194103-DesertMagazin.. - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

On Manly 5 'Ttail
In the J^anamint5
When William Manly and John Rogers brought
aid to their starving companions in Death Valley
in 1849. one of the most serious obstacles they encountered
was a precipitous waterfall high up in
the Panamint mountains. Thanks to the sure-footedness
of a sturdy pack mule they won through and
saved the lives of their companions. John Thorndyke,
a mining man, and Superintendent T. R. Goodwin
of the Death Valley national monument are
reasonably sure they have located that waterfall,
which Manly described so graphically in his book.
Recently, Dick Freeman and two companions undertook
to secure photographs of this historic spot for
Desert Magazine readers—and here is the story of
their excursion into that arid mountain wilderness.
Looking down South Park canyon
from a point on the clijfs above Manly
Falls. Panamint valley below and
the Argus range in the background.
The Manly-Bennett-Arcane party descended
this canyon 91 years ago.
By DICK FREEMAN
Photographs by the author
' I J / E found the little mule stopped by a still higher
\/\/ precipice . . . Our hearts sank within us and we
said that we should return to our friends as we went
away—with our knapsacks on our backs—and hope grew very
small."
Thus wrote William Lewis Manly in his remarkable book,
Death Valley in '49, of the precipitous falls which almost wrote
finis to himself and John Rogers as they returned with food
and supplies to the Bennett and Arcane families, stranded and
starving at one of the waterholes in Death Valley.
Manly's book was written from memory many years after
his heroic trip. Since he kept no day-to-day record of his journeys,
an accurate retracing of his route between Los Angeles
and Death Valley was considered practically impossible. Consequently,
until recently Manly Falls has been only a name
rather than a reality.
In the fall of 1940 I learned that Manly Falls recently had
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