Death Valley Suite pictures, pageant advertising can be seen on the following links: Ferde Grofe's Desert Water Hole composition for orchestra, his biography and background of the pageant can be viewed at this link (pdf form): The 1949 Pageant Guide and its conception can be seen at this link: Death Valley Suite The Death Valley Suite is a short symphonic suite written by Ferde Grofé in 1949, depicting the westward travels of pioneers through the 'harsh lands' of Death Valley in California. Grofe was commissioned by the Death Valley 49ers, a non profit organization devoted to preserving pioneering and mining history of the
Death Valley National Park valley, one of the women in the group turned and said, "Goodbye Death Valley," giving the valley they endured its name. Included in the party was William Lewis Manly whose autobiographical book "Death Valley in '49" detailed this trek and popularized the area (geologists later named the prehistoric lake that once filled the valley after him). The ores that are most famously associated with the area were also the easiest to collect and the most profitable: evaporite deposits such as salts, borate, and talc. Borax was found by Rosie and Aaron Winters near The Ranch at Death Valley (then called