Dawn Phelps
Columnist
Covered wagons lumbered along, heading west, as weary travelers looked forward to “better days” and the gold in California. The year was l849—the Gold Rush.
Many families from the Northeast had loaded their possessions and families into the slow-moving covered wagons, risking their money and lives. Their journey was not easy as they crossed prairies, mountains, and deserts in search of a new life, and many graves marked the wagon trails, ominous warnings to those following.
Some of the “Forty-Niners” traveled in the San Joaquin Company wagon train which left Salt Lake City in October, 1849, after stocking their wagons with supplies for the journey. It was getting late in the year to cross the looming Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the story of the Donner Party who had tried to cross the Sierras about two years before was still fresh in travelers’ minds. The Donner Party had been caught in a snowstorm and believed to have resorted to cannibalism to survive.
The San Joaquin Company wagon train could only travel as fast as the slowest wagon, so some in the party decided to strike out on their own on a southerly route, following a fictitious map with a “short-cut” which was supposed to save them time and miles.
But they encountered unexpected obstacles on the way—gaping canyons to cross, not enough water to drink, and more. So, by the time they arrived in the desert of Death Valley, it was Christmas Eve, 1849, and food was scarce. Some slaughtered their oxen, used their wagons for firewood, and cooked the meat into jerky. From there on, they would have to traverse the desert on foot.
Some pioneers in the wagon train decided to send two young men across the mountains for supplies, to wait for their return. Others decided to keep moving in spite of the heat, lack of food, and water. But even with the hardships, only one older man in the San Joaquin wagon train died in the desert.
When the Forty-Niners crossed the desert, they probably faced a brown, dry terrain with treacherous, shifting sand. So, it was probably hard for the weary travelers to imagine anything beautiful ever emerging from the desert, of all places. After successfully reaching the other side of the desert, while looking back from a mountain, one man supposedly proclaimed, “Good-bye, Death Valley!” thus giving Death Valley its name.
But when the setting sun and evening shadows mingle in Death Valley during the winter, the sand dunes take on a breathtaking orange glow as the desert is transformed into a spectacular scene of beauty! And in the spring, with sufficient rain, some real surprises emerge. Bright colors begin to pop up across the desert with flowers pushing their way through cracks, between rocks, and through the sand.
Flower seeds which may have lain dormant on the desert floor for months or years begin to sprout and grow! Blossoms of blue lupines, yellow California poppies, and daisies add their brilliance, and violet sand verbenas show off their colors. Blue bells, wild snapdragons, evening primrose, and desert marigolds!
Ocotillo cacti add their splash of red-orange blossoms as the desert literally comes alive with flowers, birds and desert critters, and about 400 species of birds live in Death Valley.
It is hard to imagine the wonder and joy the travelers in the covered wagons must have felt when they saw flowers blooming in a brown, dry, sandy, desert land. One hundred and seventy-seven years later, their story of “a desert in bloom” in 1849 is still being told! Maybe we feel a little of that kind of joy when we see the first blossoms in springtime, and soon spring will be bursting out all around us!
Hummingbirds will return, trees will leaf out, and lush green grass will again cover the countryside. Officially spring will begin on March 20 at 10:46 a.m.—it is almost here! Soon we can say, “Good-bye Winter, Hello Spring!” So, watch for the flowers!
