145:. At this point, a map was presented to the group by a Captain Smith, who had been hired to guide a different group of emigrants, showing a purported "short cut" to California that crossed south-central Nevada along the foot of an east–west mountain range, along which water and grass for the animals would be available, then into California at a latitude much closer to the gold fields. The groups argued over this proposed short cut, and eventually split up, with some sticking to the original route, and others adopting the short cut. The "short cut" group included families with children (generally referred to as the Bennett-Arcane party in Manly's book), and several unmarried men, including William Lewis Manly and his friend John H. Rogers.
182:. Here they were able to procure a pair of horses and a mule, and additional provisions, then they began the 250 mile trek back to Death Valley, arriving back at the Bennett's camp after almost a month's round trip journey, and with only the mule still alive, the two horses having died of exhaustion and privation along the return route. This heroic trek, nearly 500 miles through a completely unknown desert wilderness, resulted in the preservation of the lives of all but one of the members of the Bennett-Arcane Party (a Captain Culverwell had died a day or two before Manly and Rogers' return)
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their only possibility of survival was to send a small party on foot to scout an escape route and perhaps bring help if a settlement could be found. Two young men volunteered to make this attempt, William Lewis Manly and John Rogers, and they were provided with enough provisions for about two weeks, and all of the money in the camp - about $ 30 - with which to buy supplies and animals if such could be found.
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blocking any further progress westward. They were now completely lost, and both people and animals were on the brink of starvation. The group crossed the valley, heading south along the foot of the
Panamints in search of a pass. They camped at a spring, now called Bennett's Well, and determined that
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Unfortunately for these emigrants, the east–west mountain range shown on the map turned out to be a figment of the map-maker's imagination, and for three weeks the team's westward travel was through barren sagebrush desert with hardly any drinkable water and even less forage for the oxen and horses.
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California. The route they were following began to descend along a dry arroyo that is today known as Furnace Creek Wash, which deposited the teams in the bottom of Death Valley, with the
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137:. Although this route would have brought the emigrants to California about 200 miles south of the gold fields, they knew it was too close to winter to attempt a crossing of the central
174:, with little more than a few pounds of dried meat and a makeshift canteen made of gunpowder cans, they stumbled into a settlement, Rancho San Fernando, 30 miles or so northeast of
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At the end of
November, they had arrived at the base of a mountain range and started to climb, believing this to be the Sierra Nevada, with the
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Rogers is notable primarily for the incident recounted here. In the autumn of 1849, several groups of emigrant gold-seekers were assembled in
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California as I saw it, First Person
Narratives of California 1849-1900, Collection, Rare Book and Collectors, The Library of Congress
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just a few more day's travel on the other side. This impression was horribly wrong: the mountains they were climbing were the
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Little is known of Rogers's life, other than what is recounted in the autobiography of
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Tentative Census by Carl I. Wheat, of the 1849 Pioneers that crossed Death Valley
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Dedication of John Rogers monument in Merced by Death Valley 49's organization
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Manly and Rogers started southwest, and after two weeks of walking through the
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William Lewis Manly, Death Valley in '49, Library of
Congress
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Death Valley, Rescue of the
Bennett-Arcane Emigrant party
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341:History of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
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74:Learn how and when to remove this message
186:Events after the 1849 Death Valley march
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316:People of the California Gold Rush
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267:Works by William Lewis Manly
222:Thing Rogers is Named After
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192:Bennett-Arcane party
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109:Early life
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