The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-15 00:00:00

The Changing Scenes of the Far West.

The great river which empties itself into the Gulf
of California is attracting more and more attention
en the Pacific coast. The Rio Colorado derives its
(raters from the ranges of the Rocky Mountains
Ind the Wahsatch Chain, where the Great Salt
Lake ani the City of the Mormons are situated. As
it flows south from Utah it penetrates through
Arizona, courses along the Southern borders of Ne-
vada, separates Lower California from Arizona, and
finally empties itself into the Gulf of California.
Along its whole course it is known to pass through
mining districts of great value, and some of the
citizens of San Francisco have at last formed them-
selves into a company to open steam communica-
tion as far up as possible towards the Great Salt
Lake settlements. Vessels, to have sailed on the Ist
instant, were to carry the families who are to found
the new town of San Diego, and a steamer has teen
fitted out to explore the river and to prospect
through the Territory of Arizona. A force of 250
men, with many well acquainted with the country,
will form the expedition. From all yet known, it
is anticipated that the Rio Colorado will prove a most
useful outlet, as it flows between vast ranges that
shut in thp richest mineral territories on earth,
which want but a cheap and expeditious mode
of carriage to pour into the lap of civilisation
countless hoards of the precious metals. A
strange fate seems to overtake the Mormons.
They fly from a persecuting world, they bury them-
selves in unknown wastes, they achieve the most
wonderful exploit of modern times in the successful
establishment of a settlement so isolated, as seem-
ingly to have been as much lost to civilisation as
ROBINSOE CRUSOE was on his lonely isle to the rest of
his kind. Over sandy deserts, over wild, barren
mountains—through defiles buried in snow, through
long wastes of unwatered prairies,—the "saints" at
List reached the summit cf the Pass, whence they
lo,)ked over the arid and leafless plains, the dry
river beds, the bare hillsides, the deep canons and
gorges that form the bleak sierras and forbidding
valleys of their chosen country. But a few hostile
Utes and Snakes moved in the vast stillness around,
scarcely any wild game was to be found, and even
the water that spread in miles before their thirsty
glance was salter than the sea. Never before was
such a striking instance given of the truth of the
saying that "man proposes but GOD disposes" than
in the design which led the Mormons to found the
Great Salt Lake City and in the result. To the
East, night and day, gangs of men are at
work forming the lines of railway which will
shortly make the Salt Lake City one of its
stations. To the West already the summit of
Ole sierra Nevada has been tunnelled, and the

line opened for miles which will soon bring
the Mormon retreat into direct communication
with San Francisco. Already the pioneer is steam-
ing up the Colorado from the South that is to pene-
trate into the Mormon paradise. On all sides civi-
lisation threatens the false religion, and the Salt
Lake City has become within a few years after its
foundation a spot to which the mightiest efforts and
designs now being achieved in the world are di-
rected. It is, in truth, a marvellous tale—so won-
derful that no romance of the imagination, no Ara-

bian tale, has a.pproached it in thrilling interest and
startling change. The history of Mormonism, when
it is counted, as it shortly must be, among buried de-
lusions, will not only be the strangest story yet
furnished by the Western world, but the most ex-
traordinary incident in the history of the human
race. When the train stops and the guard announces
" The Great Salt Lake City," the romance of the
story to the ordinary wayfarer may be dispelled, but
it will take hold of the imagination of coming genera-
tions, and be preserved when mighty events of this
century are forgot' en. It is to the precious metals that
we mainly owe the quick and singular change which
bas overtaken BRIGHAM YOUNG and his fellow
" saints. " He would indeed have been a prophet
could he have foreseen it, and selected another
and more inviting site. That BRIGHAM is not
a prophet ought to be sufficiently demonstrated
to the " saints" by his choice of a refuge against
the world, which would have shown a marvellous
discrimination in a sinner, for to it all eyes now
turn and all travel tends. As yet the mining terri-
tories have furnished a field only for the citizens of
the United States. But the time is at hand when
the attention of Europe will be drawn by the most
attractive magnet. Already we see indications. A
shadowy idea of the extraordinary field opened in
these States and territories is spreading, attracting
notice, and causing inquiry. Californians hover
about London with claims to rich lodes in the hope
of picking up sufficient capital to work mines which
promise enormous returns; and the stories of wealth
they tell and prizes drawn find eager listeners, though
few believers. If men believed—some of the idle
capital of Europe would quickly be directed to these
channels, yet it is almost impossible to exaggerate
the wealth of the mountains of Nevada and the
circumjacent districts. Men ask these possessed of
properties promising so much why they do not pro-
cure the required capital on the spot. They might as
well ask a starving wretch in the streets of London
why he does not dine on the smoking joints he may
smell as they steam on the counters of an eating-
house. There is a surplus of mining properties, but
a deficit of means to work them in San Francisco ;
and those who offer the claims in London are
trying to carry out the law of commerce which
uses the surplus of one spot to make good the
scarcity in another. Against this the capitalist
exclaims, " But how can we trust these statements,
and after our recent experience, who will give to
his neighbour the confidence required when he
places his:money in that neighbour's hands?" Un-
less he puts his capital in a stocking up the
chimney, or buries it in the garden, be will be
compelled to put trust somewhere. Many who
invest in the mines of the Pacific States
draw rich prizes, while others may be totally de-
ceived. All we know is, that the development of
the precious metals now going on is something mar-
vellous, and the small populations of these States
and Territories are working with so much energy
that, even unaided by European capital and labour,
they are obtaining such a return as will make them
beyond comparison the richest community on the
globe.—Anglo-American Times.

S•IFETY FISHING BOATS.

TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sett,--It has often been observed on the subject
of the annual average take of herrings in the Scottish
seas that there had been fluctuations and variations,
good seasons and bad, all however reducible to one
uniform cause of success or failure. The one element
which determines the result is weather. In rough
and stormy seasons the boats cannot get to their
work or get through it, and therefore the catch is
diminished ; but the harvest is always there if the
reapers can reach it. I have been led to crave the
valuable aid of The Sun to make more generally
known, and to call public attention to, the bene-
volent object of the Royal National Lifeboat
Institution, with which I have the honour to be
connected, in devising and reducing to practice
a plan of a safety fishing boat, which has, under
my own observation, proved most successful as
a convenient boat for the prosecution of the
white and herring fisheries on our coasts, and is
calculated to enable these fisheries to be prosecuted
with greater safety to those engaged in them than
has yet been attained by any other means of which
I am aware. The element of safety in these boats
to which I have referred is attained mainly, Ist, by
making the usual fore cabin a water-tight com-
partment, the access to it being by a water-
tight hatch in the deck, instead of an open door
at the side ; 2d, by making the usual compartment
at the stern also water-tight; and 3rd, by running
a side deck along each side. In this way a large
open main hatchway is loft,of sufficient size for work-
ing the nets, but which may be covered when neces-
sary by portable hatches and a water-tight tarpaulin
cover, to be used in gales of wind. These hatches and
tarpaulin are easily stowed away in fine weather,
and on the occurrence of bad weather the main
hatchway can be securely covered in a few minutes,
so, that no water can possibly get access below
should a heavy sea break on board. In fact, as will
be seen, the boat is capable of being converted into
a decked water-tight vessel within a few minutes
after the recurrence of an emergency, and of being
almost instantly restored, if desired, to the condi-
tion of an ordinary fishing boat with a large open
main hatchway.
Your columns attest the fact that scarcely a sea-
son passes without the occurrence of some terrible
disaster, which in all human probability might have
been averted by the adoption of an expedient
by which open fishing boats might be preserved
from the risk of a sea falling on board of them.
Living, as I do, in one of the most exposed posi-
tions of this exposed and stormy coast, I am
unfortunately able to bear ample testimony to the
benefits which would arise from the general adop-
tion of such an expedient, and—supported as I am
by the opinions of practical persons—to the evident
utility of the very simple plan which I feel I have
somewhat imperfectly described. I canrecall to my
recollection at least one occasion within the last ten
years when an ordinary fishing boat was, in the pre-
sence of numerous but helpless spectators, swamped
within a short distance of the shore; and all hands
perished. Again, I was not long ago told by a
fisherman, that in running for the harbour from the
fishing ground on a dark and stormy night he
heard a cry of distress as he was borne swiftly
before the tempest past the wreck of a swamped
boat, one end of which, probably the fore cabin,
rudely and imperfectly representing a water-tight
compartment, maintained its position above the
water after the other portions of the boat had been
submerged. Upon this precarious safety stood the
sole survivor of the crew, who hailed with the
energy of a drowning man the welcome advent of
apparent rescue. But the wreck slowly disappeared
before my informant was able to stay his boat with
the intention of rendering assistance. And who that
witnessed them can forget the scenes enacted on
these coasts in August, 1849 ? The fleet of boats,
being unprotected to ally extent by decks, and
therefore unable to live in the heavy sea which sod-
deathly overtook them at the fishing ground, crowded
in disorganised masses towards the entrances
of the nearest harbours, and amongst a fearful
list of other casualties, a fishing boat which was
descried from this brought up at anchor, rode in
safety for a time, but was swamped and her crew
drowned, through her increased proximity to the
breakers, on the approach of low water.
I venture to think that such calamities as these,
with a number of others, some of which have been
seen, but many of them occurring in dark and
stormy nights have been witnessed by no human
eye, would, under Providence, have been averted
had there been a general adoption of the simple
principles which I have described as entering into
the construction of the safety fishing boat
devised by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Already five of these boats, with safety fittings such
as I have described, have been built by the Institu-
tion and placed at selected stations--one of them at
this port in the hands of experienced and trust-
worthy fishermen, to whom they are let at a small
percentage on their earnings, in order that they may
serve as models from which the local boats may be
improved in a similar manner. I need scarcely say
that the efforts of the Institution, which has ex-
pended a large sum of money in bringing the plan
1 have described under the notice of fishermen and
others in a practical form, are entirely devoted to the
preservation and safety of life, and that it is
not to any extent actuated by the expectation of
pecuniary ga!n. Yet it may not be out of place for
me to say, as a prof of the utility of these boats,
in the advantageous prosecution of the fisheries, tha t
I have just remitted to the institution a sum of
£26 17s. 51., being one-twelfth part of the earnings
of the safety boat here, with which I have been con-
nected since the month of May last. I trust, there-
fore, that I may be allowed to express an earnest
hope that the plan of the safety fishing boat, of
which I rejoice to be able to speak so favourably,
may be adopted in the course of time wherever the
lives of fishermen are now exposed in open boats to
the perils of the sea. I feel assured that those who
advocate its adoption not only advance the cause of
humanity, but promote the welfare of the fishing
communities, which must always maintain an im-
portant position in the maritime interests of the
world.—l am, &c.,
WILLIAM BOYD, lion. Sec.,
Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Peterhead, N. 8., Nov. 8.