DEATH VALLEY MEDITATIONS    by Wm L. Manly Low with the golden days of fall and winter upon us, the lure of Death Valley is again irresistible. But how did it seem to those '49-ers who accidentally stumbled across this fearsome anomaly in God's creation? William Lewis Manly who served as scout and rescuer to those beleaguered families who were clutched in the maw of this awful place, wrote these words after a night he spent on a high butte, as he studied the horizons for a possible escape route . . . . (quoting) I was glad enough to see the day break over the eastern mountains, and light up the vast barren country . . . . . it seemed as if pretty near all creation was in sight . . . . and from anything I could see it would not afford a traveler a single drink in the whole distance or give a poor ox many mouthfuls of grass. In due west course from me . . . . the high peak we had been looking at for a month glistened in the morning sun. A day or so later he climbed a peak probably in the funerals. He relates, and had the grandest view I ever saw. I could see north and south almost without limit. The surrounding region seemed lower, but much of it was black, mountainous and barren. On the west the snowpeak [Telescope) shut out the view . . . . . To the south the mountains seemed to descend twenty miles . . . . It was the most wonderful picture of grand desolation one would ever see . . . . I remained on the summit an hour or so, bringing my glass to bear on anything that might help or hinder our progress. The more I looked the more I satisfied myself we were yet a long way from California, and the serious question of our ever living to get there presented itself to me . . . . perhaps I had not yet seen the worst of it. I might be forced to see the men end the women and children of our party choke and die, powerless to help them. It was a darker gloomier day than I had ever known could be, and alone I wept aloud, for I believed I could see the future . . . . I believed I could escape at any time by myself, but all must be brought through or perish."

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