The mystic mid-region, the deserts of the Southwest . n out of the edeeof the Western continent. Green and blue of copper, ruddiness ofniter, yellow of sulphur, red of hematite andcinnabar, white of salt and borax, blend withthe black and gray of the barren rocks and thedark carmine and royal purple and pale greenof the mineral-stained granites. Heat and thirst are not wholly responsiblefor death in this valley, for some have frozenand some have drowned within its register as high as 140 degreesin the valley, but towering above the regionare snow-clad mountains, and it so
The mystic mid-region, the deserts of the Southwest . n out of the edeeof the Western continent. Green and blue of copper, ruddiness ofniter, yellow of sulphur, red of hematite andcinnabar, white of salt and borax, blend withthe black and gray of the barren rocks and thedark carmine and royal purple and pale greenof the mineral-stained granites. Heat and thirst are not wholly responsiblefor death in this valley, for some have frozenand some have drowned within its register as high as 140 degreesin the valley, but towering above the regionare snow-clad mountains, and it sometimeshappens that the winds, which in the day waftwaves of furnace-like heat through the valley,bring down, by night, the frigidity of the up-per region, chilling to death the unprotectedprospector who may chance to be below. Asfain, in this thirst-cursed region, whichknows not the blessing of the shower, some-times occur terrible cloudbursts which sendsolid walls of water tearing down the mountain-sides, carrying death and destruction in Death Valley i«i Xor arc these all of the possible this great drug warehouse arise deadly va-pors, and the; passing winds whirl clouds ofpoisonous dust through the air, which, if in-haled, will eat the vitals and eventually robone of life. Notwithstanding the terrible character ofthis valley, there is an instance where two per-sons sought it for the express purpose ofcheating death. A Brooklyn lawyer namedWhittaker, and his wife, were both stricken withconsumption. By advice of their doctors theysought the Pacific coast, going to Los there advised them to seek a drierclimate ; therefore, in a wagon equipped witha camping outfit and a supply of the neces-sities of life, they sought the Great MojaveDesert. Here, indeed, was air dry enough fortheir purpose. They drove from oasis to oasis,and soon found themselves growinor better andstronger, notwithstanding the privations theywere forced to endure. They
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectdeserts, bookyear1904
