DEATH VALLEY. 105 
small areas of pyrite and chalcopyrite, with less galena and chal- 
cocite or a related sulphide. The quartz in many portions is intensely 
crushed, this crushing perhaps being contemporaneous with faults 
which cut the diorite-porphyry dikes of the vicinity. The crushed 
fragments have been recemented by limonite or a chalcedonic quartz 
intensely stained by limonite. With these knife-edges of limonite 
and in limonite-stained cavities malachite, cerussite, and (race- of 
azurite occur. Such quartz pans tree gold, and coarse pannings were 
examined from the heavily iron-stained contact of the granite and 
quartz. At the east end of the quartz veins less shattering was noted. 
Vugs lined with quartz crystals are common, and here the fluorite 
and molybdenite already described (see p. 192) occur. 
The quartz vein itself appears to be a pegmatite which crystallized 
while portions of the granite were still viscous and other portions 
were comparatively solid. Later, faulting occurred and the vein 
was crushed. Since then limonite and chalcedonic quartz have re- 
cemented the quartz fragments. The period at which the sulphide 
mineralization occurred is unknown. The molybdenite and fluorite 
are probably of pegmatitic origin, while the sulphides were doubtless 
deposited later. Similar quartz from other prospects on the ridge 
was examined. Where iron stained it is said to carry free gold. 
Water is at present hauled from a pipe line on the Lida-Old 
Camp road, 9 miles distant. The nearest timber grows in the vicin- 
ity of Old Camp. The prospect is 30 miles from the railroad termi- 
nus at Goldfield. 
DEATH VALLEY. 
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY. 
Death Valley is a deep depression lying between the Panamint 
Range on the west and the Amargosa Range on the east. The valley, 
which has a length of 120 miles and a width varying from 3 to 10 
miles, unites with the Amargosa Desert at the ^outh end of the 
Funeral Mountains. In the fifties a band of eighty emigrants are 
said to have perished here and the valley received its name from this 
tragedy. In the Pahute language the valley is called Tomesha, 
meaning " ground afire." Many fantastic stories, most of them 
wholly without foundation, center in Death Valley. Lives have 
been lost from year to year, but the majority of such sacrifices have 
been due to ignorance of desert conditions. In July and August 
the temperature is reported, apparently on good authority, to reach 
136° F., and in summer none but the most desert-hardened men 
should enter the valley. In winter and fall the climate is delightful. 
In those portions of the valley which lie beneath sea level the dry 
air seems heavy and the brightest days are sultry. In the lower 
