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The history behind Death Valley

In 1849 Gold was discovered and everyone traveled there in large groups to hopefully grab a piece of land and mine for gold to make a small fortune. It was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California. Along their way they would stop at Salt Lake City, cross the Great Basin Desert, and climb over the Sierra Mountains. that seems simple enough but they were racing against the winter. When winter comes it will be impossible to cross the Sierra Mountains; it will be too cold and windy for them to survive when the only protection they have is their own wagon, that is if they are lucky enough to own one. the wagons wouldn't be much shelter and the people would die of starvation or frostbite. The '49ers arrived in Salk Lake City in October of that year. It was too late and they would have to wait until spring arrived. At this time the '49ers heard about the Old Spanish Trail. This got their hopes up again.

The Trail went around the southend of the Sierras and was safe to travel in the winter but no one has ever tried to follo9w the trail with a wagon train. There were many people in the town who knew the trail well but only one would have the courage to lead the emigrants through it. They set offf on the trail and it is recorded that their first two weeks were easy. The leader of the group was a man names Captain Jefferson Hunt. he was a good man and tried to keep everyone at the same pace to ensure that everyone got there safely but many people wanted to go faster and to their luck a map was delivered showing them a faster way. The map was made by John Fremont, he made exploratory trips through the area.

On the map was a trail called Walked Pass, that would cut off 500 miles of the trip. At this point half decided it was a good idea to go and the other half decided to keep on the known trail with the guide. The group parted at a town known now as Enterprise in Utah. There is a monument, now, of Captain Hunt there. It was constricted to commemerate this event of the emigrants parting. Everything was going smoothly until they came to Beaver Dam Wash. The Beaver Dam Wash is a large canyon that is located on the Utah-Nevada state line. This was a delema. many of the '49ers turned back but 20 were courageous enough to press on. They thought that was the worst of their problems but it wasn't. During that night the young man who brought them the map, escaped in the night's darkness. When they woke up their hopes of getting safely across the canyon and to California's gold rush were crushed. Despite the sircumstances they decided to keep going.

They traveled west through the canyon, over Bennett's Pass, and then Crystal Springs in Paranagat Valley.They kept traveling until they stopped in Groom Lake in Nevada. The group got into a fight about which way to go. They were divided in half. Half of them followed a well used trail by the local indians. The other half stayed on the same plan and kept traveling west. Both groups were dying of thirst and were saved by a snow storm and they eventually met again in Ash Medows; which is just east of Death valley. On Christmas eve of the same year they arrived in Travertine Springs; a town about a mile away from Furnace Creek. After several days of trying to figure out where to go they decided on a path that was north. They continued for days and ended up comming towards mountains that were to steep to take the wagons and oxen. They decided to turn the oxen into jerky and use the wood from the wagons to make fires. They climbed through passes, walked through canyons, climbed over mountains, traveled through valleys, and walked right past Walker Pass. From Walkers Pass they traveled through the Mojave Desert; a place that has little water. Luckily for the group there was a storm a few days before that left little puddles and ice which saved them from dying of thirst. That didn't stop them. They kept walking and followed a river drainage, Santa Clarita River, and were finally rescued by Spanish cowboys.

Timbisha Shoshone

The Timbisha Shoshone Tirbe are Native Americans that lived in Death Valley befor it was discovered by the English men. The tribe lived off the land and as far as they were concerned they got everything they needed from the land; their sacred places and their hunting grounds.

The Black Forty-Niners

They were a band of emigrants that moved to Death Valley in 1849. Their journey is what named the valley Death Valley. The emigrants are called the '49ers because that was the year they left for California.

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