Bennett-Arcane Long Camp was a camp set up in December 1849 in Death Valley as a group traveled to the California Gold Rush. They were emigrants crossing the harsh desert to get to California. The camp was located just west of Badwater Basin in present-day Death Valley National Park. Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America at a depth of 282 ft (86 m) below sea level. The Bennett-Arcane party became known as the Death Valley '49ers. The Death Valley '49ers were pioneers from the Eastern United States travelling west to prospect in the Sutter's Fort area of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada in California. The wagon train crossed Utah through the Great Basin Desert and then crossed into Nevada. They made a wrong turn and suddenly were trapped in Death Valley. After exiting they crossed the Mojave Desert into Southern California. Still wanting to go to the California Gold Country, the group used the southern Desert part of the Old Spanish Trail, after hearing about the death of the Donner Party. Allegedly, the Bennett-Arcane group coined the name "Death Valley".
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