T)eath %JalUy NATIONAL MONUMENT CALIFORNIA NEVADA UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Oscar L. Chapman, Secretary DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • Conrad L. Wirth, Director NATIONAL MONUMENT Contents Open all year • Regular season, October IS to May IS CLOUD FLAMES (Photo by FLOYD B. EVANS, A.P.S.A.) Cover BEFORE THE WHITE MAN CAME 3 The National Park System, of which Death Valley National Monument THE HISTORICAL DRAMA 4 is a unit, is dedicated to the conservation of America's scenic, scientific, TALES WRITTEN IN ROCK AND LANDSCAPE 5 and historic heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. DESERT WILDLIFE . 10 DESERT PLANT LIFE 11 INTERPRETIVE SERVICES 12 DEATH VALLEY National Monument, other mountain in the 48 States. WHAT TO SEE AND DO WHILE IN THE MONUMENT 12 embracing nearly 2 million acres of primi­ The maximum air temperature of 134° F. HOW TO REACH DEATH VALLEY 13 tive unspoiled desert country, was estab­ in the shade recorded in Death Valley was lished by Presidential proclamation on a world record until 1922 when 136.4° F. MONUMENT SEASON 14 February 11, 1933. Famed as a scene of was reported from Azizia, Tripoli. Tempera­ WHAT TO WEAR 14 suffering in the gold-rush drama of 1849, tures near Badwater have probably been Death Valley has long been known to ACCOMMODATIONS 14 even hotter. These extreme temperatures scientist and layman alike as a region rich are known only during the summer ADMINISTRATION 15 in scientific and human interest. Its dis­ months. PLEASE HELP PROTECT THIS MONUMENT 15 tinctive types of scenery, its geological Through the winter season, from late phenomena, flora, fauna, and climate are October until May, the climate is usually unique. ideal. The days are generally warm and Historic Invents The monument is situated in the rugged sunny and nights are cool and invigorating. 1844 Fremont party, following old Spanish 1871 Further explorations for Government by desert region lying east of the Sierra Nevada The Valley is famous for its consistently Trail, camped within sight of south end of Wheeler and Lyle. in eastern California and southwestern fair weather, minimum rainfall, and ex­ Death Valley. 1872 Panamint mines discovered. Panamint Nevada. The Valley itself is about 140 tremely low relative humidity. The average booms in 1874. 1849 Jayhawkers, Georgians, Bennett-Arcane miles long with the forbidding Panamint number of clear days in a calendar year is party, and others entered Valley through 1873 First borax discovered in Valley. Furnace Creek on Christmas Day. Range forming the western wall and the 283, although in one year 351 clear days 1875 Further exploration by Lt. Rogers Birnie. precipitous slopes of the Amargosa Range 1856 First General Land Office survey of Death were recorded. The average annual precipi­ Valley. 1880 Aaron Winters sold borax claims for $20,- bounding it on the east. Running in a gen­ 000. Borax industry in Valley started. tation at headquarters during the past 15 eral northwesterly direction, the Valley is 1860 Darwin French and S. G. George prospect­ 1891 Biological expedition by Merriam, Palmer, years is 2.03 inches. ing parties explored Panamints and parts Coville, and others. narrow in comparison to its length ranging of Valley, giving many place names still in width from 4 to 16 miles. Nearly 550 in use. 1904 Goldfield mining boom, resulting in mining Before the White Man Came to camps of Rhyolite, Skidoo, Greenwater, square miles of the Valley floor are below 1861 Lieutenant Ives explored region for Cali­ 1908 etc. fornia Boundary Commission, using camels sea level. The area in the vicinity of For centuries, the Death Valley region has as pack animals. Prospecting parties 1926 Stove Pipe Wells Hotel and Furnace Creek Badwater is 282 feet below sea level, the active. to Inn established. Eichbaum toll road been inhabited by the Panamint Indians, a 1927 built from Darwin. Beginning of tourist lowest land in the Western Hemisphere. small offshoot of the Shoshone Nation. 1864 Jacob Breyfogle lost the famed Breyfogle traffic to Valley. Telescope Peak, towering 11,328 feet above mine. Driven from their homes in the North 1933 Death Valley National Monument estab­ the Valley floor, probably stands higher lished. many generations ago, these Indians mi­ 1870 Bellerin Tex Bennett started Furnace Creek above its immediate surroundings than any Ranch. 1937 Boundaries of monument extended. grated to Death Valley where they were 2 3 least subject to molestation by their more starved. William Lewis Manly and John water Railroad was built to the edge of the portion of its exhibits cataloged. Although warlike brothers. Capable of great endur­ Rogers were sent on ahead in a desperate Valley to carry out colemanite borate, but studies have been made, it will probably be ance, ingenious in the utilization of every attempt to find a way to civilization and to was abandoned when a richer deposit of many years before more than a superficial edible or otherwise useful plant, eating any bring aid if possible. After a trip of terrific borax (kernite) was discovered on the understanding of its complex geology can animal they could catch, following the hardship, they finally returned and led their Mojave Desert. Death Valley was also be obtained. Enough is known, however, seasons in incessant migration from Valley group to safety. Pausing on the crest of the brought to the attention of the public to show that a remarkable story of its floor to mountain crest, they managed to Panamint Range, the weary emigrants through the exploits of Walter Scott, ex- origin can eventually be told. persist. They called Death Valley "Tome- looked back across the Valley—the tre­ cowboy of Buffalo Bill fame, who became A tremendous span of geological time is sha," which means "ground afire." Since mendous barrier that had caused so much known as Death Valley Scotty. In time, indicated in the exposed rocks in the the coming of the white man their numbers privation and suffering—and cried, "Good- adventurous visitors drove their cars into monument. All of the great divisions of have greatly diminished and their old cus­ by, Death Valley." While many lives were the Valley, cursed its then abominable geological time, called eras, and nearly all toms and arts have been largely lost. A few lost along the trail, a "Captain" Culverwell roads, but came again. With better roads, of their subdivisions, or periods, are rep­ of these Indians still live in a small village was the only emigrant of 1849 to die within and all America on wheels, it was inevita­ resented. If the layers of rocks were pieced on a reservation in the Furnace Creek Death Valley. ble that Death Valley would come into its together and restored to their proper neighborhood. Their baskets are sold at the In the next few years some of the "Forty- own as a national playground. sequence, their total thickness would Inn and Ranch. niners," undaunted, returned as guides or probably exceed 12 miles. However, the on their own to prospect and search for the strata have been so greatly distorted, Lost Gunsight silver lode. Gradually the Tales Written in Rock and The Historical Drama Landscape broken and jumbled, that the story is far country became better known. Panamint from being complete and is difficult to City and later Skidoo, Greenwater, Rhyo- There is no record that the early Spaniards, Death Valley has often been described as a read. Much of the mixed record has been lite, and Chloride City lived their short or John Charles Fremont, who probably vast geological museum, with only a small buried beneath lava flows, and under rain- saw the southern end of Death Valley in lives and died, leaving only tumbled shacks, 1844, entered and explored the region. The weathered timbers, and broken bottles to first scene in the recorded drama of the mark their sites. Valley was written in 1849. Occasionally, the prospectors struck it 20-Mule Team. Frasher's Photos, Pomona, Calif. It remained for a band of half-starved rich in the rugged peaks and baren canyons emigrants, pushing westward on a sup­ which isolated the Valley from the sur­ posed short cut to the newly discovered rounding, less-forbidding desert. Itinerant gold fields, actually to enter Death Valley prospectors prodded their burros from one in the winter of that year. They were lost water hole to the next, following Indian in the wilderness, hungry and tired, and trails or beating out new tracks, and crossed the wide salt floor of the Valley, with the and recrossed the ranges from one end of towering Panamints beyond, was the last the Valley to the other. Some of them were blow to their morale. Losing all semblance careless or unacquainted with the country— of order, the train separated into seven they missed springs, lost their burros, or groups, each seeking its own escape. One lingered too long on the floor of the Valley group, known as the Jayhawker party, in summer. Their remains, dried and picked abandoned almost all of its equipment, clean by kit fox and raven, were eventually made its exit through a canyon later named found and buried beside the trail. Jayhawker Canyon, and crossed Panamint Borax was finally responsible for the Valley and the Mojave Desert. After suffer­ partial taming of the Valley. In the 1880's, ing tremendous hardships, they finally "cottonball" borax (ulexite) was refined at reached Sutter's Fort. the Harmony Borax Works and freighted Another group, the Bennett-Arcane over agonizing miles of desert in huge party, crossed the salt flats. They camped high-wheeled wagons drawn by 20-mule for 26 days at Tule Spring and nearly teams.