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60-599: The Timbisha have lived in the Death Valley region of North America for over a thousand years. They were originally known as Panamints, as was their Uto-Aztecan language . The band traditionally was very small in size, and linguists estimate that fewer than 200 individuals ever spoke Panamint Shoshone. Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. (See Population of Native California .) Alfred L. Kroeber put

120-493: A mile-long shallow depression in the center of the valley, supports Death Valley Pupfish . These isolated pupfish populations are remnants of the wetter Pleistocene climate. Darwin Falls , on the western edge of Death Valley Monument, falls 100 feet (30 m) into a large pond surrounded by willows and cottonwood trees. Over 80 species of birds have been recorded around the pond. Efflorescence , also known as salt flowers ,

180-565: A number of key contributors: Severe heat and dryness contribute to perpetual drought-like conditions in Death Valley and prevent much cloud formation from passing through the confines of the valley, where precipitation is often in the form of a virga . The depth and shape of Death Valley strongly influence its climate. The valley is a long, narrow basin that descends below sea level and is walled by high, steep mountain ranges. The clear, dry air and sparse plant cover allow sunlight to heat

240-859: A rationale, in 1957 the Park Service began a de facto removal policy for the Timbisha Shoshones still living in Indian Village. It began collecting rents, and evicting people when they failed to pay. It also limited occupancy to current residents and their relatives. Through these policies park officials hoped that the village would eventually die out. Many Shoshone men already had to move away for jobs in nearby Beatty, Nevada, or to cities in California. Existing correspondence reveals that white officials could not comprehend why Shoshones would choose to remain in such conditions. They did not understand their deep spiritual and ancestral attachment to

300-610: A self designation (actually pejorative term which is a loan translation from the Mono people for the Timbisha Shoshone). However, they simply called themselves Nümü ("Person" or ″People″). The Kawaiisu (and other Indian tribes south of Timbisha territory) were known as Mukunnümü (″ Hummingbird people″), their northern neighbors, the Eastern Mono (Owens Valley Paiute) were called Kwinawetün ("north place people"),

360-440: A small rancheria, "Indian Ranch" to the east of Death Valley for Timbisha Shoshone Panamint Bill and his extended family. Though band members lacked federal acknowledgment of their tribal or indigenous status, several Timbisha Shoshone attended the federal Sherman and Carson Indian Boarding Schools during the early twentieth century. In 1933 President Herbert Hoover created Death Valley National Monument , an action that subsumed

420-637: A verified temperature of 129.2 °F (54.0 °C) was recorded and is tied with Mitribah , Kuwait , for the hottest reliably measured air temperature ever recorded on Earth. A temperature of 130 °F (54.4 °C) was recorded at the Furnace Creek weather station on August 16, 2020, but has not yet been officially verified. The valley again recorded that temperature on July 9, 2021; however, that temperature has not yet been officially verified either. The valley's lowest temperature, recorded at Greenland Ranch (now Furnace Creek) on January 2, 1913,

480-651: A website with photographs, history and historical documents, starting with its 1863 treaty. The tribal government has offices in Bishop, California . A large collection of baskets made by tribal members is in the Eastern California Museum in Independence, California . Harold Driver recorded two Timbisha subgroups in Death Valley, the ″o'hya″ and the ″tu'mbica″ in 1937. Julian Steward distinguished Timbisha Shoshone (in northern Death Valley) from

540-464: Is Telescope Peak , in the Panamint Range, which has an elevation of 11,043 feet (3,366 m). A group of European-American pioneers got lost here in the winter of 1849–1850, while looking for a shortcut to the gold fields of California, giving Death Valley its grim name. Although only one of the group members died here, they all assumed that the valley would be their grave. Death Valley

600-833: Is 2.36 inches (60 mm), while the Greenland Ranch station averaged 1.58 in (40 mm). The wettest month on record is January 1995, when 2.59 inches (66 mm) fell on Death Valley. The wettest period on record was mid-2004 to mid-2005, in which nearly 6 inches (150 mm) of rain fell in total, leading to ephemeral lakes in the valley and the region and tremendous wildflower blooms. Snow with accumulation has only been recorded in January 1922, while scattered flakes have been recorded on other occasions. See or edit raw graph data . In 2005, Death Valley received four times its average annual rainfall of 1.5 inches (38 mm). As it has done before for hundreds of years,

660-673: Is a desert valley in Eastern California , in the northern Mojave Desert , bordering the Great Basin Desert . It is thought to be the hottest place on Earth during summer. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevation in North America, at 282 feet (86 m) below sea level. It is 84.6 miles (136.2 km) east-southeast of Mount Whitney – the highest point in the contiguous United States , with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m). On

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720-565: Is a rare occurrence in Death Valley that occurs when rain soaks into the soil and dissolves salt beneath the surface causing the ground to appear as if there is a light dusting of snow . Death Valley is home to the Timbisha tribe of Native Americans , formerly known as the Panamint Shoshone, who have inhabited the valley for at least the past millennium. The Timbisha name for the valley, tümpisa , means "rock paint" and refers to

780-435: Is disputed; a record high low of 107 °F (42 °C) on July 12, 2012, is considered reliable. This is one of the highest values ever recorded. Also on July 12, 2012, the mean 24-hour temperature recorded at Death Valley was 117.5 °F (47.5 °C), which makes it the world's warmest 24-hour temperature on record. July 2024 was the hottest month ever recorded in Death Valley, with a mean daily average temperature over

840-491: Is home to the Timbisha tribe of Native Americans, formerly known as the Panamint Shoshone , who have inhabited the valley for at least the past millennium. Death Valley is a graben —a downdropped block of land between two mountain ranges. It lies at the southern end of a geological trough , Walker Lane , which runs north to Oregon. The valley is bisected by a right lateral strike slip fault system, comprising

900-592: Is more than 10 miles (16 km) wide in the Hall Canyon area. The airspace over Panamint Valley is part of the U.S. military's vast R-2508 Special Use Airspace Complex . The Panamint Military Operating Area (MOA) covers the entire valley north to Hunter Mountain from 200 ft AGL (Above Ground Level) up to FL180 flight Level (flight level is approximately altitude above mean sea level in hundreds of feet), therefore, FL180 would be 18,000 feet) with an Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspace ( ATCAA ) located above

960-519: Is the highest atmospheric temperature ever recorded on the Earth's surface. (A report of a temperature of 58 °C (136 °F) in Libya in 1922 was later determined to be inaccurate.) During the heat wave that peaked with that record, five consecutive days reached 129 °F (54 °C) or higher. Some modern meteorologists now dispute the accuracy of the 1913 temperature measurement. On June 30, 2013,

1020-655: The Belted Range . Archaeological evidence substantiates trade between the Coso People and other Native American tribes. For example, they traded with the Chumash people , then located in present-day Ventura , Santa Barbara , and San Luis Obispo counties. This was confirmed by archaeological recovery of a kind of obsidian , which has been chemically fingerprinted as belonging to the Coso culture and territory, but

1080-536: The California Gold Rush . It was called Death Valley by prospectors and others who sought to cross the valley on their way to the gold fields, after 13 pioneers perished from one early expedition of wagon trains. During the 1850s, gold and silver were extracted in the valley. In the 1880s, borax was discovered and extracted by mule-drawn wagons . Death Valley National Monument was proclaimed on February 11, 1933, by President Herbert Hoover , placing

1140-857: The Death Valley Fault and the Furnace Creek Fault . The eastern end of the left lateral Garlock Fault intersects the Death Valley Fault. Furnace Creek and the Amargosa River flow through part of the valley and eventually disappear into the sands of the valley floor. Death Valley also contains salt pans . According to current geological consensus, at various times during the middle of the Pleistocene era, which ended roughly 10,000–12,000 years ago, an inland lake, Lake Manly , formed in Death Valley. The lake

1200-873: The Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs periodically listed in the Federal Register , their name is presented as "Timbi-Sha", but this is a typographical error and ungrammatical in Timbisha. The tribe never hyphenates its name. Both the California Desert Protection Act and the Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act spell their name correctly. The tribe has

1260-502: The Kawaiisu (in southern Death Valley), both are Numic-speaking peoples but of different branches (Western: Timbisha; Southern: Kawaiisu) which inhibited mutual intelligibility . Julian Steward identified four ″districts″ with bands ( süüpantün ) each led by a headmen or pokwinapi , made up of several family groups ( nanümü , pl: nanümüppü ) each, were traditionally linked by economic and kinship relationship (the highest population of

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1320-754: The Western Mono beyond the Sierra Nevada crest to the northwest were called Panawe ("western people"), and their direct western neighbors, the Tübatulabal were known as Waapi(ttsi) ("enemy"). The Yokuts (and other Indian tribes on the western side of the Sierras) were known as Toyapittam maanangkwa nümü ("people on the other (western) side of Sierras"). Their Western and Northern Shoshone kin were called Sosoniammü Kwinawen (Kuinawen) Nangkwatün Nümü ("Shoshoni speaking northwards people"). In

1380-473: The red ocher paint that can be made from a type of clay found in the valley. Some families still live in the valley at Furnace Creek. Another village was in Grapevine Canyon near the present site of Scotty's Castle . It was called maahunu in the Timbisha language , whose meaning is uncertain, although it is known that hunu means 'canyon'. The valley received its English name in 1849 during

1440-598: The Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons were declared a National Historic Landmark . In 2001, they were incorporated into a larger National Historic Landmark District , called the Coso Rock Art District . In 2014, an annual celebration was created in honor of the petroglyphs. The Ridgecrest Petroglyph Festival takes place in Ridgecrest, California, and was named one of the "10 Most Unique Autumn Festivals in

1500-465: The Boland, Kennedy, Watterson, Shoshone, and Esteves families. Only about twenty to twenty-five individuals resided there full time. Some worked for the Park Service or at area hotels, but most were unemployed. By the late 1960s the Park Service began destroying Indian Village houses once residents had failed to pay rents or had stayed away for long periods; it did so by using high powered hoses to wash down

1560-457: The Country" by Groupon. The festival includes an intertribal powwow, street fair, and tours to the Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons. The Coso Rock Art District of California has been designated as a National Historic Landmark District . Only U.S. citizens are allowed on the tours, and advance reservation is required. Related museums are: Death Valley, California Death Valley

1620-693: The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Presented by tribal member Alice Eben in 1977, the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved the petition. The formal recognition gave the band certain rights and powers in fighting against Park Service eviction. The next year, Pauline Esteves entered into an agreement with the Indian Health Service and the National Park Service for a domestic water supply for the village. The band

1680-690: The Place of red ochre (face) paint)″) after the locative term for Death Valley which was named after an important red ochre source for paint that can be made from a type of clay found in the Golden Valley a little south of Furnace Creek, California known as " Tümpisa", Tümpisakka, Tümpisakkatün " ( Tümpisa - "rock (ochre) paint" - from tün/tümpin - ″rock, stone″ plus pisappüh/pisappin - ″red ochre, red (face) paint)″ + locative postposition -ka - ″at, on" + nominal suffix - tün ). Sometimes they used even Tsakwatan Tükkatün (″ Chuckwalla Eaters″) as

1740-766: The Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act of 2000 finally returned 7,500 acres (30 km) of ancestral homelands to the Timbisha Shoshone tribe. Currently the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe consists of around 300 members, usually 50 of whom live at the Death Valley Indian Community at Furnace Creek within Death Valley National Park . Many members spend the summers at Lone Pine in the Owens Valley to

1800-484: The Timbisha Shoshone as a tribe, and like many small rancheria bands in California, it also failed to protect the Shoshone's rights as indigenous peoples. Belatedly, the Bureau of Indian Affairs did help Hungry Bill patent 160 acres of land in a canyon bordering Death Valley in 1908. The agency later secured an allotment of land for Robert Thompson at Warm Springs in Death Valley. In 1928, federal Indian agents also created

1860-553: The Timbisha Shoshone band wrote and presented a petition for full federal tribal acknowledgment to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. With the help of the California Indian Legal Services, Timbisha Shoshone members led by Pauline Esteves and Barbara Durham began agitating for a formal reservation in the 1960s. The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe was recognized by the US government in 1982. In this effort, they were one of

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1920-493: The Timbisha was in the Little Lake Band area). The "districts" were commonly named after the most important village ( katükkatün ) that characterized the area ( kantün - "possessing, characterized by [a special village]") and the bands were also named after the village name they occupied ( -tsi - "people of such a place"); therefore the family groups living at the "Ko'on" village were known as "Ko'ontsi" ("People at

1980-566: The adobe casitas. Seeing this, Esteves began organizing her people to fight the Monument's actions. She contacted California Indian Legal Services, one of the indigenous rights organizations emerging during the decade. In 1975 the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) took the Timbisha Shoshone legal case. NARF attorneys were able to organize Esteves' people as a group of Indians with at least one-half degree Indian blood under

2040-558: The afternoon of July   10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, which stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded on the surface of the Earth. This reading, however, and several others taken in that period are disputed by some modern experts. Lying mostly in Inyo County, California , near

2100-515: The area under federal protection. In 1994, the monument was redesignated as Death Valley National Park , as well as being substantially expanded to include Saline and Eureka Valleys. A number of movies have been filmed in Death Valley, including: Panamint Valley The Panamint Valley is a long basin located east of the Argus and Slate ranges, and west of the Panamint Range in

2160-965: The border of California and Nevada , in the Great Basin , east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Death Valley constitutes much of Death Valley National Park and is the principal feature of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve . It runs from north to south between the Amargosa Range on the east and the Panamint Range on the west. The Grapevine Mountains and the Owlshead Mountains form its northern and southern boundaries, respectively. It has an area of about 3,000 sq mi (7,800 km ). The highest point in Death Valley National Park

2220-584: The combined 1770 population of the Timbisha (Koso) and Chemehuevi at 1,500. He estimated the population of the Timbisha and Chemehuevi in 1910 as 500. Julian Steward's figures for Eastern California are about 65 persons in Saline Valley , 150-160 persons in Little Lake (springs) and the Coso Range , about 100 in northern Panamint Valley , 42 in northern Death Valley , 29 at Beatty , and 42 in

2280-416: The desert surface. Summer nights provide little relief: overnight lows may dip just into the 82 to 98 °F (28 to 37 °C) range. Moving masses of super-heated air blow through the valley, creating extremely high ambient temperatures. The hottest air temperature ever recorded in Death Valley was 134 °F (56.7 °C), on July 10, 1913, at Greenland Ranch (now Furnace Creek ), which, as of 2022,

2340-606: The few springs and fertile plots of land in Death Valley. White settlers, using their knowledge of law, gained title to the Valley's scarce water and other resources, pushing the native Shoshones to inferior lands. Shoshones were prohibited from using springs, while the settler's livestock destroyed plants necessary for tribal subsistence. Aboriginal lands taken from the band now include the Furnace Creek Inn and surrounding golf course. The federal government failed to recognize

2400-553: The first tribes to secure tribal status through the Bureau of Indian Affairs ' Federal Acknowledgment Process. The tribe's reservation, the Death Valley Indian Community , was established at this time. At first, the reservation consisted of the original 40 acre tract set aside for Indian Village. Located within Death Valley National Park at Furnace Creek in Death Valley , Inyo County, California . In 1990,

2460-497: The land. In 1958, Congress terminated "Indian Ranch", the enclave established for Panamint Bill earlier in the century and a place where some Timbisha Shoshone continued to reside. At the time, Pauline Esteves, a tribal member, began fighting the National Park Service's eviction plan at Indian Village in Death Valley National Monument. Residents of the village consisted primary of elderly Shoshone women of

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2520-466: The lowest spot in the valley filled with a wide, shallow lake, but the extreme heat and aridity immediately began evaporating the ephemeral lake . The pair of images (seen at right) from NASA's Landsat 5 satellite documents the short history of Death Valley's Lake Badwater : formed in February 2005 (top) and evaporated by February 2007 (bottom). In 2005, a big pool of greenish water stretched most of

2580-494: The modern history of the region, primarily 1883 to 1907. Death Valley has a subtropical , hot desert climate ( Köppen : BWh ), with long, extremely hot summers; short, warm winters; and little rainfall. The valley is extremely dry because it lies in the rain shadow of four major mountain ranges (including the Sierra Nevada and Panamint Range ). Moisture moving inland from the Pacific Ocean must pass eastward over

2640-426: The month of 108.5 °F (42.5 °C). Four major mountain ranges lie between Death Valley and the ocean, each one adding to an increasingly drier rain shadow effect, and in 1929, 1953, and 1989, no rain was recorded for the whole year. The period from 1931 to 1934 was the driest stretch on record, with only 0.64 inches (16 mm) of rain over a 40-month period. The average annual precipitation in Death Valley

2700-448: The mountains to reach Death Valley; as air masses are forced upward by each range, they cool and moisture condenses, to fall as rain or snow on the western slopes. When the air masses reach Death Valley, most of the moisture in the air has already been lost and thus there is little left to fall as precipitation. The extreme heat of Death Valley is attributable to a confluence of geographic and topographic factors. Scientists have identified

2760-453: The mouths of the canyons, they widen and slow, branching out into distributary channels. The paler the fans, the younger they are. In spite of the overwhelming heat and sparse rainfall, Death Valley exhibits considerable biodiversity. Flowers, watered by snowmelt, carpet the desert floor each spring, continuing into June. Bighorn sheep , red-tailed hawks , and wild donkeys may be seen. Death Valley has over 600 springs and ponds. Salt Creek,

2820-727: The northeastern reach of the Mojave Desert , in eastern California , United States . The northern end of the valley is in Death Valley National Park and Inyo County, California . The valley lies in a north–south direction, and stretches from the Panamint Dunes in the north to the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in San Bernardino County in the south. The valley is approximately 65 miles (105 km) in length, and

2880-494: The park to conduct traditional sacred ceremonies as well. While the adobe houses at Indian Village were adequate when built by the CCC in the 1930s, by mid-century they were in dilapidated condition. An electric line ran a mere 300 feet from the village, but the Park Service did not fund an extension of the line to indigenous homes. The houses lacked electricity, air conditioning, indoor plumbing and running water. Using these conditions as

2940-479: The reservation remained only 40 acres (0.16 km) in size and had a population of 199 tribal member residents. Despite their federal tribal recognition and diminutive 1982 reservation, the Timbisha still faced difficulty and conflict with the Death Valley National Park's National Park Service in regaining more of their ancestral lands within the Park. After much tribal effort, federal politics, and mutual compromise,

3000-622: The tribe's homeland within park boundaries. Despite their long-time presence in the region, the proclamation failed to provide a homeland for the Timbisha people. After unsuccessful efforts to remove the band to nearby reservations, National Park Service officials entered into an agreement with tribal leaders to allow the Civilian Conservation Corps to construct an Indian village for tribal members near park headquarters at Furnace Creek in 1938. Thereafter tribal members survived within monument boundaries, although their status

3060-530: The village Ko'on") and their "district" therefore was called "Ko'ongkatün" (Ko'on + kantün - "possessing, characterized by" the village Ko'on, i.e. Saline Valley People). Notable rock art drawings, petroglyphs , are abundantly represented in Big and Little Petroglyph Canyons . Such works have been found in the Coso Rock Art District , and throughout the Coso Region, dating from the prehistoric era. In 1964,

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3120-459: The way across the valley floor. By May 2005, the valley floor had resumed its more familiar role as Badwater Basin , salt-coated salt flats . In time, this freshly dissolved and recrystallized salt will darken. The western margin of Death Valley is traced by alluvial fans . During flash floods , rainfall from the steep mountains to the west pours through narrow canyons, picking up everything from fine clay to large rocks. When these torrents reach

3180-575: The west. The Timbisha Shoshone (Tümpisa Shoshoni) have been known as the California Shoshoni, Death Valley Shoshone, Panamint Shoshone or simply Panamint. Coso , Koso, and Koso Shoshone (probably a derivative of Koosotsi - ″People from Coso Hot Springs area″ are names of one local group of the Little Lake Band). The Timbisha of Death Valley called themselves Nümü Tümpisattsi (″Death Valley People″; literally: ″People from

3240-430: Was 15 °F (−9 °C). The highest surface temperature ever recorded in Death Valley was 201.0 °F (93.9 °C), on July 15, 1972, at Furnace Creek , which is the highest ground surface temperature ever recorded on earth, as well as the only recorded surface temperature of above 200 °F (93.3 °C). The greatest number of consecutive days with a maximum temperature of at least 100 °F (38 °C)

3300-400: Was 154, in the summer of 2001. The summer of 1996 had 40 days over 120 °F (49 °C), and 105 days over 110 °F (43 °C). The summer of 1917 had 52 days when the temperature reached 120 °F (49 °C) or above, 43 of them consecutive. The highest overnight or low temperature recorded in Death Valley is 110 °F (43 °C), recorded on July 5, 1918. However, this value

3360-416: Was able to secure a Bureau of Indian Affairs loan for several trailers to replace the decaying casitas at the village. During this time, the Park Service resisted efforts by tribal members to build permanent houses at the site. The band still did not own the land they lived on, and Park Service leaders feared creating a precedent if they surrendered any land to indigenous claimants. In 1979, with help from NARF,

3420-443: Was discovered in coastal California prehistoric sites in San Luis Obispo County, California . Euro-Americans first made contact with the Timbisha Shoshone during the California Gold Rush of 1849, but whites quickly moved on to the gold fields, renaming the Shoshone homeland Death Valley. Sustained contact occurred during the 1860s through the 1880s, when a stream of ranchers, miners, and homesteaders migrated to Death Valley, patenting

3480-647: Was in fact common that settlements would include people speaking related but different languages. The decade of the 1950s was the height of the federal " Termination Era " when Congress sought to end its relationship with indigenous tribes by terminating their governments and trust protected tribal lands. During this period, National Park Service officials began efforts to evict the Shoshones from Indian Village. The service had previously forbidden Shoshones from continuing their traditional subsistence practices, including gathering firewood, plants, and hunting within Monument boundaries. It prohibited them from using sacred places in

3540-460: Was nearly 100 miles (160 km) long and 600 feet (180 m) deep. The end-basin in a chain of lakes that began with Mono Lake , in the north, and continued through basins down the Owens River Valley , through Searles and China Lakes and the Panamint Valley, to the immediate west. As the area turned to desert, the water evaporated, leaving an abundance of evaporitic salts, such as common sodium salts and borax , which were later exploited during

3600-546: Was repeatedly challenged by monument officials. They also lived in the Great Basin Saline Valley and northern Mojave Desert Panamint Valley areas of present-day southeastern California. The Death Valley south of Furnace Creek, California , and the Panamint Valley south of Ballarat, California were predominantly " Desert Kawaiisu ", the adjoining areas to the north were composed of almost equal numbers of Timbisha (Panamint) Shoshone and "Desert Kawaiisu" ( Julian Steward , 1938). Significantly, when borderlands were occupied, it

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