www.Primo.com: Did You Know Life in Death Valley.

In 1848, gold was discovered near Sacramento, California, USA. In the next year, approximately 80,000 fortune seekers flooded the state in hopes of instant wealth. On December 25, 1849, a group, which is part of a convoy of 100 carts, departing from Salt Lake City to the west, into the area now known as Death Valley, or Valley of Death. They hope that the dry lowland near the California-Nevada border is a shortcut.

In it, the air in the valley is cool, but the terrain is dangerous. The group was split up into small groups, each taking a different route. One of the groups, including women and children, trying to find a way out of the valley through the mountains on the west, but to no avail. Due to exhaustion and depleted inventories, they camped at a spring near the site of what is now known as Furnace Creek and then moved on to a water hole later named Bennett's Well. From there, two 20-year-old boy, William Manly and John Rogers, went off to find help. Others remain.

Manly and Rogers hope to arrive in the city of Los Angeles in a few days. They do not know that the city is actually located 300 kilometers to the southwest. After nearly two weeks on foot, they arrived in the San Fernando Valley, in the northern part of the city. There, they get supplies and head out again.

On arrival at the campsite after 25 days away, they saw no signs of life. Manly opened fire, and a man came out from under the wagon. Later, Manly wrote, "He was waving his hands up and shout-'Anak children had gone home. The children had gone home! '"The others also appeared, as much touched so could not speak. Thanks to Manly and Rogers, all but one man survived-he left the camp and walked out of the valley alone. As this group of settlers left the valley, a woman reportedly looked back and said, 'Good-bye, Death Valley!' And that is the origin of the name.

Areas with extreme conditions.

Death Valley-the length is about 225 kilometers and a width of about 8 to 24 kilometers-is the driest, lowest, and hottest in North America. The air temperature at Furnace Creek ever recorded as high as 57 degrees Celsius, while the soil temperature reaches 94 degrees Celsius-6 degrees Celsius below the boiling point of water at sea level! *

The average rainfall there is less than five centimeters a year, and for several years there was no rain at all. The lowest point in the entire Western Hemisphere-86 meters below sea level-are in the valley near the saltwater pool at Badwater. Only 140 kilometers from this place there are high Mount Whitney-the highest point 4,418 meters in the United States outside of Alaska.

In 1850, a small amount of gold was discovered in the valley at Salt Spring. The gold seekers also found silver, copper, and lead in that area. Mining towns with diverse names, such as Bullfrog, Greenwater, Rhyolite, and Skidoo are springing up all over the valley. However, when depleted mineral ores mined, the cities are growing rapidly turned into a ghost town. However, in 1880, borax-a white crystalline compound used in the manufacture of soap and other products-are found in the Valley of Death, triggering the most successful mining period in the valley's history. Until 1888, the groups consisting of 18 donkeys and 2 ponytail painstakingly-cart pull cart of goods along the 5 meter charged borax as far as 270 kilometers to the town of Mojave. But, no delivery between June and September; The air temperature is too hot for humans and animals.

Death Valley designated as a national monument in 1933. Gradually, its boundaries expanded to cover an area of 1.3 million hectares. In 1994, the area became Death Valley National Park-the largest national park in the mainland United States.

Loaded with Life Death Valley.

Understandable if one thinks that there is no life in the Valley of Death. However, there are hundreds of species of animals that visit or live there, mostly active at night considering the hot daytime temperatures. The largest mammal is a sheep-desert-great-horned Nelson, who occasionally entered the valley of the adjacent mountains. Other creatures include badgers, bats, red links, coyote (a type of wild dogs), foxes-cat, rat-kangaroo, mountain lions, porcupines, rabbits, skunks, wild donkeys, lizards, snakes, and turtles desert. There are also birds such as mandar, FALKON, cangak birds, quail, big crow, Sandpipers beach, eagle-carcasses, and hundreds of other species.

The most resilient creatures is rat-kangaroo. They can survive without drinking a drop of water all his life! "All the water needed for survival are absorbed by their bodies from starch and fats in the dry seeds they eat," according to one reference work. And, their kidneys can create their urine up to five times more viscous than those produced by the human kidney. This little rat burrows during the day to avoid the heat of foraging at night.

More than a thousand kinds of plants grown in this valley. Shoshone people, the Indians who had inhabited the region more than a thousand years, looking for a local plant as a food and as a raw material for making tools. If you know what to look for, they say, you'll find lots of food in Death Valley.

When Desert Flower.

At times, the Valley of Death demonstrate the beauty of wild flowers. These flowers grow from the seeds of countless hidden in the soil-sometimes for decades-waiting for the combination of rainfall and air temperature appropriate to begin to sprout. "Could many years [when] we did not see the flowers," said Tim Croissant, botanist of the National Park Service.

However, during the winter of 2004/2005, Death Valley received the highest rainfall in history-more than three times the normal. The result is an abundance of more than 50 kinds of wildflowers, including larkspur, lilac, orchid, poppy plant, primrose, sunflower, and verbena. The valley was fragrant like a flower shop, said one visitor. Of course, the presence of these flowers invite bees and other insects. So when Death Valley overgrown with flowers, the valley was also filled with the hum of the flapping wings of innumerable small.

If you decide to visit this valley of extremes, be sure that you bring a vehicle tough and adequate water supply. And, if you visit coincided with the bees, do not forget to bring your camera. Family and friends at home will be amazed at the many types of life that thrives in Death Valley.
Thank you for reading this article. Written and posted by Bambang Sunarno. sunarnobambang86@gmail.com
author:
http://plus.google.com/105319704331231770941.
name: Bambang Sunarno.
http://primadonablog.blogspot.com/2015/07/did-you-know-life-in-death-valley.html
DatePublished: July 9, 2015 at 13:40