In 1891, New York Sun reporter and travel writer J. R. Spears accepted an invitation to visit Death Valley to write about the region and explore its borax mines. Spears, the first professional journalist to visit, photograph, and report on the region, provided the American reading public with an engaging and informed account of Death Valley and its surrounding desert country. Through nineteen chapters, Spears examines the 20-mule teams used in borax mining, freighting in the rugged desert landscape, and various desert characters--including "Desert Tramps" and a California bear hunter.
Long considered an important literary and regional history of Death Valley and a primary source of information, Illustrated Sketches of Death Valley and Other Borax Deserts of the Pacific Coast will appeal to enthusiasts of the region and of the American West.
