Bennett-Arcane Long Camp

Two families with young children could go no further, so they waited here while William Lewis Manly and John Rogers walked out for help. The pair covered roughly 250 miles to the ranchos above Los Angeles and returned on 23 February 1850, weeks after the supplies they carried were meant to run out. They expected to find the camp dead. Manly fired his rifle and the Bennetts and Arcans came out of the wagons. Climbing out over the Panamints, someone looked back and said goodbye to Death Valley, and the name held.

What the plaque says

Near this spot Bennett-Arcane contingent of Death Valley Forty-Niners, emigrants from Middle West, seeking short cut to California gold fields, were stranded for month and almost perished from starvation. Two young companions, William Lewis Manly and John Rogers, made heroic journey on foot to San Fernando, returning with supplies, and led party to the safety of San Francisquito Rancho near Newhall.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Badwater Basin — 7.0 mi
  The lowest ground in North America, a salt pan 282 feet below sea level under two miles of mountain.
• Dantes View — 8.6 mi
  A 5,475-foot balcony on the Black Mountains crest with Badwater a vertical mile below.
• Zabriskie Point — 18 mi
  Gullied gold badlands eroded out of an ancient lakebed, best at first light.
• Furnace Creek — 19 mi
  The valley hub, the hottest air temperature ever officially recorded, and the Timbisha village that was here first.

More markers nearby

• Death Valley Gateway — 20 mi
• Old Harmony Borax Works — 22 mi