This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 Jack Freer Photography

new posts appear below

Tuba Food

Also called tuba, pine nuts have been a fundamental food supply for the inhabitants of this region. During the hotter summer months, people would migrate up into the higher mountain elevations for cooler temperatures, and collect pine nuts from pinyon trees, above the 7,000-foot elevation level. Plentiful pine forests exist in both the Panamint and Amargosa Ranges on either side of Death Valley. Each fall, the nuts fall onto the ground from the cones for a three week period, and the native folks would gather them up for the winter food supply. A single person might gather more than a hundred pounds of these nuts each year. It was essential for each family to gather enough nuts before the snows fell to avoid a food shortfall later in the year.

Outlaw Cave

Strongly supported rumor has it that a large natural configuration of sizable rocks forms a very useful cave around the Butte Valley environs in the southern reaches of Death Valley National Park. Its size allows a number of people to take shelter inside, warmed during cold winter nights by an old rusty wood-burning stove set near a back wall of human-inserted stonework. Some folks may not find the spacious cave, with stones the size of small autos, too hospitable for any long-term occupation, but of course, those who travel this far out from civilization are cut from the hardy cloth of the pioneer, and delight to behold such an incredible sight.

Outlaw Cave presents a significant challenge to locate, and is usually only found when one is guided to it by a fortunate rare soul who has chanced upon it during a prior visit. This is truly a Land of Legend, and in keeping with the mystique of the wild backcountry, no further accounting will be provided here. The fun is in the search, after all. Good luck!

Touring in a Pink Jeep

For folks seeking a convenient and ready-made commercial introduction to Death Valley that is as close as the telephone, Pink Jeep Tours of Las Vegas, Nevada may be an option. Here is what the company has to say about the excursion on their website, pinkjeep.com:

“Death Valley comes to life when Pink Jeep Tours shows you the most spectacular highlights of the largest national park in the contiguous United States. En route, we’ll pass by Mercury, former home of atomic weapons testing, and we’ll venture into the fascinating ghost town of Rhyolite, home to rustic ruins from the past as well as the Goldwell Open Air Museum. In the park, you’ll be amazed by an abundance of astounding natural features, and the awesome history that abounds in this extremely desolate and unique National Treasure. The journey continues with stops at Furnace Creek, Devil’s Golf Course, Badwater, Zabriskie Point, and more. From seasonal snow-capped peaks, to the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, the incredible memories you take home from this tour will last a lifetime.”

This is a seasonal tour, and does not operate during the summer months. The trip is ten hours in duration, visitors are picked up at their hotel.

Pinyon Pine

This is a type of pine tree that profusely inhabits mountainous portions of the southwestern United States and Mexico. We will find them in abundant forests of the Panamint and Amargosa Ranges, along with the juniper plant. Pinyons (also spelled as pinon with a Spanish tilde symbol ~ over the ‘n’ that denotes the ‘nya’ sound) were a chief source of food for the early people of the Death Valley territory, as these folks collected the pinyon nuts every year to store through the winter as part of their food supply.

One way the pinyon pine regenerates itself with the help of a bird called the pinyon jay, which also stores its nuts as food for later use, only the jay puts the nuts in the ground, and those not eaten germinate into new trees. Pinyon pine wood has a unique aroma when burned, which is pleasant to many people. Collecting and burning pinyon wood in the national park forests is not allowed however, so we will have to smell it elsewhere (unless we legally purchase some firewood at an approved campground that allows campfires).

Colossal Musical Instrument

No words can possibly convey the emotion one feels as the famous pipe organ commences its mesmerizing melody inside Scotty’s Castle. The concert room is impressive in its own right, and then once the stirring notes coat the air, one becomes lost in the passionate tone. The Welte-Mignon theater organ has over 1,000 pipes, and is but one of the many treasures to be found within these amazing walls. The Welte-Mignon company produced high quality musical devices originally in Germany during the 1800s, starting in the fabled Black Forest town of Vöhrenbach, and eventually brought a portion of its operations to the United States in New York. In 1932 it faced bankruptcy, and then in 1944, its German plant at Freiburg was destroyed by military bombing.

These old organs can be found in museums, or by visiting Death Valley. The National Park Service now provides yearly concerts starring the organ and a talented organist in order to raise money to pay for its upkeep and also to maintain the Deagan chimes in the chime tower of the castle. Forty people may attend the summer concerts each evening, which last fifty minutes and cost thirty dollars. Reservations are made through the Death Valley Natural History Association. Regular daily tours of Scotty’s Castle also include a brief interlude in the room housing the pipe organ, and visitors delight to hear songs from it, usually controlled electronically rather than by a live person. This impressive instrument reportedly cost around $50,000 in the early 1930s. There were over 7,000 pipe organs placed in American theaters from 1915 to 1933, yet today fewer than 40 remain in their original theaters. Scotty’s Castle offers a very unique treat for our ears!

Death Valley Regional Plants

According to the Smithsonian Guides to Natural America, Far West Edition, there are over one thousand kinds of flowering plants that make Death Valley National Park their home, including desert holly, mesquite, ferns, lilies, and orchids. When we come visit here in the autumn or spring after significant rains, we may well see millions of flowers in all the valleys. April is a lovely time to witness this national park in full bloom and color, and along with these flowers come millions of butterflies … so thick in places that we must slow our vehicle considerably to avoid injuring them as the flitter back and forth across the paved roadway. Death Valley and environs are full of life, contrary to the alarming nomenclature that has unfortunately stuck with the region (well, unfortunate in that it portrays a skewed image, but fortunate in that it provides plenty of revenue for the government as people flock to see this feared realm firsthand).

Author Needed for DV Pictorial Book

Recently, I was contacted by Stacia Brennerman, the acquisitions editor for Arcadia Publishing. Their publishing house is seeking a qualified person to author a pictorial history book about Death Valley. It would included a couple hundred historical photographs, along with text to explain each photo. Arcadia is a traditional publisher, and the author of this book would earn royalties every year based on sales. If you might be interested in inquiring further, please contact Stacia at Arcadia Publishing. Links appear below.

Here is some text from their website, explaining the company’s direction:

Arcadia Publishing is the leading local history publisher in the United States, with a catalog of more than 7,500 titles in print and hundreds of new titles released every year.

Established in 1993, Arcadia has blended a visionary management approach with the innovative application of state-of-the-art technology to create high-quality historical publications in small local niches.

Arcadia Publishing has expanded its focus on preservation efforts and is now the country’s first major book publisher to achieve the use of 100 percent Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper across its entire book publishing program. Learn more.

WHAT WE DO

Arcadia is best known for its popular Images of America series, which chronicles the history of communities from Bangor, Maine, to Manhattan Beach, California. With more than two hundred vintage black-and-white photographs, each title celebrates a town or region, bringing to life the people, places, and events that define the community. Arcadia also publishes other series: Images of Rail, Images of Sports, Images of Baseball, Black America, Postcard History, Campus History, Corporate History, Scenes of America, and Then & Now.

If you are interested in authoring this book, please click HERE.

TOLL FREE: (888) 313-2665
8am – 7pm EST Monday – Thursday
8am – 5:30pm EST Friday
(excluding public holidays)

Plant Zones

In his book, Hiking Death Valley, author Michel Digonnet has developed a table of plant zones, specifying major examples of plants that are found at specific elevations. The statistics that follow are taken from that table:

The Alkaline Sink Zone occurs on valley floors, with plants like the mesquite, salt grass, and pickleweed. The Creosote Bush Zone occurs on alluvial fans, lower washes, and slopes, with plants like the creosote bush, desert holly, and ragweed. The Mixed Shrub Zone occurs in mid to upper canyons and slopes, with plants like blackbrush, cliff rose, and calico cactus. The Sagebrush Zone occurs in upper canyons and slopes, with plants like Mojave rubberbrush, Joshua trees, and rabbitbrush. The Pinyon Pine Zone occurs in upper canyons and slopes, overlapping somewhat with the prior zone, with plants like pinyon pines, mahogany, and Utah juniper. The Limber Bristlecone Pine Zone occurs on the highest of summits, with plants like bristlecone pine, limber pine, and tansybush.

Happy Holidays Desert Rats!

Have a wonderful holiday season all my friends of the outback! Wonder if all the valley residents and employees are whooping it up this nippy winter morn. Merry merry to all … Steve

A Lowly Dry Lakebed

A dry lakebed is also known as a playa, such as The Racetrack Playa, that results usually from a lake that has no outflow point where the water would drain elsewhere. This causes the water to remain on the playa until it evaporates or is absorbed into the Earth. Playas are generally found in arid and semi-arid regions, and it is not uncommon to see water on a playa during years of heavy rain. This often causes the lake bed to become very slick, which, in the case of The Racetrack Playa, leads to heavy boulders being pushed around by high winds. We may see greasewood bushes lining playa regions. Usually, there is no plant growth on the playa itself. Another well known example of a huge playa is in Utah, called the Bonneville Salt Flats. Larger still, there is a playa in Bolivia that is 25 times the size of the Bonneville Playa. Once the water on a playa dries out or is absorbed, the surface generally becomes cracked in polygonal shapes.

Pleasant Canyon

Just behind Ballarat townsite to the east, lies the road that travels up Pleasant Canyon, a wonderfully enjoyable drive of class 2-3 usually. Weather, of course, can up the ante to class-4 if a flood happens by. This trip is “just right” for the average backroad explorer with a four wheel drive rig, as it takes us from the desert floor of Panamint Valley to the high reaches of the Panamint Range crest, through pines and past mines. Clair Camp (site of the Ratcliff Mine) and the World Beater Mines are in here ready to explore. Many ruins still stand. At the summit (Rogers Pass) we are standing on the edge of the world, looking easterly down into Butte Valley to the south and Death Valley to the east and north.

Lower in the Canyon are small stream crossings where the brush grows in tightly around the road. Wild burros live in this canyon, and are frequently seen foraging for food. If we have only one day, and want to experience the mining areas of the western Panamints, this drive is highly recommended, and can be done in just about any 4wd vehicle. It is popular though, so watch for occasional traffic. This road does not go through to the other side, however it does allow a round trip back through South Park Canyon, although a portion of South Park is not for the timid by any stretch of the imagination (it has an extremely dangerous place called Chicken Rock that has fatal consequences should a driver miscalculate). Returning back down through Pleasant Canyon is highly recommended!

A Pleasant Place to be?

In 1896, Bob Montgomery and his brother George began serious gold mining in Pleasant Canyon at their World Beater Mine, which brought increased activity to the area. As more miners and business people poured into the Panamint Mountains seeking wealth, they needed somewhere close to live while there. Three places emerged as camps for miners in Pleasant Canyon: Ballarat, Pleasant City, and Post Office Spring. Only Pleasant City was actually up the canyon near the mines, the other two down near or on the flat in Panamint Valley. Ballarat had the largest population, followed by Pleasant City. For miners staying in Pleasant City, they did not have to travel the six miles or so each day to access the mines, as those in Ballarat did.

PNEUMONACONIOSIS

Were you able to pronounce that? Say it five times in rapid sequence.

If a person consistently inhales minute particles of a particular mineral or metallic substance, such as in conditions faced by some miners underground in tight confines, this disease could contaminate the lung tissue of the person, leading to serious illness or death. Pneumonaconiosis is also commonly known as miner’s lung, and to learn what this scourge is like, read about talc mining. By the way, the spelling for this word was taken from the United States Department of the Interior’s 1920 publication entitled: A Glossary of the Mining and Mineral Industry. There is a differential from today’s more common spelling of Pneumonoconiosis (an “a” instead of an “o” in the “mono” part). Perhaps both are technically correct.

Small Bodies of Ore

Small bodies of ore are referred to as pockets. Pocket hunters were often individual miners with no large financial base who sought out these more easily accessed veins or ledges. Pockets are differentiated from lodes by the amount of valuable mineral contained within them.

The Pocket Miner

A pocket miner was the terminology used to describe prospectors and miners who only worked the land in small increments as money was available, fellows who were often successful because they did not demand immediate high-stakes wealth, extracting the ore little bits at a time to pay their expenses and make a modest amount of net income.

In contrast, many mining developers of the mining boom era in the Death Valley territory were impatient to make loads of money, purchased lots of expensive machinery, made exaggerated claims, sold worthless stock, and generally got in over their heads, which often led to complete failure of the venture. Pocket miners mined small pockets of ore in measured spurts, comfortably sustaining themselves in the process, and causing no one (including themselves) massive financial problems. One perfect example of the quintessential pocket miner is Tom Shaw.

James Knox Polk

This man was the eleventh president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He was committed to the ideology of Manifest Destiny, or the acquisition of land by the United States as an inherent right, even though many opposed such a philosophy. In keeping with this vision, on December 5, 1848, President Polk announced to Congress that gold had been discovered in California, which had an immediate and powerful effect on the westward expansion movement. The ensuing rush to riches not only helped to populate the newly forming western states, but it also helped create the basis for our colorful Death Valley past, because the wagon train parties that found themselves trapped here during the fateful winter of 1849-50 were originally motivated by these tales of gold for the taking.

Life is a series of cause and effect events, and this president unwittingly played an important part of Death Valley’s enduring history. The ironic thing is that James never even knew of this, as he died at age 53, only 103 days after his term expired, on June 15, 1849 – this was prior to the infamous hardships of the pioneers who became trapped in Death Valley later that same year. James is another unique aspect of this Land of Legend. The Manifest Destiny ideology also led to a loss of lands for the first people of this countryside, who were not considered as an integral part of the plan.

Postal Services

For folks who would like a one-of-a-kind postmark on a communication to the outside world, Death Valley provides a solution. Prove to friends and family that surviving here is indeed possible, despite all the tales of yore! There is a post office at Furnace Creek, which is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 5 in the afternoon. They will hand stamp letters with the memorable Death Valley postal mark, available no where else on Earth! Foreign visitors certainly must take advantage of this.

Postal services have been a part of this region for a long time, both formally in the name of the government, and also simply as mail services set up by the movers and shakers of a particular mining camp or town. Such was the case at Panamint City during the 1870s, where a daily mail service transported letters to and from Lone Pine and Los Angeles. Where people go, mail always finds a way to follow.

Post Office Springs

Sometimes written as Postoffice Springs, this was the old name for the area of Ballarat, an old mining town in the Panamint Valley. What brought this place to a location of prominence was the gold strike activity in Pleasant Canyon to the east, in the Panamint Mountains. Some historic distinction can be drawn between Post Office Spring and Ballarat however, as they are separated by a half mile distance, although some sources just lump the two together as one. The name came about because miners got their mail here in the 1890s, although the United States Post Office did not officially recognize it as a post office, according to most current accounts.

Drinking Water

Water suitable for human guzzling is available at all park communities, visitor centers, contact stations and museums. It is available at most campgrounds with two exceptions. Thorndike and Mahogany Flat Campgrounds do not have potable water due to their extreme isolation and high elevation in the Panamint Range. We should always bring our own water regardless of where we stay or where we go out here. It is wise to carry several gallons in our vehicles at all times, keeping our mind at ease. Take it home if not consumed. Either that, or give it to an overheated tortoise.

Enter at your own risk!

What does a potato chip company in cool and wet Salem, Oregon have to do with the desert in hot and dry Death Valley, California? A company in Salem, Oregon (Kettle Foods) introduced a snack potato chip product called “Death Valley Chipotle” a while back, and they subtitled it: “the Ultimate pepper paradise.” The chips are marketed in muted orange and yellow bags – with flames on the label. On the back of the sack, it reads: “ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK”, followed by, “We had to go out into the hottest, driest desert in North America to have a vision of the ultimate chip in the quest for hot pepper perfection. A smoky blend of chili pepper, cayenne, chipotle, habanero and jalapeno, with subtle spice accents, this chip will have you seeing visions and leave you thirsty for more. With heat that’s slow to burn and full of flavor, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to the sweltering, expansive plains of the desert.”

Based on personal consumption, Death Valley Chipotle has indeed captured the essence of our favorite desert territory. This is clearly a fascinating statement that our culture always has been, and always will be, enthralled by Death Valley and all it conjures up in our wild minds. Death Valley truly is a legendary land of illusion, and its image still successfully holds power over our collective thoughts of a harsh and untamed wilderness deserving of its reputation.

Rain, Snow, and Things from the Sky

Any form of water that falls from clouds to the ground is called precipitation, whether it be rain, sleet, hail, or snow. The atmosphere is one very large gas pocket, and in areas where it becomes saturated with moisture, which then collects in the form of clouds, precipitation is likely to occur, as the water mass is heavier than the air can sustain. The water precipitates out of the clouds. Precipitation is one of the main parts of the hydrologic cycle, hydro meaning water.

Water takes on three forms: liquid (what we drink), solid (what we chew on when our beverage glass has no more liquid), and gas (what we breathe in without knowing it). Since there is precious little precipitation in Death Valley, one could be excused for thinking that the hydrologic cycle has been turned off here, that is until a flash flood hits! Precipitation for Death Valley in a given year might look like this (in inches – please notice the decimal point):

Jan: .26, Feb: .35, Mar: .25, Apr: .12, May: .08, Jun: .04, Jul: .11, Aug: .10, Sep: .14, Oct: .11, Nov: .18, Dec: .18, and for the year as a whole: 1.92. Here’s an interesting tidbit for our brains: In 1929, no rain whatsoever was recorded in Death Valley, and from 1931 through 1934, only 0.64 of an inch fell during the 40 month period! Now that is truly the definition of dry by anyone’s standards.

Other things also fall from the sky and end up in this territory, like military bombers that crash here over the years. I doubt they would qualify as precipitation though.

Ya’ Can’t Do That Here!

There is a great deal an active outdoorsy person can do in Death Valley National Park. One of the reasons we come here to do these things is because of the protected quality atmosphere provided by certain rules and regulations. Here is a list that helps keep things the way we like it. The following activities are prohibited, in other words, you can’t do them here:

1) Campfires outside developed campgrounds, 2) Wood gathering, 3) Driving off roads, 4) Green sticker off highway vehicles, 5) Removal or disturbance of rocks, plants, animals, or historic artifacts, 6) Metal detectors, 7) Feeding wildlife, 8) Pets off leash, off roads, on trails, or in wilderness areas, 9) Trespassing on private property or mining claims, 10) Bicycles off roads, on trails, or in wilderness areas, 11) Horses on paved roads, interpretive trails, developed campgrounds, or grazing in the backcountry, 12) Weapons and firearms, 13) Backcountry camping within 100 yards of any water source, 14) Backcountry camping within two miles of any developed area, paved road, or day use area, 15) Groups larger than 15 camping in one place or more than 6 cars (must split up and camp at least one mile apart).

Potentially Likely Outcome

A prospect is applied to any mine workings where a determined value has not been figured. If a prospector suspects a valuable mineral exists in a particular spot, he may then start excavating the site in hopes of finding enough ore to pay for extraction, milling, transportation, and profit, but until it is concluded that sufficient value of an area really exists, the area is usually referred to as a prospect. In other words, it is anticipated and hoped that the area will become a working mining venture.

This comes from the word “prospect” that has meanings alluding to a potentially likely outcome, where indications exist that support the desired result. Prospect is also commonly used to signify a bore hole out in this territory where nothing of significant value was found, and thus no further mining action was taken. That is what we are seeing as we comb the hills around the ghost towns in Death Valley and see the beginnings of a mine shaft that only enters into the ground a few short feet and stops.

The Prospector

Many of these rugged individuals passed the way of Death Valley for many a year in the mid to late 1800s and early to mid 1900s, searching the flatlands, canyons, hills and mountains for minerals that would bring them wealth. A prospector is a person, most often a man, who chooses to comb the wild countryside for such things as gold, silver, or other valuable mineral, working hard at locating and extracting the riches in exchange for selling it as a means of income.

Our stereotypical image of a prospector is a gruff old man with burro, pick, shovel, blanket, and grub – wandering canyons alone in desolate regions, with the eternal hope of striking it rich. This image most likely portrays a lifestyle of choice, one of extreme solitude in the wilds of nature, rather than simply a manner of earning an income, for the returns of such a life are few when viewed with the effort spent at reaching the goal of wealth. It is more the search for the mineral rather than the potential fortune that offers the allure to an authentic prospector of yore.

A good book to acquire is one written by Emmett C. Harder, himself one of the region’s final prospectors. It is called “These Canyons are Full of Ghosts, The Last of the Death Valley Prospectors. It is a paperback, and likely the final book we will find actually authored by an authentic prospector. Another prospector that achieved a fair amount of local notoriety lived in the Panamint Valley at Ballarat, by the name of Charles Ferge, or more commonly, Seldom Seen Slim. He passed on in 1968 and is buried at Boot Hill above the ghost town of Ballarat. Unlike Emmett, Slim apparently wrote no stories or book.

Mind of the Prospector

The vast majority of prospectors never got rich searching for their wealth in the form of gold or silver or any other metal of the remote territory they so feverishly roamed. Hence, this obviously begs the deeper question: Why did they persist at an activity that paid little or nothing, and kept them out in wild and dangerous country for most of their lives? For the answer, here is a quotation from world renowned poet Robert Service, a partial verse from a portion of his poem entitled, The Spell of the Yukon. While the poem is about gold prospectors in Canada’s wild Yukon territory, it could just as well have been written about the rugged Death Valley territorial prospectors! Here, then, is why they did it:

“There’s gold, and it’s haunting and haunting; It’s luring me on as of old; Yet it isn’t the gold that I’m wanting, So much as just finding the gold.” Renowned regional prospector Shorty Harris, a rugged larger-than-life character, once summed up his version of the prospector’s mindset like this: “The country that is far away always looks best to the prospector.”