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disappeared. He was gone three years, an when he came back he said he'd been in a strange country livin among strange people. The tunnel is supposed to be somewhere in the Panamints not awful far from where we’re sittin (Emigrant Canyon, near Death Valley). Now! What do you think of that?'"

   The same book, DEATH VALLEY MEN, also tells the following story (pp.301-308) of an ancient city beneath the Panamint mountain range in south-eastern California. Bill Cocoran and Jack Stewart, one time residents of the Death Valley area, upon one occasion came across three individuals who were experiencing troubles with their automobile. They were kind enough to let the visitors stay at their place for a few days, whereupon the five of them became good friends. Because of their generosity, the visitors had decided to let them in on a secret:

   "Thomason looked from Jack to Bill and asked, "How long have you men been in this country?"  Jack

 

 

( Salt flats are among the incredible sites to be found in Death Valley, the lowest dry-land point in the Western Hemisphere. )