Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-11-06
CAPTAIN STANSBURY'S EXPEDITION TO THE
GREAT SALT LAKE.
FROM rnE LITERARY WORLD.

CAfIAlN OIANSBph1S EAPEDlIlON ~ iiL
GREAT SALT LAKE.
FROM THE LITERARY WORLD.
An Expedition to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah
including Description of its Geography, Natural History,
and Minerals, and Analysis of its Waters, with
thentc account of the Mormon Settlement &C. By How
ard Stansbury Captain Corps Typographical Engineers,
US. A. Philadelphia: Lppncott, Grambo Co..
The party Of investigation led by Capt. STASsBURY
for the purposes of Of the great Western
routes and survey of the Mormon Territory was
ganized by the Bureau photographed Engneersn 1849
In June Of that year the expedition including eighteen
with five wagons and forty-sx horses and mules, set
forth from Fort Leavenworh reached Salt Lake City
at the close of August year passed at this point
in winter quarters and in comprehensive survey Of the
adjacent regions the route to Fort Hail. the circuit Of
the lake by land its exploration by water, scientific
adjustment Of localities measurement of distances, and
examination Of the agricultural and mineral
the natural history of the country On the 9Th of
B61R genefally The same ROUTE by the emigration road
M the ADVANCE and reaching Fort Leavenworh the 9th
Of November The objects Of the journey Of prac
teal character and pursued with systematic zeal
and fidelity fully exhibiting the value and importance Of
the scientific training of the officers of the army.
man has a very inadequate idea of the services of
modern officer at least of the school of those who gradu
ate at West Point who thinks his duties begin with
tine and pipecay and end with the saughterng of his
foes battle may be but of single in life
time but the vast Of duty Of great Western
possessions the officers of the army continually exer
csng their capacity engineers surveyors, pioneers,
foresers with the multitude of relations to the Indians
Of the wilderness to the emigration parties which the
mote frontier life induces There they encounter every
variety Of hardship Of climate and prove their manhood
by tests unknown the and parades Of Europe
They exhibit every day the virtues Of courage and enu
rance though seldom honored with the glory of military
conquest Their acts those of the soldier but they
minister directly to peace They lay down the road for
the emigran instruct him in the best methods Of transit
and neutraize overpower the hostility of the savage
When actual warfare tests their powers bril-
liant field they found, in Mexico, the masters
of victory.
Capt Stansbury and his brother officers Expedition
to the Great Salt Lake besides providing liberal fund
Of information and entertainment for the general reader
is stocked with practical results which will guide
his long journey the little of the humbest emf
grant Such is the itinerary Of every days journey by
which the progress of camp may be regulated with
military precision the meteorological journals, the ad-
vice to routes and the example, worth much any
Of the rest of cheerful, uniform good and perse
verance.
The value Of nice calculation of resources and ad-
ustment of to the ends of the journey is be
despised the prairie Every where along that great
route Capt Stansbury in l849 found the wreck of cap
tai and comfort in the abandonment Of articles of value
We have constantly in his journal such records these
"A small party with single wagon, drove into camp just
leaving the ground They had formed part of
company from ST. Louis had proceeded within sixty miles Of
Fort Kearny but had quarreed and become dgusted with
the trip and with each other and had separated These per-
their return st. Louis They gave discourag
ing accounts of matters ahead Wagons they sad could be
bought the route of emigration for from to fifteen
dollars apiece, and provisions for almost nothing all So
much for arduous enterprises rahy undertaken and
What else could be expected?
1--WE passed to-day the nearly fragments Of about
dozen wagons that had been broken and burnt by their
owners and near them piled in heap from six
eight hundred weight of bacon thrown away
to transport further Boxes bonnets trunks wagon
wheels, whole wagon bodies cooking utensils in fact
almost every article of household furniture found
place to place along the prairie abandoned for the
reason.
and burnt wagons, trunks and immense quantities of white
beans which seemed to have been thrown away the sack
full their having become tired of carrying them further
afraid to them from danger of the cholera The
commanding officer at Fort Keay had forbidden their
at TINT post this account Stoves gdrons moulding
planes and carpenters tools of all Sorts be had
every step for the trouble of picking them up.
"To-ay find additional and melancholy evidence of the
difficulties encounteredby those who ahead OF Before
hating to noon passed eleven wagons that had been
broken up the spoke of the wheels taken make pack
dies, and the rest burnt otherwise destroyed The road
has been literally trewn with articles that had been thrown
away Bariron and Steel large backsmhs anvis and bel
lows crow bars drills augers goldwashers chsels, axes,
lead trunks spades ough large grindones baking
cooking without number kegs barrels harness. cloth
ing bacon, and beans found along the road in pretty
much the order in which they have been here
The of eight lying in heap the roadside
this morning explained part Of the trouble recognised
the trunks Of some Of the passengers had accompanied
from St Louis to Kansas tie Missouri and who had here
away their wagons thing they could
pack upon their mules and proceeded on their journey At
the noon halt excellent rife found in the river,
thrown there by desperate egran who had been
bic carry any further. In the this day the
relics OF seventeen wagons and the Of twenty
dead oxen have been seem"
Flour and bacon had been sold as low rs one cent per
pound and in many meat had been used for fuel
and so till we sickened with the recital In the
early summer Of l849 Mr.. Bruiet trader from Fort
Laramie his way to St. Louis in the of forty
days the road had met not less than four thousand
wagons, averaging four persons to n wagon.
1t was one Of Capt. Stansbury's regulations the
journey to travel Sunday except in of
cessty His testimony to the favorable results of this
course, looking merely to temporal prosperity, agrees
with that Of the most profound observers who have tested
the results Of human labor and the Of human
durance by the institution of week Of six days toll fol-
lowed by of rest here beg record the re-
suit of my experience derived only from the
journey but from the observation of many years spent
the performance of similar duties, that matter
OF pecunary consideration, apart from all higher obhga
ton it is wise to keep the Sabbath More work can be
than where the whole days uninterrupedy de-
voted TO labor"
We select a few Of the incidents Of the journey:
DUTcHMAS ES ROUTE.
owe passed also old Dutchman, with an immense
wagon drawn by six yoke Of cattle, and loaded with
household furniture Behind followed covered cart con-
tanning the wife, driving herself and host Of babies
the whole bound to the land of PROMISE of the distance
to which, however they seemed not the most re-
mote idea. To the tail Of the attached large
chickencoop full Of fowls two milch cows followed and
next old mare upon the back Of which was perch
ed little brown-faced barefooted GIRL not more than
seven years DID, while small sucking colt brought up
the We had occasion to see this old gentleman and
his frequently Afterwards ma we aud 70