The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Mammoth Hot Springs. Summit PoolsThe Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Mammoth Hot Springs. Summit PoolsLINK TO IMAGE
Opposite the base of Obsidian Cliff is Beaver Lake, the home of numerous beavers and a great resort for waterfowl during a part of the year. After passing Obsidian Cliff, hot springs become more numerous until we reach Norris Geyser Basin. In this locality the odor of sulphur is strong and unpleasant. A little farther on a loud roar startles us, and a few moments later we see the cause of the explosion; it is a powerful steam jet issuing from thesummit of Roaring Mountain. When Dame Nature "turns on steam" there is no nonsense about it.
Norris Basin seems to be of more recent volcanic development, since some of the steam vents in other basins have ceased action during the past few years; moreover, several new ones have opened, one of which rivals Roaring Mountain. Constant and Minute-Man Geysers, though small, are frequent and vigorous in action. In passing through this section the road-bed is hot for some distance, showing that the subterranean rocks which heat the water cannot be very deep down in the earth.
In going to the Firehole Basins we follow Gibbon River to within four miles of its mouth, then, crossing a point of land to the Firehole, we ascend the right bank of the stream to Lower Basin. On the road we pass many springs; the most conspicuous of which, Beryl Spring, lies close to the road. It discharges a large volume of boiling water and the rising steam frequently obscures the road.
In one locality outside the beaten track of tourists there is a veritable Hades on earth. Here, as we walk over ground that is very hot, we are nearly suffocated by the fumes of sulphur. All around us are hundreds of seething, boiling vats of water, and the whole area is cracked and filled with holes from which noxious vapors rise.
Soon after we leave this infernal region we hear a constant roar like that coming from a large steamer about to leave its moorings. We follow in the direction from which the sound proceeds and at length discover the cause.
On approaching the source of the sound we see a large volume of steam rushing with immense velocity from an opening in the ground, while the rock around the orifice is black as jet. The guide tells us that this huge steam ventis called the Black Growler, and that it continues vigorously active summer and winter, year in and year out. Its roar can be heard four miles away.
The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Beehive GeyserThe Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Beehive GeyserLINK TO IMAGE
The chief wonder of Lower Firehole Basin is the Great Fountain Geyser. Its formation is unique. At first sight one is led to believe that the broad circular structure which he sees is artificial. On close inspection numerous pools, moulded and nicely ornamented, are seen sunk in this stone table, while in the centre there is a large and deep pool filled with hot water, but looking like a beautiful spring. At the time of eruption this central pool of water is shot up to the height of one hundred feet or more. Near the GreatFountain Geyser is a small valley in the upper part of which is a large hot spring called the Firehole.
When this spring is visited on a windless day, a light-colored flame seems to be constantly issuing from the bottom, flickering back and forth like a torch, and the visitor feels sure he is gazing at the hidden fires beneath that heat the water. It is the illusion caused by superheated steam escaping through a fissure in the rock and dividing the water. The reflection from the surface thus formed and a black background formed by the sides and bottom of the pool account for the phenomenon.
Surprise Pool is found near the Great Fountain; it will make good its name should you throw into it a handful of dirt. Excelsior Geyser, not far away, is really a winter volcano, its crater being a seething caldron near the Firehole River, into which it sends six million gallons of water each day, even when not in eruption.
At times it sends up a column of water, fifty feet in diameter, to the height of two hundred and fifty feet. The eruptions take place at long intervals—seven to ten years. On account of the great depth and extent of this geyser it has sometimes been denominated "Hell's Half-Acre."
Following along Firehole River we pass into the Upper Basin, a section the most popular with the majority of tourists. Among the geysers in this basin we shall find Grotto, Castle, Giant, Giantess, Bee Hive, Splendid, Grand, and Old Faithful. Each of them has an interest peculiarly its own, but Old Faithful is always true to its name and is perhaps best appreciated by visitors.
The opening through which Old Faithful disgorges its water is at the summit of a mound built up by its own exertions. The wrinkles on its face tell of long-continued service. Every seventy minutes this faithful worker sends up a column of water to the height of one hundred andeighty feet, and at each eruption more than one million gallons of water are thrown out.
We now pass through a section noted for its wild and picturesque scenery and considered the pleasantest on the trip. In leaving the Upper Basin we follow along Firehole River to the mouth of Spring Creek, then along this creek to the Continental Divide. From there, travelling a few miles along the Pacific slope, we cross the Divide and descend the mountains into the valley of the Yellowstone.
Near the central part of the park, encircled by a forest and elevated nearly eight thousand feet above the sea-level, lies a remarkable body of water supplied by ice-cold streams formed by the melting snow on the surrounding mountains. This body of water, of which the Yellowstone River is the outlet, is the famous Yellowstone Lake, thirty miles long and twenty miles wide; it is filled with trout.
Here the fisherman can catch hundreds of trout in a short time, but unfortunately most of them are afflicted with a parasitic disease, rendering them unfit for food. Researches have been made seeking the cause of the disease in order, if possible, to apply a remedy, but so far to no purpose. It is conjectured that the superabundance of fish together with a dearth of suitable food lowers their vitality, thus rendering them liable to disease.
Yellowstone stands next to Lake Titicaca as the highest large body of water in the world. The sunrise and sunset effects on the lake are most beautiful. A steamer plies on the lake carrying mail and passengers. The bird life on this body of water and its shores is represented by swans, geese, ducks, cranes, pelicans, curlews, herons, plovers, and snipe.
For beauty and grandeur the lower falls and canyon of the Yellowstone River are unsurpassed. A body of water seventy feet wide rushes forward with impetuous speed andjoyously takes a leap of more than three hundred feet to the rocks below, where, breaking into millions of particles, it forms a great cloud of spray. The water then dashes on with renewed vitality between the walls of a canyon fourteen hundred feet deep, and most gorgeously painted by nature in such a variety and lavishness of tints that they defy the most skilful artist to reproduce them.
As one gazes from the edge of the chasm into and along the depths below, he attempts in vain to measure the fulness and beauty of this handiwork of nature. He is too amazed for utterance and remains spellbound, communing only with himself and nature regarding the unfathomable significance of such marvels. When the famous painter, Thomas Moran, desired to reproduce in colors on canvas this masterpiece of nature, he gathered his inspiration from Artist Point, and after he had finished the celebrated painting which now adorns the Capitol at Washington, he acknowledged that the beautiful tints of the canyon were beyond the reach of human art.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone has no equal on the face of the globe. With a breadth equal to its depth, this richly decorated canyon stands out unique among the world's wonders. Its beautiful panorama of stained walls, down which trickle streams of water which brighten the tints in some places and soften them in others, extends for a distance of three miles. The entire canyon is fifteen miles in length.
A most interesting place to visit, but outside the itinerary of most tourists, is the Fossil, or Petrified, Forest. This section, especially attractive to the scientist, lies in the northeastern part of the park just north of Amethyst Mountain.
To one who can read Nature's books, a wondrous volume is open, disclosing in its strata the hidden secrets ofmany by-gone geological ages. Here on the north flank of the mountain are two thousand feet of stratifications. On the ledges, tier above tier and story above story, are seen the opal and agate stumps and trunks of twenty ancient forests, some of the trunks being ten feet in diameter.
What wonderful stories do they tell of life and death, of flood and volcanic fire, ranging through the eons of the past! So perfect are these petrifactions that the annual rings can be easily counted and even the grain of the wood is plainly visible.
As one traverses this wonderland he is impressed by the evidence of the stupendous forces that lie smouldering beneath the crust of the earth. It is not improbable that at some future time, by the further wrinkling or sinking of the surface of this part of the American continent, the slumbering volcanic fires may be awakened to new life and activity.
CHAPTER IVTWO PREHISTORIC CEMETERIES—GIANT REPTILES AND GIANT TREES
Although reptiles appeared first in the period known as the Carboniferous Age, or age of plant life, they did not attain their greatest development until Jurassic and Cretaceous times, when many were of prodigious size and ruled the world. The gigantic ichthyosaurs, mesosaurs, and dinosaurs held dominion over the sea and land, and the monster flying reptile, the pterodactyl, over the air.
Ages ago a great inland sea embracing Wyoming and the surrounding region occupied the area east of the Rocky Mountains. For many years students of geology had found this section a fertile field for the study of rock formationsand the collection of fossils; but not until 1898 was the geological wonderland of central-south Wyoming discovered.
This discovery proved to be a graveyard of prehistoric monsters dating back probably several millions of years ago. Entombed in the rocks of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, many lizard-like animals of gigantic size called saurians were found. Several fossil skeletons of these animals have been chiselled out of the solid rocks and mounted in museums, the work entailing a vast amount of labor and expense. The discovery was made by Mr. Walter Granger, who had been sent out by the American Museum of Natural History, of New York, to hunt for fossils.
In the desert section near Medicine Bow River, Wyoming, he found what seemed to be a number of dark-brown bowlders. On a critical examination they proved to be ponderous fossils that had been washed out of a great bed of reptilian remains. The fossil graveyard in question was found to be two hundred and seventy-five feet in thickness. Near by was a Mexican sheep-herder's cabin, the foundations of which were constructed of huge fossils. The vicinity was christened Bone Cabin Quarry. Ten miles south of the Bone Cabin Quarry, in the Como Bluffs, another bed containing the remains of huge dinosaurs was discovered. From these remarkable cemeteries many fossils have been obtained.
The term saurian means "lizard," and it has many prefixes to indicate the different genera and species. The prefixes generally express to a certain extent the characteristic appearance or habits of the different kinds of saurians. Some were flesh-eaters; others were herbivorous. Some lived on land; others, in the shallow waters and lagoons, fed on succulent aquatic plants; still others frequented the deeper waters and lived on fish.
The Brontosaurus (herbivorous dinosaur)_Property of the American Museum of Natural History_The Brontosaurus (herbivorous dinosaur)LINK TO IMAGE
The name dinosaur, meaning terrible lizard, represents an order of fossil reptiles. They are allied to the crocodile, but, like the kangaroo, their hind legs were much longer than their front ones. The neck and tail were very long and the body short but of immense size. These monsters were from twenty to eighty feet in length and weighed from thirty to one hundred tons. The long, slender neck supported a small head that contained a correspondingly small brain, from which it is thought that the creature possessed a low order of intelligence. The tail was much thicker than the neck and in some species was flattened. When rising on its hind legs and resting on its tail it could look into the window of a four-story building. Some of these strange animals had bills like those of a duck; some possessed teeth for grinding and others sharp teeth for tearing. These were by far the largest land animals that ever lived. Thedifferent species often waged titanic battles with one another for the supremacy of the earth.
It is conjectured that their disappearance was due to violent upheavals of the earth, to the draining of the water, to changes of climate, and to deprivation of suitable food.
The mounted brontosaur in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, will enable one better to appreciate the size of these giants of the ancient world. This typical specimen, though not the largest found, is sixty-seven feet long and stands fifteen and one-half feet high. Its neck measures thirty feet in length and its tail eighteen. The body weighed about ninety tons. This huge fossil, enclosed in its stone matrix, was sent from the quarry to the museum. After it had been received two men were employed constantly for nearly two and one-half years in removing the matrix, repairing, and mounting the fossil.
Let us turn now to the burying ground of a giant forest. Long, long years ago, before man appeared on the earth, an inland sea occupied what is now the northeastern part of Arizona. It was a sea bordered with sandstone and surrounded by coniferous forests, where stately trees nodded in the breezes.
At length there came a great change. The rim of the basin gave way, and the great volume of water, freed from restraint, overwhelmed the forest with earthy material, prostrating and burying it deep beneath the flood of sand.
In time the woody structure disappeared, and was replaced by beautifully stained opal and agate. Again, in the lapse of time the old forest bed was once more lifted above its former level, forming a mesa, or plateau, of considerable extent. During subsequent ages, the elements scarred and furrowed the plateau, forming canyons, gulches, valleys, and buttes, thus revealing in part this ancient forest.Could these dead trees but talk, how interesting would be their story! We can read their history but imperfectly by examining the mutilated breast of Mother Earth, in and on which lie these mute stone trees, dead yet made more beautiful through their transformation.
The Allosaurus (carnivorous dinosaur)_Property of the American Museum of Natural History_The Allosaurus (carnivorous dinosaur)LINK TO IMAGE
This region is called the "Petrified Forest," or "Chalcedony Park." It is about one hundred square miles in extent, and is visited annually by thousands of people from all parts of the world. On account of its strange geological character it is of special interest to the scientist.
Let us make a brief trip to this wonderful stone forest. We take light hand-baggage and board a Santa Fé train. The railway passes near the most interesting part of the forest, and we change cars before entering Arizona in order to take this line. The railway officials have made a station at Adamana, six miles from the edge of the forest, in order toaccommodate the travelling public. We leave the train here and procure a team to carry us to the forest.
Unless informed of what is to be seen one is apt to be greatly disappointed. One's idea of a forest is usually that of a timber-covered area in which the trees stand erect, with outspreading branches; but we look in vain for a standing tree, or even a stump that is erect.
All are branchless trunks, prostrate on the ground, many wholly or partly buried; moreover, they are lying in all sorts of positions, some entire and others broken into sections; some are massed closely together; others lie apart; and millions of pieces of all sizes are scattered around. At places we can travel a long distance by stepping from one log to another.
But what is that pile of variegated disk-like objects looking like the primitive Mexican ox-cart wheels? They are cross-sections of stone logs, some large and some small, seemingly thrown together carelessly. It is a characteristic of petrified trunks to break into cross-sections or blocks, varying from a few inches to several feet in length; and this tendency prevails here.
We are told that the trees of this forest antedate those of the Yellowstone Park by a long period of time. How the loftiest flights of the imagination are piqued as we contemplate the marvellous changes since this primeval forest depended on the soil and sun for their life-giving elements! As we wander through this wonderful forest our feet seem to be treading on the rarest gems. And well may it seem so, because when polished these pieces display a beauty of coloring and a lustre that rivals the glint of precious stones. There is no other petrified forest in the world in which the mineralized wood assumes so many varied and interesting forms and colors.
Many years ago a firm at Sioux Falls undertook to manufacturetable tops, mantels, pedestals, and various decorative articles out of sections of this agatized wood by cutting them into the desired forms and polishing them. Tiffany and Company, the famous jewellers, also used this material for the base of the beautiful silver testimonial presented to the French sculptor, Bartholdi.
At a later date, an abrasive company of Denver conceived the plan of grinding up these trunks to make emery because of their extreme hardness; in fact, a plant was shipped to Adamana station for that purpose. Fortunately for the public, however, it was not put into operation because the company learned that a Canadian firm had put on the market an article at such a reduced price that to grind up these beautiful logs would be unprofitable.
Fragments, branches, and trunks of all sorts and sizes are found lying around, many of them richly colored, forming chalcedony, opal, and agate; some approach the condition of jasper and onyx.
Before the Petrified Forest was set aside as a national park by Congress, many acts of vandalism were committed, to say nothing about the quantities of mineral carried away by manufacturing firms and curiosity-hunters. Keepers now have charge of the park, and no one is permitted to take away specimens for commercial use. Previously many of the finest logs were destroyed by blasting in order to procure the beautiful crystals which are found in the centre of many of them.
One object of special interest in the park is the National Bridge, a petrified trunk which spans a chasm thirty feet wide and twenty feet deep. The part of the trunk crossing the gulch lies diagonally and is forty-four feet long. The length of the trunk exposed by erosion is one hundred and eleven feet; a fraction still remains embedded in the sandstone.
The ruins of several ancient Indian pueblos are scattered about the park, nearly all of them built of logs of this richly colored, agatized wood. The forest was a storehouse for ages, whence primitive men obtained material from which to make agate hammers, arrow-heads, and knives, as is shown by implements found hundreds of miles distant from these quarries.
CHAPTER VDEATH VALLEY
Death Valley, or the Arroyo del Muerte, as the Spanish called it, is in the western part of southern California, near the oblique boundary of Nevada, a little way north of Nevada's vanishing point. Nowadays one may ride almost into the valley in a Pullman coach. From Daggett, a forsaken station of the Santa Fé Railroad, a "jerkwater" road, as it is called, extends northward to Goldfield and Tonopah, and this road takes one almost as the crow flies to the edge of the valley of the ominous name.
Even in a Pullman coach the trip is trying to both body and soul. But forty years ago?—well, that is a different story. Then there was no Santa Fé Railway, and no Daggett—just a wide stretch of desert dotted with yucca and Spanish bayonet. Prospectors and pack-trains had left trails here and there. One of these, now a wagon-road, lay southward to San Bernardino; northward it lost itself in the desert toward Candelaria.
The region possesses some names that are a trifle paradoxical. For instances, there are the Black Mountains, the grayish red color of which belies their name. Then there is Funeral Range, which, far from being sombre inaspect, is most brilliantly colored. To the southward is Paradise Valley, a plain desert strewn with greasewood and chamiso; and down in the floor of Death Valley is, or rather was, Greenland. But Greenland is not a waste of icebound coldness; on the contrary, it is averred by the laborers in the borax fields to be several degrees hotter than any other place on earth. The surplus water of the spring is employed to produce verdure there, and it is apparently equal to the task, for the forty or more acres so irrigated produce wonderful crops; hence it is "Greenland."
Even twenty years ago the trip to Death Valley was a trying one to the experienced desert traveller in summer; to the tenderfoot without a guide it was almost certain death. The best equipment for the trip was a pair of mules, or else cayuse ponies, and a light buckboard with broad tires—tires so wide that they would not sink in the loose, wind-blown rock waste. The equipment might possibly be found in Daggett; more likely it must be purchased in San Bernardino.
At all events, Daggett was the real starting point, and the first "trick" in the journey was the crossing of Mohave River. The river was pretty sure to be deep—not with water but with sand. Whoever saw water in the channel, or "wash," of the Mohave? Perhaps the oldest settler may have seen it; at any rate he will so claim, for the oldest settler is always boastful; indeed, fairy-story telling is his inherent, bounden right. To make good his assertion he points to the bridge, and certainly the bridge is there; but as for the river, it may be on hand one day—perhaps an hour or so—in ten, twenty, or thirty years!
Beyond the river a wide expanse of desert is before us, and then a beautiful lake comes into view. Real water, is it?—no; just the desert mirage, but it seems real enough to quench a genuine thirst. But the illusion is lessened bythe surroundings, for we are approaching a dry sink—an old lake-bed that was filled with brackish water once when a cloud-burst that occurred in Calico Mountains had its busy day.
Back of us are Calico Mountains, a picturesque clump of buttes, and the glimpse of them we get from the north explains why they were so named. And such colors! Their brilliant hues change like kaleidoscopic patterns with the sun's motion. On our right a trail diverges to Coyote Holes, made grewsome by one of many tragedies that have occurred in the region. This time it was a hold-up. A desert waif out of luck and ready cash waylaid the paymaster of Calico mines and relieved him of the money intended for the miners. The robber was soon trailed and he quickly discovered that his only safety lay in hiding. But where could he hide in that desolate flat?
At Coyote Holes there is a spring and a small marsh. The robber buried himself in the mud till all but his face was covered and lay there while the posse searched. But the keen vision of an Indian scout did not fail. When the robber saw that he was surrounded, he put up a brave fight and went down, riddled with rifle-balls. The money was recovered.
A little farther on is Garlic Springs. It is a common camping-place and like other camps is plentifully strewn with the evidence of the prospector's outfit—hundreds and hundreds of empty tin cans. In time we camp at Cave Springs in a little cove of the Avawatz Buttes. Once there came along a man who all said was half-witted. Perhaps he was, but his intelligence was keen enough to prompt him to claim the springs. By selling the water for quenching thirst at the rate of "four bits" a head for stock and "two bits" apiece for men, his spring proved the best gold mine in the district.
There is no water ahead until we reach Saratoga Springs, a dozen miles beyond, and it is well that we take a small supply along, as the water there is unfit for either man or beast. There is a difference between Saratoga Springs, New York, and the springs bearing this high-sounding name in the Amargosa sink.
Twenty-mule borax teamTwenty-mule borax teamLINK TO IMAGE
Boiling Springs are a night's ride—perhaps twenty miles—beyond. We give our team three hours of rest and start therefor, stopping in the mean time for a midnight feed, where most unexpectedly we find some excellent grazing for our horses. By daylight we are at the Springs and in a locality much like the Bad Lands of South Dakota. But the "boiling" industry apparently is taking a vacation, for the water is not too warm for one's hands and face—and certainly it is refreshing.
We are in a "sink," or the dry bed of a lake, and the cliffs of clay have been sculptured into existence by the Amargosa River. Sometimes, when a dissipated cloud tumbles its contents into the region, the Amargosa is filled bank full with water; but few prospectors have seen more than a trickling stream flowing in its bed.
We turn our way out of the wagon-trail toward Funeral Range to find the canyon of Furnace Creek, and in time we are clambering up a narrow gulch between the multicoloredstrata of clay buttes. Not a vestige of life, not even the horned-toad or the trail of the kangaroo-rat is to be seen. Half a dozen graves marked each by a wooden cross or a rock monument are in sight. Who are they? Ask the simoom that sweeps like a cruel furnace blast over this forsaken region. To be lost in this desert means horrible suffering, phantom-seeing, and then death. The bodies of these unfortunates were merely found and buried—lost!—dead!
We cross the 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 salubriousin 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 more precipitous, so, in order to lighten the wagon-loads, one by one many articles of furniture were left behind.
When the company reached the head of Amargosa Valley they began to separate. At length one party found looming up before it the streaked and many-colored Funeral Range of mountains. Nothing daunted, they laboriously toiled up to the crest with their teams. On looking down their hearts sank within them as they beheld a precipitous descent to a long, deep, and narrow valley almost destitute of vegetation. This depression was to be christened Death Valley.
It was now too late to turn back; so, unyoking the oxen,they proceeded to lower the wagons down into the valley by hand, using chains and ropes. By the time they had finished the task darkness had shut down and, gathering sufficient greasewood brush to make a fire, they cooked their evening meal with a scanty supply of water and vainly searched for more. The food was eaten in gloomy silence, for they were lost and knew not where they were nor how to reach the nearest settlement.
It was apparent to all, however, that they must hasten to leave this kiln-dried desert valley as soon as possible. Abandoning their wagons and nearly all of the surviving oxen to their fate, after incredible hardships from lack of both food and water, about one-half of the company of thirty souls that crossed the Funeral Range reached the settlements alive. Succumbing to their sufferings, the others dropped, one by one, by the wayside unknelled and uncoffined. The skeletons of several of these unfortunate emigrants were found years afterward by exploring parties and prospectors.
Among those who escaped was a man named Bennett, who, on reaching the nearest town, reported that he had found a ledge of pure silver. The reputed discovery occurred in this way. As he was wending his course along one of the canyons he came across a spring, and, being both thirsty and tired, after taking a drink sat down to rest. While sitting there he carelessly broke off a piece of a rock jutting out near him, and perceiving that it was very heavy and thinking it might be of some value, placed a small part of it in his pocket.
After he had reached San Bernardino he happened to purchase a gun lacking a front sight. Bennett therefore sought a gunsmith, whom he requested to make a sight out of the metallic rock which he had found that he might have a souvenir which would not be easily lost.
To the astonishment of all who learned the facts, themetal proved to be pure silver. This circumstance gave rise to the celebrated "Gunsight Lead," a phantom that was chased in every direction from Death Valley; but, like the mirage of the desert, the lead was never found.
In summer the valley is said to be the hottest place on the face of the earth, and persons deprived of water even for an hour become insane. Men who have attempted to cross it at mid-day have been known to fall dead, and birds flying across have been killed by the fierce heat.
Cloud-bursts occur occasionally on the adjoining mountains, when torrents pour down the declivities, filling the canyons with streams of water sometimes many feet deep, which sweep everything before them. A cloud-burst may change the whole face of the mountain. Cloud-bursts come usually in the hottest weather and almost with the suddenness of an explosion. A swiftly moving black cloud tipped with fiery streaks and growing rapidly appears above the crest of the mountains. Then it sinks like a monster balloon turned sidewise until it strikes a ridge or peak; the flood is then let loose and destruction follows.
Many stories are told of persons barely escaping with their lives by hastily climbing up the side of the canyons, beyond the reach of the roaring waters, and of others being overwhelmed and drowned. Such a flood, caused by a cloud-burst, may have buried the alleged Gunsight Lead and have changed the conformation of the canyon beyond recognition.
No one without experience in travelling over deserts in the summer season can realize the hardships attending travel in the region of Death Valley nor the sombre sameness of the arid stretches of sand. When the sun has set and the full moon rising makes the silhouettes of the mountains look darker, a vague, indescribable sensation comes over one—an awe-inspiring feeling of insignificanceand helplessness amidst scenes of majestic desolation. If religiously inclined, one is prone to utter the words of the wandering Arab of the Sahara, "Nothing exists here but Allah!Allah hu Akbar!—God is greater than all his created witnesses." In summer, the air being almost entirely destitute of moisture, evaporation is exceedingly rapid, and so hot is the sun at this season that metal objects lying out-of-doors burn the hand if touched.
Many years ago valuable borax deposits were discovered in the Death Valley and thousands of tons of borax have been freighted out by huge wagons drawn by mules; indeed, "twenty-mule-team borax" has become almost a household term. Borax is still mined here, but not so extensively as formerly, more accessible borax deposits having been found in Nevada and elsewhere—and the twenty-mule team is now a motor-truck!
Nearly one-third of all of the borax of the world comes from the deserts of California and Nevada. When borax was first discovered in California the wholesale price in New York was about fifty cents a pound; now it is about six cents.
The various applications of borax to industrial and domestic uses have kept pace with its enormous production during the last twenty-five years, until now it is used for more than fifty different purposes. The meat-packers of the United States alone use several million pounds as a preservative. It is also used with excellent results as an antiseptic in dressing wounds and sores.
Furnace Creek enters the valley on the eastern side of Death Valley, but its waters soon sink out of sight. The creek is used to irrigate a tract of alfalfa, a small garden, and a few trees; and the small ranch, a veritable oasis in a desert, is rightly called Greenland. A few men are kept employed here by the borax company. Now and then, however,the whole crowd, tiring of the extreme heat, desert in a body.
This region is now robbed of some of its terrors by the completion of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, which touches Death Valley at the old Amargosa Borax Works.
CHAPTER VITHE MINERAL WEALTH OF THE ANDES
At this period of the world's progress, when so many marvellous inventions are taking place, one can scarcely realize the intense interest that was awakened by the first discoveries made in the New World. So great was the excitement that the most improbable stories were readily believed.
There were fountains of perpetual youth, Amazonian warriors, mighty giants, and rivers whose beds sparkled with gems and golden pebbles. The reports of every returning adventurer, whatever had been his luck, were tinged with the marvellous. In fact, a world of romance was now open to all and the opportunities to achieve fame and fortune were numberless. The first in the field stood the best chance to win the choicest prizes. Stories that outrivalled the Arabian Nights clouded the realm of reason.
So extraordinary were the accounts that many of the cities of Spain were depleted of their most energetic men. Every craft that could sail the seas was called into use, and the building of new vessels was hastened to completion in order to provide for the needs of adventurous prospectors and would-be explorers.
The conquest of the Aztec Empire, with its millions of treasure, by Cortez had already proved the valiancy of Spanishcavaliers. To add to this, the conquest of the Incas by Pizarro and his followers was regarded a miracle of divine interposition.
As a result, Spanish galleons laden with treasure from the conquered countries ploughed the seas, and untold wealth poured into private and royal coffers. Spanish ambition and greed for gold knew no bounds. Cunning and cruelty were employed by the Spaniards to secure their ends. No trials, no hardships were too great for them to endure. No perils daunted them. Western South America, ruled by viceroys for nearly three centuries, brought to Spain its greatest wealth. One-fifth of all the wealth and treasure acquired was reserved for the crown.
When Pizarro first visited the interior of Peru he found an empire well advanced in the arts of civilization. Its temples within and without were richly decorated with gold. There were thousands of miles of excellent roads, of which two were used for military purposes. One of these extended along the lowlands; the other traversed the grand plateau. These roads crossed ravines bridged with solid masonry and were pierced by tunnels cut through solid rock. The construction of these great roads was a more wonderful achievement than the building of the Egyptian pyramids.
The government was systematically organized and to a certain extent it was both paternal and communal. Agriculture was skilfully carried on by means of fertilization and irrigation.
The sun was the chief deity and object of worship of its people. Their most beautifully adorned and renowned sanctuary was the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco. Besides this sacred edifice there were several hundred inferior temples and places of worship scattered through the empire, all plentifully ornamented with gold and silver. Every Incaruler was regarded as a descendant of the sun and therefore a sacred person.
According to the popular belief, gold consisted of tears wept by the sun and was therefore a sacred metal suitable for beautifying the palaces of the Incas and temples of worship. Not only were the edifices themselves richly adorned with this precious metal, but the sacred vessels and many of the articles of furniture were made of the same material. Silver, also, was much used, but was not considered sacred. So great was the amount of the precious metals used that each royal palace and temple was a veritable mine.
From 1520 to 1525 reports of a rich empire at the south were circulated among the adventurers congregated at Panama. At length they were confirmed in a great measure by travellers who had voyaged southward along the coast. Francisco Pizarro, a restless spirit who had been associated with Balboa and others in discovery and exploration, determining to test the truth of these reports, made several voyages south.
Finally, he landed on the shores of Peru with an army of followers who numbered less than two hundred. He met with but little opposition from the natives while marching toward the interior, and although he plundered some of the places through which he passed, the people received him with marks of friendship.
In some instances towns of several thousand population were deserted on the approach of the Spaniards, so great was the terror inspired by the white men, especially by those on horseback. At first it was the policy of the invaders to treat the natives with kindness in order to accomplish their purpose, namely, to conquer the Peruvian Empire in the same manner that Cortez had conquered the Aztecs. They were accompanied by two of the natives who previouslyhad been taken to Spain and taught the Spanish language. By this means the Spaniards were able to communicate with the people.
Learning that the Inca ruler, Atahuallpa, was encamped with his army among the mountains, Pizarro sent an embassy to request a meeting with him. It was agreed that they meet at Caxamalca, a strongly fortified city among the sierras. On arriving at the city, the Spaniards found it evacuated. Soon after taking up their quarters there, Atahuallpa arrived and established his camp a short distance outside the city.
Pizarro at once sent word to Atahuallpa to come into the city and sup with him, but asked that, in order to show his faith in the white men and his own good intentions, he should leave all weapons behind. After much persuasion Atahuallpa accepted the invitation and entered the city, with several thousand of his followers, unarmed.
When fairly within the enclosure, a priest approaching the Inca ruler made a harangue about Christianity and demanded that he should submit to the authority of the Spanish king.
"By what authority do you demand such submission?" replied the monarch with flashing eye.
"By this holy book which I hold in my hand," answered the priest.
Then snatching the volume from the hand of the priest, Atahuallpa scornfully threw it on the ground, saying, "What right have you in my country? I will call you and your companions to an account for the indignities heaped upon me."
Picking up the book, the priest forthwith went to Pizarro and reported the conduct of the Inca, saying, "It is useless to talk to this dog. At them at once; I absolve you."
Immediately Pizarro raised his handkerchief for the preconcertedsignal, the firing of a gun. Thereupon his soldiers, infantry and cavalry, rushed from their places of concealment upon the defenceless Indians, slaughtering them unmercifully right and left.
The discharge of the arquebuses and cannon, with their smoke, and the charge of the cavalry paralyzed the unsuspecting natives, and the attack became a horrible massacre. Not until thousands of the Indians had been killed and the Inca ruler had been captured did darkness cause the Spaniards to desist from their bloody work. So sudden and terrible had been the onslaught that the haughty monarch himself seemed stunned by the effect.
Realizing the irresistible power of the white men with their wonderful weapons and horses, the natives gave up for a time all thoughts of resistance. In fact, they regarded the Spaniards as superior beings endowed with preternatural gifts.
When the ruler had been kept a prisoner several months, he desired to regain his freedom. By this time he realized the Spaniards' thirst for gold, and therefore promised to fill the room in which he was confined with it as high as he could reach, and twice to fill an adjoining room with silver, if they would release him.
Pizarro agreed to this proposal; Atahuallpa thereupon sent out messengers to all parts of his empire requesting that the metals in the shape of utensils and ornaments be collected from the royal palaces, temples, and elsewhere and brought to Caxamalca.
On account of the difficulty of transportation, since all the treasure had to be carried on the backs of the natives, many months elapsed before the collections could be made.
When fifteen and one-half million dollars' worth of gold and a large amount of silver had been delivered at Caxamalca, Pizarro excused the imprisoned ruler from furthercontributions. At this juncture of affairs Almagro, a co-partner in the Peruvian expedition, arrived on the scene with a strong reinforcement.
On learning of the immense amount of gold and silver collected, the followers of both leaders loudly clamored for its distribution among them, and, taking out the royal fifth part, the remainder was divided according to the rank and service rendered. Then came rumors of an uprising among the natives and of the collection of an army to drive out the invaders, but on investigation these reports were found to be false.
The question then uppermost in the minds of the Spanish leaders was the disposition of the royal prisoner. It was thought that, were he released according to promise, the natives might rally around him and demand the expulsion of the intruders. So it was decided to make charges against him and to have at least the form of a trial in order to give an appearance of justice to the proceedings.
Twelve charges were made against Atahuallpa, nearly all of which were far-fetched and absolutely false. He was found guilty and condemned to death by burning; but at the last moment, when he was chained to a stake and the torch was ready to be applied, the priest in attendance promised that the sentence should be commuted to the easier death by the garrote if he would renounce his idolatry and embrace Christianity. He assented to the proposal, and immediately the modified sentence was carried out. It is not necessary to add that the execution of the Peruvian monarch was the darkest stain on the pages of Spanish colonial history. From this time on the conduct of the Spanish invaders was marked by a most inhuman cruelty toward the natives.