Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1858-03-10

| terious to health, and these, often dispersed
! by storms, are at last thrown far up the beach
| TO dry into hard cakes of various dimensions,
on which horses can travel without breaking
| them through; the under side being moist,
| the masses are slippery and insecure. The
lake has several beautiful islands, two of which
Antelope and Stansbury's-are of consider
able magnitude, with mountain ridge thro'
the centre two thousand feet high, and fresh
springs of water, which have caused them to
be selected by the shepherds and herdsmen
for their occupations.
About thirty v-eight miles south of Great Salt
Lake is Utah Lake, connected with the former
by the Jordon, a beautiful body of water, near
ly thirty miles long and fifteen broad, with a
smooth, uniform bottom, and depth varying
from seven TO fifteen feet. 1t aboundS with
suckers, salmon trout and various other kinds
OF fish, which are caught i'm large quantities.
On the slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains
is pyramid Lake, so named from a rock which
rises from its midst. This lake is said by Col.
Fremont to be seven hundred feet higher than
Great Salt Lake. There are several small
lakes in the interior of the basin, which re-
ceive its streams, and are frequently mere
sinks or sloughs. The most important yet
known are Nicollet or Sewer Lake, and Lake
Ashley, and Pyramid, Carson's and Walkers
Lakes, near the eastern slope of those noun
tains. Humboldt's Lake is about fifty miles
east of Pyramid Lake, and is formed by the
Humboldt River. These lakes have no visi-
bic outlets.
The rivers of the basin have no apparent
communication with the ocean, bat either dis
charge themselves into the lakes, or are ab
sorbed by the sands of the deserts. The larg-
est of these streams is the Humboldt or Ma
ry's river. 1t has its source in the western de-
clivities of the Humboldt mountains, and
flows southwest about 800 miles to the lake of
that name. The Nicollet river rises in the
southern part of the Territory, flows north and
then west, for nearly the same distance as the
Humboldt, and empties itself into the Nicol-
let Lake. Bear river, the principal tributary
of Great Salt Lake, enters the Territory from
| Oregon in the northeast OF the basin. Weber
| river and the Timpanogas rise in the Wahsatch
mountains the former empties into Great
! Salt Lake and the latter into Lake Utah. The
| Ogden is a tributary of the Weber. East of
| the Great Basin is Green river, whose source
| is in the southeast of Oregon, and Grand river,
| whose source is in the Rocky Mountains
| These two unite near the southern boundary
of Iron county, to form the Colorado, which
| flows into the Gulf of California Before their
junction, Grand river has course of about
| 800 miles, and Green river about 400 miles.
These streams, with their afiiuents, drain the
entire eastern division of Utah.
Objects of interest to tourists, especially to
men of science, abound in the Territory. In
| a geographical point OF view, it is one of the
most interesting countries in the world. 1t
has all the characteristics of the Holy Land
its Dead Sea, its Jordan, its Sea of Gallilee,
&c. but on an infinitely larger scale, its ex-
tremely mountainous character atfording
scenes of the widest and sublimest grandeur.
The fastncsses and gorges of the Rocky, Wah-
satch. Humboldt, Sierra Nevada and other
mountains reveal scenes. as they explored,
equal in interest to any that have yet been dis
covered by civilized eyes. The gorges or
kanyons, some of which have perpendicular
walls from 900 TO 800 feet high, present
scenes of the utmost wildness. They are in
some instances nearly half mile wide, and
in others only few rods, which would, if
necessary. enable a handful of resolute men to
defend them against host. Echo kanyon, Of
which now. so much is said, is % miles long,
and terminates on the Weber.
The most remarkable object of interest in
the Territory will, perhaps, be considered the
Great Salt Lake. The salineness of IFS wat
ers, the fact of its having no ontlet, and being
fed from another smaller and fresh water lake,
afford to the scientific abundance of material
for reflection. Pyramid Lake, embosomed in
| the Sierra Nevada mountains, with its sIngu
lar pyranidical mountrising from its transpa-
| rent waters to the height of about 600 feet,
and walled in by almost perpendicular preci-
pices, in some places nearly 1900 feet high,
| is said to have nothing similar to IT in the
| States. The boiling springs have drawn the
| attention of the scientific. Col. Fremont des
| cribes, them in about III degs. 80 min. west
| longitude, and so deg. north latitude, as boil
| ing up at irregular intervals with much noise.
He states that the largest basin is several hun
| dred feet in circumference, and has circular
| space at end of fifteen feet in diameter,
entirely filed with boiling water, whose tenn
perature near the edge iS'206 degrees. Its
depth near the centre is more than sixteen
| feet. The late Captain Gunnison, speaking of
| the springs, says AT the base of the hills a
| round the lake issue numerous warm springs,
that collect in pools and smaller lakes, inyit-
| ing aquatic fowl. during the winter, to resort
| to their agreeable temperature, and where in
| sect larv;e furnish food at all times; and the
| soil is so heated that snow cannot lie in the
| vicinity. In some places springs of different
| temperatures are in close proximity, some so
| hot that the hand cannot be thrust into them
without pam and near the Bear is depres-
! sion, in which issue three fountains between
| the trata, within space of thirty feet, of
| which one is hot sulphur, the next tepid and
| salt, and the uppermost, cool, delicious drink
/ ing water. The three currents unite, and flow
| off through the plain, large and bold river.
| There are also warm breathing or gas intermit-
ting fountains, chalybeate and gypsum springs
of high and low temperatures.
OF the geology and mineralogy of the Ter
ritory information is yet necessarily limited.
/ 1t is stated in Captain Stanbury's work ina,
| the specimens collected on the isiahos anu
shores of the Great Salt Lake give good
| idea of the general geological features. &c,
| we presume of the neighborhood OF the iaAe.
The specimens referred to are metamorphic
rock. consisting of talcose and mica states,
bornblende rocks, and a few specimens of gra-
mite and sienic character. In some localities
! the metamorphic strata appear to be overlaid
| nv a coarse conglomerate of coarse sandstone,
partially altered, and assuming the character
of quartz rock. The more elevated portions
of the shore of the Great Salt Lake, and the
mountain ranges consist of carboniferous lime
| stone in some places threaded nv cal.areons