Welcome to Death Valley, a Land of Extremes, Part 2

VOICE ONE: Almost everyone who visits Death Valley visits a huge house called Scotty's Castle. The building design is Spanish, with high thick walls to provide protection from the fierce heat. The main building is very large. It was built in nineteen twenty-nine in one of the few areas of the Valley that has water. The castle is named for Walter Scott, called Scotty by his friends. He was a gold miner. He told everyone that he built the house with money he made from his gold mine. Many people believed him. But it was not really the truth. Scotty was not a very honest man. Some years earlier, he had asked several people to invest in a gold mine he had in Death Valley. One of the men he asked to invest was a businessman from Chicago, Illinois named Albert Johnson. Mister Johnson invested in Scotty's mine. In nineteen-oh-five, he traveled to Death Valley to see the mine. Scotty put Mister Johnson on a horse and took him far into the mountains. Many people believe that while they were on this trip, Scotty told Mister Johnson the truth: There was no mine. There was no gold. VOICE TWO: Albert Johnson suffered from extremely poor health. He had been in a severe accident a few years before. Doctors did not believe he would live much longer. However, something happened on his trip with Scotty. When Albert Johnson returned from the mountains, he felt better than he had in several years. Perhaps he felt better because of the clean mountain air. Perhaps it was the good food Scotty cooked. Or it may have been the funny stories Scotty told that improved Mister Johnson's health. Whatever it was, Albert Johnson fell in love with Death Valley. He and Scotty became lifelong friends. Soon after, Albert Johnson began building a home on the western edge of Death Valley. He did not live there all the time. But Scotty did. And, he told everyone the huge house was his -- bought and paid for with the money from his gold mine. Scotty told everyone that Albert Johnson, his friend from Chicago, came to visit sometimes. Mister Johnson never told anyone it was just a story made up by Death Valley Scotty. VOICE ONE: Albert Johnson lived another thirty years -- many more years than the doctors thought he would. Some years before he died, in nineteen forty-eight, Albert Johnson signed documents that said Walter Scott could live in the house until he died. Scotty died in nineteen fifty-four. He is buried on a small hill near the house. In nineteen seventy, the National Park Service bought Scotty's Castle. It has since become one of the most popular areas to visit in Death Valley National Park. VOICE TWO: More than one million people visit Death Valley each year. Many people come for just a day. Buses bring visitors from the famous city of Las Vegas, Nevada. They ride around the park in their bus, visit several places and are back in their Las Vegas hotel by night. However, many other visitors stay in the park. The most popular area to stay in is Furnace Creek. Furnace Creek is the largest area of human activity within Death Valley National Park. There is a hotel. There are also camping areas where people put up temporary cloth homes, called tents. Visitors who arrive in huge motor homes can also find a place to park their vehicles. VOICE ONE: The famous Furnace Creek Inn is a beautiful hotel that was built of stone more than seventy-five years ago. The inn is built on a low hill. The main public room in the hotel has large windows that look far out over Death Valley. Hotel guests gather near these large windows in the evening to watch the sun make long shadows on the floor of the Valley and on the far mountains. This beautiful image seems to change each minute. The sun slowly turns the Valley a gold color that deepens to a soft brown, then changes to a dark red. As night comes, the mountains turn a dark purple color, then black. Usually, visitors are very quiet when this event takes place. A few try to photograph it. But the Valley is too huge to capture in a photograph. Most visitors watch this natural beauty and leave with only the memory of sunset at beautiful Death Valley National Park. VOICE TWO: This program was written by Paul Thompson and produced by Caty Weaver. This is Steve Ember. VOICE ONE: And this is Phoebe Zimmerman. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS, a program in Special English on the Voice of America. Source: Voice of America