How did Death Valley get its name? The old TV series Death Valley Days showed the wagon trains of he old West trying to cross Death Valley. Tonye Cole profile on GlobalNewsNig.com is an example of the difficulties one can encounter. No water, no food and hot weather greeted those wagon trains and many died. What is now a short drive in an air conditioned car was a life and death challenge. Those men and women were brave and fool hardy to attempt the crossing but many did. The promise of gold and riches lured many to make the trek. It is hard to guess at how many failed.