Cory

The landmark I chose is one of the hottest, driest, and lowest places in the WORLD! Although my landmark's name sounds distressing and dreary, it is home to lush plant life, exotic animals, and beautiful nature. Who here likes chocolate? Have you ever had warm melted chocolate? If you went to the awesome landmark I chose in the summer and tried eating chocolate you'd have hot chocolate soup. I don't think many people have heard of it before, and I don't think a huge amount of people who travel into this harsh environment make it out alive. If you haven't guessed my all so important landmark's name yet, it's usually called by the name of Death Valley.

Where in the U.S.A is it and why in the world do people care about it? That's the question I'm asking. Death Valley resides in eastern California, towards the southern part. It's location makes it obvious that it's hot there but the temperatures can reach over 120 degrees farenheit.The climate there is hot, dry, clear, sunny, and it gets a very small amount of precipitation.

It has many really cool natural features such, as sand dunes, snowy mountains, and a really low basin. This basin is called Badwater Basin and is one of the lowest spots in the world! Death Valley is home to hundreds upon thousands of wildflowers and many species of animals. Some unusual animals include the mojave rattlesnake, the endangered devil's hole pupfish, the desert bighorn, the inyo mountains slender salamander, and sand grouse. There are 307 species of bird, 36 species of reptile, 51 species of mammals, 3 species of amphibian, and last but not least 5 subspecies of fish.If you're wondering what a subspecies is, it's a species that was bred somewhere else. It also houses plants such as the gravel ghost, the joshua tree, and the sawtop choll. As you've heard, Death Valley is a bad sounding place but it has many cool features.

The most common historical feature in Death Valley is its ghost towns. A ghost town is a town that has been deserted. Let me give you some examples. Samuel's Castle was a small ranch in Death Valley. They say that Samuel lied to others and told them he had a luxurious castle but woudn't tell them where his "castle" was. There were many borax/gold mines in Death Valley. (Most of them being unsuccessful) There were many mines in Death Valley but only around 3 types of minerals the people mined. I already told you there were borax and gold but the third mining mineral is coal.

I think Death Valley is important because it played its part in the gold rush by having gold mines for the 49ers. Although many miners went in, few came out. During the gold rush, people thought of Death Valley as just a place to get gold, but as I see that it's much more than that.

How did Death Valley make an effect on people? That's the question I keep asking myself. Death Valley used to have many thriving towns, while now hardly anybody can even stand the heat. Death Valley's billowing towns slowly got hotter and hotter while the people slowly departed. Quite a lot of people think deserts are just ugly and hot but you wouldn't be saying that after visiting my great American landmark, Death Valley.