Excerpt from The Deserts of Nevada and the Death ValleyThe discovery of gold in California in 1849 was the beginning of the conquest of this thirsty region, the direction of greatest travel being but little south of west from Great Salt Lake to the vicinity of the Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada, since used by the Central Pacific Railroad in crossing this range. In seeking for better routes to the new El Dorado, par ties journeyed southward across the wastes oi sand and rock searching for the lower passes which would be perenni ally available. In this direction the num ber of mountain ranges to be crossed is largely increased, but by going well southward the great wall of the Sierra Nevada is escaped, though the desert journey is very much lengthened and the hardships encountered by many par ties were most appalling.The desert took frequent toll in the lives of man and beast, and indeed does sometimes today, though the dangers are now comparatively insignificant.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.