THE LOWEST LAND IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE, Death Valley National Monument. The area in the vicinity of Badwater, shown above, is 282 feet below sea level—the lowest land in the Western Hemisphere. Telescope Peak, in the Panamint Mountains on the western side of the monument, is 11,049 feet above the level of the sea. The picturesque names were bestowed by weary emigrants—Forty-niners—who had crossed the valley in an effort to find a short-cut to the fabulous goldfields, and who almost perished there of starvation. As they topped-out over the Panamints they looked back and cried "Good-bye, Death Valley." Yet, although many lives were lost along the trails leading toward the newly-discovered gold, only one emigrant of 1849 died in Death Valley. Long popular as a winter playground, it now is increasingly visited in summer.

NORTH AMERICA'S HIGHEST MOUNTAIN, Mount McKinley National Park. Mighty Mount McKinley, highest peak on the North American Continent, rears its snow-covered head high into the clouds and reaches a height of 20,269 feet above sea level. On its north and west sides it rises abruptly from a plateau only 2,500 to 3,000 feet high, soaring above its base higher than even the far-famed Himalayas. The "logs" in the creek are beaver. (Photograph by Ott.)