Old Book About Two Ladies Traveling Through the Mojave Desert
They were Edna Brush Perkins and her friend Charlotte Hannahs Jordan; the trip happened in 1920. This article in the website of Death Valley National Park says about the trip:
Their adventure into Death Valley looked much less like a modern trip into the park today, bearing much more in common with the treacherous journey of the ‘49ers.
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| Photo from the book - Public Domain. |
Some excerpts from this book and travel planning links follow.
Ryolite is a typical American ruin. Its boom was very brief.
Rhyolite is a ghost town 35 miles from the Furnace Creek Visitor Center and 4 miles west of Beatty. It's not inside the national park; it's in BLM land - this is the map. More info here and in Google Maps.
Edna mentions the dangers of travelling in Death Valley, pointing to the remains of wagons buried near Stovepipe Wells. This is not the popular waystation of today, it may be the original location east from the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.
Both the mountains and the valley were named because tragedies down on that white floor during pioneering and prospecting days.
One story is of a party of emigrants, men, women, and children, on the way to the gold-fields with all their household goods, who entered the valley by mistake and could not find a way out; another is of a party who were attacked by Indians and fought in a circle they made of their wagons until the last man was killed. The remains of the wagons are said to be buried in the sand near a place called Stovepipe Wells.
It was "Old Johnie," an habitué of Death Valley, coming home. He had an unworked gold-mine near Keane Wonder...
The national park says about the access road to this mine: "Drive the Beatty Cutoff Road 5.7 miles north from Highway 190 to the marked dirt road for Keane Wonder Mine. Continue 2.8 miles to the parking area. The road is typically in rough condition and may require a high clearance vehicle with thick tires." - Map location here.
Salt Creek was another spot visited by Edna and Charlotte,
The curious streak in the bottom of Mesquite Valley was the swamp of Salt Creek.There were quicksands there, that you could not get out of if you got in. Men and burros has been lost that way.
This place is 13 miles from Furnace Creek and there is a trailhead there. Check this page of Death Valley National Park for info and this is the geolocation.
About the area of Furnace Creek:
Furnace Creek Ranch, the irrigated farm in the bottom of the valley established long ago in connection with the original borax-works of the Twenty-Mule-Team brand.
Skidoo is another ghost town mentioned in the book.
The town of Skidoo lay in a high valley shut off from a view by the surrounding hills.
The website of Western Mining History has information about Skidoo. The national park warns that "Skidoo is located off the Wildrose Road on an unpaved high-clearance road not recommended for automobiles. Nothing remains of the actual townsite."
A hike to this summit may be interesting.
Pinto Peak is on the west side of Emigrant Pass, overlooking the Panamint Valley and all the region to the foot of Mt.Whitney in the Sierra Nevada.
There is information to reach Pinto Peak in Summitpost. Check the location of this mountain in Google Maps. For hiking information for Death Valley National Park go here, and refer to their Backcountry and wilderness access map.
