Bennett-Arcane Long Camp was a 1849er camp set up in December 1849 in

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...

as they traveled to the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

. They were emigrants crossing the harsh desert to get to California. The camp was located just west of valley's Badwater Basin in present-day

Death Valley National Park Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka ...

. Badwater Basin is lowest point in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, at a depth of below

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. The Bennett-Arcane party became known as the

Death Valley '49ers The Death Valley '49ers were a group of pioneers from the Eastern United States that endured a long and difficult journey during the late 1840s California Gold Rush to prospect in the Sutter's Fort area of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevad ...

.UTAH'S DIXIE HISTORICAL SITES SONS OF THE UTAH PIONEER - COTTON MISSION CHAPTER
/ref> The Death Valley '49ers were

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

s from the Eastern United States travelling west to

prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (mining ...

in the

Sutter's Fort Sutter's Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican ''Alta California'' province.National Park Service"California National Historic Trail."/ref> The site of the fort was established in 1839 and originally called New Helve ...

area of the Central Valley and

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The

wagon train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings. It ...

crossed

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

across the Great Basin Desert in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. They made a wrong turn on got trapped in Death Valley. After exiting they crossed the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

into

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. Still wanting to go to the California Gold Country, the group used the southern Desert part of the Old Spanish Trail, after hearing about the death of the Donner Party. Allegedly, the Bennett-Arcane group coined the name Death Valley. The group was suffering from poor health and low provisions, and they were unable to continue over the Panamint Range. John Haney Rogers and

William Lewis Manly William Lewis Manly (April 6, 1820 – February 5, 1903) was an American pioneer of the mid-19th century. He was first a fur hunter, a guide of westward bound caravans, a seeker of gold, and then a farmer and writer in his later years. H ...

walked 250 miles across the Mojave Desert to Rancho San Fernando near

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. They found a route out of the valley for those trapped in Death Valley. At Rancho San Fernando they received food and horses from Mexican villagers to take back to the party. The group then traveled to Rancho San Francisco. The group had split up in the valley; the other group was the Jayhawkers, who stayed with their original plan of traveling west out of the valley. Both groups were stuck in the valley for a month and both were saved from dying of thirst by a snow storm.The Death Valley '49ers
" Accessed 3 September 2020.

California Historical Landmark

California Historical Marker 444 was erected in 1949 by the California Centennials Commission and Death Valley ‘49ers. The marker is located at coordinates 36°09'48.3"N 116°51'48.1"W on West Side Road, west of Badwater, in Death Valley National Park. The California Historical Landmark reads: :''NO. 444 BENNETT-ARCANE LONG CAMP - Near this spot the Bennett-Arcane contingent of the Death Valley '49ers, emigrants from the Midwest, seeking a shortcut to California gold fields, were stranded for a month and almost perished from starvation. William Lewis Manley and John Rogers, young members of the party, made a heroic journey on foot to San Fernando and, returning with supplies, led the party to the safety of San Francisquito Rancho near Newhall.'' californiahistoricallandmarks.com # 444
/ref>

References

External links

*
California as I saw it, First Person Narratives of California 1849-1900, Collection, Rare Book and Collectors, The Library of Congress
* ttp://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/wheat-49ers.htm Tentative Census by Carl I. Wheat, of the 1849 Pioneers that crossed Death Valley {{Death Valley California Historical Landmarks Death Valley

California Historical Landmark

See also

References

External links