Bug Smasher

One of the members of a party of men, mostly from Georgia, who were among the first non-indigenous Americans to "discover" Death Valley, California, in December 1849. This group was part of a wagon train of "Gold Rush 49'ers", numbering about 150, who were enroute to California from Salt Lake City, and became lost after attempting to follow a "short cut" map that purported to cut 200 miles off the well-known Old Spanish Trail to Los Angeles. This map was later proven to be fraudulent. Little is known of this particular group, except their number, about 15~20 men, and the name of their leader, one James Martin. This shortcut proved disastrous - three men died in late December 1849 and January 1950 and all suffered terribly from thirst and near starvation before reaching Los Angeles, 2 months after the rest of the original wagon train that had stayed on the known trail.