e mesa which forms part of the Funeral Range. Telescope and
Sentinel Peaks beyond Death Valley in the Panamint Mountains loom above
the horizon; we descend the canyon of Furnace Creek and are in Death
Valley.

We are in a strange and weird depression of the earth's crust about
fifty miles long and ten wide, the deepest part of which is more than
two hundred and fifty feet below sea level. Once upon a time, it is
thought, the Gulf of California reached so far inland that it included
this gash. Then the never-ceasing winds bridged it with loose rock
waste. Thus, Death Valley was born. In time it became a salt lake, a
marsh, and then a dry sink.

It is here that the deadly side-winder travels by night instead of day
to avoid the excessive heat, and rivers flow with their bottoms up as if
to hide from the burning rays of the sun; where Death by name and by
nature gives forth no warning note, and even a mountain range on the
east side of the valley signifies the service held to commemorate the
last resting-place of the unfortunates who have perished here.

The valley is hemmed in on the east by the precipitous side of the
gorgeous-colored Funeral Range, and on the west by the Panamint
Mountains, which rise to the height of ten thousand feet. The climate is
cool and salubrious in winter, but is a fiery furnace in summer, when
the mercury in the thermometer sometimes climbs to one hundred and forty
degrees in the shade.

Death Valley gained its name from a terrible tragedy that occurred
during the early days of the gold excitement in California. Emigrants
bound for California overland were wont to follow the same general route
as far as Salt Lake City. From here there were two routes, one westerly
along the route over which the Central Pacific Railway was afterward
built, the other southerly into southern California.

Late in the season of 1849 one of the emigrant parties reached Salt Lake
City. Rather than winter there, however, they determined to push forward
at all hazards by the southern route. After travelling through Utah and
some distance in Nevada, they left the regular trail and decided to turn
southwesterly and cross a fairly level mesa. The region was unknown to
them, but they believed that by thus changing the route they would be
able to reach their destination more quickly. They also thought that
they would find better grazing for their stock. After they had crossed
the mesa, the route became more rugged and