On May 21, 1851, the Mormon elder, Parley P. Pratt, heading a party of missionaries en route to the South Sea Islands writes in his diary: “We encamped at a place called Resting Springs.... This is a fine place for rest.... Since leaving the Vegas (Las Vegas) we have traveled 75 miles through the most horrible desert.... Twenty miles from the Vegas we were assailed ... by a shower of arrows from the savage mountain robbers.... Leaving Resting Springs the party arrived at Salt Spring gold mines toward evening....” In 1850, Phineas Banning, pioneer resident of Los Angeles and later owner of Catalina Island, hauled freight from Los Angeles to the gold mine at Salt Spring opposite Rocky Point just south of the Amargosa River on the Baker road and in 1854 Mormons discovered gold 25 miles south of Resting Springs, long before Dr. French searched for the Gunsight in Death Valley. The Amargosa River is one of the world’s most remarkable water courses. Originating at Springdale, north of Beatty, Nevada, it twists southward in zigzag pattern until it reaches a point about 34 miles south of Shoshone. There it turns west, crosses Highway 127, enters Death Valley at its most southerly point and then turns north to disappear 60 miles from the place of its origin. You may cross and re-cross it many times totally unaware of its existence, but in the cloudburst season it can and does become a terrible agent of destruction. In 1853 Major George Chorpenning obtained a contract to carry mail between the Mormon colony of San Bernardino, California, and Salt Lake. To reach Resting Springs, a station on the route, required five days. Today it is a journey of four hours. Resting Springs was also a relay station for white outlaws and Indian raiders from Utah, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. Even before Fremont, Carson, or the Mormons old Bill Williams, for whom Bill Williams River, Bill Williams Mountain, and the town of Williams, Arizona, are named was at Resting Springs. [Illustration: Map of Death Valley] [Illustration: John W. Searles, looking for gold, made a fortune in borax.] [Illustration: COURTESY HAROLD O. WEIGHT Like Weepah which “Boomed and Busted” after one day, Gilbert died after a few weeks.] [Illustration: COURTESY HAROLD G. WEIGHT Saratoga Springs] [Illustration: COURTESY FRASHER’S PHOTO. POMONA, CALIF. The Bottom of America] BAD WATER 279.6 FEET BELOW SEA LEVEL LOWEST POINT IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE ⇐ SHOSHONE 57 ⇐ BAKER 93 FURNACE CREEK 17 ⇒ [Illustration: COURTESY FRASHER’S PHOTO. POMONA, CALIF. Grave of Jas. Dayton. Bones are those of his horses.] [Illustration: Dugouts in Dublin Gulch at Shoshone.] [Illustration: Mesquite Club, Shoshone. Known throughout the West.]