a were proffered by one or the other the bottom of this was poorly with and fir with some service choke cherry mountain and other bushes the whole ascent is four miles not very steep except for the last half mile but the trail is so bad that it is a good two hours work to reach the summit but that summit gained we stand in a broad open � level space on the top of the range with the and bear mountains on either hand forming a perfect chaos of wild barren peaks some of them snowy from k to salt lake between which we have a glance at a part of the salt lake valley some thirty miles though the city much nearer is hidden by intervening heights and the lake is likewise concealed further to the right the descent toward the valley is and shorter than the ascent from the side of bear river � the first so fearfully steep that i judge few passengers ever rode down it though carriage wheels are uniformly chained here but though the southern face of these mountains is covered by a far more luxuriant than the northern among which oaks and soon make their appearance for the first time in many a weary hundred miles none of these seem ev r to grow into trees in fact i saw none over six feet high some from ten to twenty five feet high the largest hardly more than six inches through cover patches of these mountain sides down which and over the low intervening mountain they are dragged fifteen or twenty miles to serve as fuel in this city where even such poor for fifteen to twenty dollars per cord the and wretchedness of the timber � i have not seen the raw material for a decent ax growing in all my last thousand mile of travel � are the great and with regard to all this region the sandy clay or sand of the plains disappeared many miles back there has been rich black soil at least in the valleys ever since we crossed river but the timber is still scarce small and poor in the while ninety nine of the surface of the mountains is utterly bare of it in the absence of � t to salt lake coal how can a region so ever be thickly settled and cultivated the descent of the mountain on this side is but two miles in length with the mail company s station at the bottom here thirteen miles from the city from bear river we had expected to stop for the night but our new conductor seeing that there were still two or three hours of good daylight resolved to come on so with fresh we soon crossed the little mountain � steep but hardly a mile in ascent and but half a mile in immediate and ran rapidly down some ten miles through the narrow known as where the road though much traversed by as well as and merchant trains is utterly abominable and over but two or three miles of intervening plain in this city just as twilight was deepening into night salt lake wears a pleasant aspect to the or weary dusty and with a thousand miles of through the and naked american desert it is mainly on the bench of hard gravel that slopes southward from the foot of the mountains toward the lake valley the houses � generally small and of one all built of sun hardened brick and have a neat and quiet look while the uniform breadth of the streets eight rods and the magnificent distances usually preserved by the buildings each block containing ten acres divided into eight lots giving a quarter of an for buildings and an acre for garden fruit etc to r r i l u f i to salt r each sell older make up an ue seldom then the of bright sparkling leaping water which diverted from the stream issuing from several adjacent mountain flow through each street and are conducted at will into every garden an air of freshness and coolness which none can fail to enjoy but which only a in summer across the plains can fully appreciate on a single business street the principal stores etc are set pretty near each other though not so close as in other cities everywhere else i believe the original plan of the has been wisely and happily preserved southward from the city tne soil is softer and richer and there are farms of i judge ten to forty or sixty acres but i am told that the lowest portion of the valley nearly on a level with the lake is so with salt etc as to yield b it a return for the s labor i believe however that even this region is available as a stock range � thousands on thousands of cattle mainly owned in the being here in winter as well as summer and said to do well in all seasons for though snow is never absent from the which shut in this valley it seldom lies long in the valley itself the pass over the is if i mistake not eight thousand three hundred feet above the sea level this valley about four thousand nine hundred the atmosphere is so pure that the mountains across the valley to the south seem but ten or fifteen miles off they are really from twenty to thirty the lake is some twenty miles westward but we see only the rugged mountain � � e to salt lake known as island which rises in its and seems to bound the valley in that direction both the lake and valley wind away to the north west for a distance of some ninety the lake receiving the waters of and bear rivers behind the mountains in that direction and then there are other valleys like this among the mountains south 