Who discoverd Death Valley?

Answer 1

Well, "Who discovered Death Valley?" It depends what you're really asking. The first people to inhabit the place we call "Death Valley" were the Timbisha-Shoshone tribe of Native Americans. Of course there may have been other, earlier people but their records are gone - or are recorded in petroglyphs (rock-writings) unfamiliar to the Timbisha tribe. If you're asking who named Death Valley - well, credit for that has to go to a group of pioneers who came for the gold rush of 1849. In the winter of that year they took a shortcut and ended up in the deepest, driest, hottest valley in the Western Hemisphere. Fortunately for them it was winter. Only one of their party died. But as they were departing the valley and thought about their suffering there and the one member that died - one of them looked back and said, "Goodbye Death Valley" or "Goodbye Valley of Death" (probably referencing the 23rd Psalm) - and as they repeated the story - of course the press got a hold of it - and in 1861 an article was published and the first map appeared with that most feared and dreaded name attached to that forlorn place: Death Valley! And then the myths and legends began. See the related link for more information on Death Valley.