by ObscuraSchmura August 10, 2009
One of the members of a party of men, mostly from Georgia, who were among the first non-indigenous Americans to "discover" Death Valley, California, in December 1849. This group was part of a wagon train of "Gold Rush 49'ers", numbering about 150, who were enroute to California from Salt Lake City, and became lost after attempting to follow a "short cut" map that purported to cut 200 miles off the well-known Old Spanish Trail to Los Angeles. This map was later proven to be fraudulent. Little is known of this particular group, except their number, about 15~20 men, and the name of their leader, one James Martin. This shortcut proved disastrous - three men died in late December 1849 and January 1950 and all suffered terribly from thirst and near starvation before reaching Los Angeles, 2 months after the rest of the original wagon train that had stayed on the known trail.
"Did you hear about Benny's attempt to hike across Death Valley last summer? He had to be rescued by Park Rangers before he even got a mile from his car; he almost won the Bug Smashers Award!"
by ctsurv553 December 27, 2022