrealistic scene, I grabbed the camera and snapped a photo, knowing it could never capture the true essence of what we were witnessing. With a few twists and turns we were clear of the canyon and into a valley.
We had no idea of our destination, off to the left a watery refraction of the stars above and to the right a solitary glowing beacon (Brigg's Camp). We soon came upon a sign, a 2x4 painted white with black lettering, facing the opposite direction of our travel. It proclaimed Goler Wash & Death Valley. We may not have known where we were going but at least we knew where we had been! The road curved around the edge of the mountain until we reached a small encampment with a number of glowing campfires. Our Samurai came to idle just long enough to read a monument stating this was the fabled mining town of Ballarat in the Panamint Valley. We followed the dirt road west, met with the highway, and then wandered through Trona and on into Ridgecrest, California.
While this particular trip may have been over, our destiny with the "Valley" had just begun. This was the precursor to being stranded a few months later in the brine waters of the legendary Amargosa River - luckily it was in February!"
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From the the chapter, A DEATH VALLEY GEOLOGY PRIMER by Michel Digonnet:
"For anyone interested in geology, Death Valley is a fascinating playground. With little vegetation and soil, there is nothing in the way to see the rocks, and geologic events proceed in full view. Looking at a hillside from a distance, one can peer directly into five, fifty, five hundred million years of Earth's history. Often a simple visual inspection will uncover exciting details of the geological past.
Here as everywhere, geologists have divided the thick pile of rocks that form the landscape into a succession of stratigraphic units called formations. A formation is generally made up of a sequence of strata. It is characterized by a thickness (typically tens to thousands of feet), an age, and a duration of formation (a few to tens of millions of years). Formations are often named after an existing name attached to the geographic area where they were first identified. A formation is often, although not always, associated with a specific set of deposition, geographic, and climatic conditions. It may be, for example, the accumulation of limestone at the bottom of a warm sea, or the alternating deposition of mud and volcanic ash in a perennial lake. These conditions generally vary substantially from one formation to the next. The transition between two formations is often the result of a significant change in the local or global environment. In the Death Valley region, which covers a comparatively small land area, many of the same formations recur in most of the mountain ranges. However, because of the lack of uniformity in deposition, as well as subsequent local alterations by erosion, faulting, and metamorphism, the sequence of formations varies greatly between ranges; some formations are even missing at places."
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From the the chapter, FRONTIER SCHOOL TEACHER by Robin Flinchum:"Today the front porch of the old house sags a bit under the weight of its nearly 90 summers in Death Valley. Many of the windows are missing and, in the back rooms, large patches of blue sky are visible through the gaping holes in the roof. Architecturally, it seems foreign in this environment--an aberration. "That old house?" one of the workers exclaims when I ask to see it. "I always wondered what that was doing here."
Hidden in the brush behind Marta Becket's famous hacienda-style Amargosa Opera House and Hotel, the little lath and plaster California bungalow is an oddity. But it is also the only surviving building from the very early days of the original Pacific Coast Borax company town in Death Valley Junction. Once considered the finest house between Goldfield and San Bernardino, it was also the place where a nervous young woman, discouraged but unwilling to admit defeat, sought shelter on her first night in what was then little more than a rough camp.
It's October of 1915 and twenty-three-year-old Bess Davis is the only woman on an overnight train taking her out of Los Angeles and further and further into the vast, dry California desert. Too excited to eat or sleep, she checks and rechecks the schedule clutched in her white-gloved hand. At 11:50 the following morning, she will arrive in Death Valley Junction, a crude mining camp where a handful of unruly young boys are reported to be in desperate need of a teacher. What she knows about this part of the world is the same as any other urban American--that it is a brutal place, largely populated by leather-faced, die-hard men, locked in an endless struggle against the elements. But Miss Davis is about to become living proof that, while the drama of Death Valley was largely the making of man, a woman could have the time of her life."
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From the the chapter, TWELVE MEMORABLE EXCURSIONS by Roger Mitchell: "Having spent my childhood years growing up in Trona, I have been exploring the main roads, backcountry trails, and hidden corners of the Death Valley country for the past sixty years. When Steve Greene, the editor of this book, asked that I select a dozen of my favorite outings in Death Valley National Park, I readily agreed, with the immediate thought that this would be an easy job. Upon reflection, the task proved to be much more difficult than I had first envisioned. I wanted to give the reader a balance of outings, in which there would be something to offer everyone, from an easy drive in the family sedan to a rugged jeep trail suitable for modified four-wheel drive vehicles. Likewise, I wanted to offer a couple of hikes for the day hiker and at least one for the backpacker. Listed below are a dozen of my favorite excursions in Death Valley, my reasons for selecting them and, in some cases, a sampling of personal adventures I have experienced along the way.
THREE EXCURSIONS FOR FAMILY SEDANS (and RVs) You need not be driving a lifted and otherwise modified four-wheel drive vehicle to enjoy Death Valley National Park. With proper planning and a little help from the friendly rangers at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, you can explore new portions of the park for several days, all by staying on paved or otherwise high standard roads. While it is true that much of the Death Valley backcountry is accessible by rough roads demanding at least a vehicle providing higher under-carriage clearance than most conventional automobiles, do not be deterred from visiting the park in just a standard sedan or motor home. Listed below is a sampling of interesting places you should see."
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From the the chapter, PEOPLE OF THE RED OCHRE by Timbisha Shoshone Tribal Members:"Long before pioneers and prospectors ever set foot on this expansive feral landscape, people have lived here. It was a time when the first humans had migrated across an exposed land mass far northwest. Descendants continue to live in the region, a land they call the Valley of the Red Ochre.
As the rapid expansion of the United States during the nineteenth century pushed ever westward on a continent of seemingly limitless opportunity, and citizens enticed to seek new lives in the unknown lands migrated in large numbers, people from other cultures began to feel the negative effects. Social collectives had been living across the countryside from Atlantic to Pacific for an untold number of years, from times that predated recorded history, and existed in ways foreign to the new wave of folks eager to become owners of land and possessors of the earth's mineral resources. Human history is replete with examples of what occurs at the convergence of differing cultural ideologies, and the course of events in the Death Valley territory follows this common trend of ethnic turbulence.
The Shoshone Nation existed over many miles of this western land, in the region now marked by the states of Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, and California. There were three major divisions of the Shoshone Nation, the Northern, Eastern, and Western. One member of this great nation was Sacajawea, the young woman who provided critical advice and guidance to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the Corps of Discovery, on their trek to locate and acquire land and waterways for the United States government in the early 1800s. This voyage of discovery, assisted by descendants of the earliest people of the continent, played a significant role in the populating of the west by people whose roots emanated in England and Europe. The shear numbers of emigrants from the newly formed United States, east of the Mississippi River, overwhelmed the folks who were already living in this region. The arrival of so many was difficult for all concerned."
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From the the chapter, WHITE GOLD FREIGHTERS by The Old Trailmaster: "It was early, still dark and cold outside, yet Yu Hao groggily realized it was nearing the time to arise from his bunk, the comfortable evening reprieve from his daily reality on the salt playa. With the enduring soreness of his back and arms relentlessly causing his precious sleep to be interrupted nearly every night, Yu Hao wished for an easier path. But life's circumstances had seemingly conspired in ways that kept him in harsh working and social conditions.
From his first work on America's Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, where many citizenry of European lineage saw his Chinese ethnicity as a threatening "yellow peril", to equally laborious toil constructing levees on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in central California during the 1870s, earning money had not proven an easy task for this hard working emigrant from China's Guangdong province city of Taishan. And now, his employment under William Tell Coleman near Furnace Creek in California's ominous Death Valley seemed yet another character-building chapter in his book of carving out a sustainable life.
Yu Hao had been hired as a physical laborer for the Harmony Borax Works, in a vastly rugged and implausibly remote setting, below the level of the sea that he had traveled by boat when he first came to the United States in late 1868, via the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. He was one of approximately thirty Chinese workers seeking to earn money for his family in China, and he toiled ten hours every day of the week for the sum of a buck and a quarter to a buck-fifty a day. Much of what Yu Hao earned was ultimately paid back to his employer however, through his purchases at Coleman's company store, where he obtained essentials like rice and tea. Living at this outpost, far away from the culturally disorienting urban areas, at least minimized treatment from many insensitive people who looked down on Asian men as coolies, a lowly class of workers not worthy of much consideration. A certain peace was to be found by Yu Hao for this, despite the back-breaking work that sent most men packing after their first year out here on the salt flat.
The year was 1887, and not one to give up easily, Yu Hao had stayed the course, remaining on Coleman's payroll since 1884, when he sought to continue his American existence. At thirty-four, he was the oldest worker, the one with the most experience, and often sought out by fellow countrymen for advice. The job these men labored at daily involved scraping what some termed "white gold" from the surface of the inhospitable Death Valley playa with shovels, and tossing it into a wagon, which then transported the ashen substance to the main operations at Harmony, where it was refined into borax - itself an uninviting job, but one where the workers earned fifty dollars a month. Borax meant money -big money- to entrepreneurs like Coleman, as it had many uses to the American public. The 1883 Grocer's Companion Handbook claimed that borax was good for such things as preventing moths, removing cockroaches, smoothing rough faces or chapped hands, dressing ulcers, wounds, bruises, and sprains, and bathing.
Borax, while a rather mundane material compared to the eagerly-sought minerals of gold and silver in Death Valley, formed the basis for an enduring memory of a five year period of the latter nineteenth century in western America, where epic tales of a long laboring line of twenty mules pulling enormous wooden wagons across the dusty and hot Mojave Desert still live in the minds of regional enthusiasts. It is amidst this legendary setting of virtually insurmountable odds that my story unfolds, a chronicle of men, mules, freighters, and dreams that once held the collective American consciousness in its clutches, and earned millions for the borax companies that made it all happen. This is the story of the fabled Twenty Mule Teams, five white gold freighters that, at the time, defined the forefront of technological transportation methods."
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From the the chapter, BACKCOUNTRY ACCESS GUIDE by Steve Greene: "We have spent a great deal of time in the encyclopedia section of this book discussing many unique aspects of the Death Valley territory, from people to places to ideas to nature … touching on nearly everything to a certain extent. Some of it can be seen and experienced first hand by the average tourist with a sedan, driving on pavement, and staying in hotels. Most of it however, is far beyond the reach of the masses, requiring a trusty high clearance 4x4 vehicle, plenty of determination, and the desire to do some hiking. Places like the Inyo Mine, Chloride City, Skidoo, Striped Butte, and Dedeckera Canyon won't be visited by the run of the mill traveler.
This chapter is designed to offer you a grand tour off the beaten path, to all the wild places that most folks will only ever see in books, photos, and on their digitized computer screens. In these following pages, we'll drive most of the roads and trails inside the boundaries of Death Valley National Park, so that you will have a fair notion whether or not these places are within your comfort zone for personal visitation. We'll travel from one end of the Park to the other, hit all the little secret spots and corners, and try really hard not to miss too much in between. If you're an experienced veteran outback traveler of DVNP, you may think that I forgot this or that on occasion, but hopefully I have included enough to keep everyone mentally focused and engaged.
Let's start out with some basic background information so that we can put this incredibly wild section of Mojave Desert into proper perspective:
The scope of land area in Death Valley National Park is staggering, covering about 3,400,000 acres, or 5,219 square miles, most of which is designated wilderness. Realizing that square mileage and acreage figures may not exactly paint a tangible picture of size in the minds of many folks, I offer a couple of quick comparisons to set the stage:
Look at a map of southern California and find the delineated boundary of Death Valley National Park. Now, either with ruler or using your hand and fingers as guides, transfer that area southwest on the map to the coastal region. Here's what we notice when doing this odd little exercise: This National Park, the largest in the contiguous United States, covers an area roughly equivalent to one that encompasses Tijuana, Mexico at the state's southern border, up through San Diego, north past Los Angeles, and stopping just shy of Santa Clarita, California on Interstate 5. Width-wise, from the Pacific Ocean on the west, the area would reach nearly to the city of San Bernardino in the Inland Empire.
For those of you who may not be familiar with southern California, let's look at a few more quick examples before we move on. The state of Connecticut on the east coast covers 4,872 square miles, meaning that it is 347 square miles smaller than Death Valley National Park. To visualize that size difference, picture in your mind a piece of ground that is perfectly square, with roughly 18.6 miles length on each of the four sides. If you were to drive completely around the perimeter of this square piece of ground, you'd cover a little more than 75 miles. That's how much larger DVNP is than Connecticut. Interestingly, Delaware covers 1,933 square miles, and Rhode Island is 1,054 square miles. Death Valley National Park is 2,232 square miles larger than both of those states combined.
Here are two more quirky visionary treats: Inside the area of Death Valley National Park we could place Washington D.C. nearly 83 times. Yes, the capital of the United States. And, as you may have read earlier in the encyclopedia, three Death Valley National Parks equal one Switzerland. Yes, that small alpine country in Europe. All right, now we best move on towards the meat and potatoes of this chapter.
As we have just learned, Death Valley National Park is truly a gigantic place of colossal proportions! Considering that roughly 95 percent of this land area is wild backcountry, approximately 3,158,038 acres, it becomes quite apparent that a guide to accessing all this wonderful natural world is in order. Thus, the birth of this chapter!"
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From the the chapter, DEATH'S VALLEY OPEN by Kelp: The Times Commissioner Reports Exclusively
A Half Century of Horror Cleared Up - The Adventures of an Explorer - The Sea of Gas - Across the Deadly Valley on Stilts - Vast Wealth - Petrified Skeletons - A New Book on the Wonder of the Pacific Slope
America is indebted to foreign authors for much valuable information about herself. Hardly a year passes but some distinguished writer passes through on his way to Asia, and his impressions a few months later are given to an appreciative public. It has become a matter of journalistic courtesy for the press of this country and citizens at large to aid these authors as much as possible, and The Times, while desiring to respect that professional modesty which prevents a paper from blowing its own horn, is forced into the position of stating what it has done in this connection.
For some months past there has been in this county a distinguished member of the Institute of France, a gentleman who is known in scientific circles all over the world. This savant is preparing an elaborate work on Death's Valley, to be published at an early day. He found in Los Angeles so much information concerning it that a visit to the place was hardly necessary. The Times was informed of the matter some time ago; learned that the scientist wanted maps of the valley and accurate measurements of the depth of the deadly gas; samples of sticks eaten or corroded by contact; drawings of bodies and teams seen in the valley from the cliffs above - and determined to aid him in procuring the bottom facts.
The New York Herald had its Stanley; The Times its Schwatka; the Cosmopolitan its race around the world. Why should not the Pasadena edition of the Los Angeles Times have its representative in Death's Valley, and give the results to this noble-hearted and gifted foreigner? There was but one difficulty: Who could be found to face the terrors of the now famous valley, that for years had been the destruction of thousands? It is enough to say that the man was found in the guise of Colonel John Jewks, late general manager of a Chicago gas company. The Times learned that Colonel Jewks could inhale more gas and live than any man in southern California. The Colonel wanted excitement; so it was settled, and two months ago he started.
Yesterday the expedition returned, and the Colonel's report is given for the benefit of the savant, who is now in Los Angeles, and the general public. "Yes, sir," said the Colonel, to a Times reporter; "I am back, and I claim to be the only man who ever went through Death's Valley and didn't die; and moreover, the valley is open to the public for the first time in the memory of man."
'The valley is well known; it has the reputation of having caused the death of over 8000 persons in this century. Hundreds of [wagon] trains wandered into it and stood there petrified, or rather vitrified, turned into metal monuments.'"
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