The Kanzas news., 1858-02-13

~ 4upon-Inamesass Crops in Utah. =.
ar'@ CAMP scorr, Nov. 26, 1887
= WINTER QUARTERS OF THE ARMY.
The army has gone into winter quarters
at Camp Scott & Whatever minor operations
NAV be contemplated will be assigned to de-
tachments but it is determined that no
effort will be made to cross the Wahsatch
range until next spring. So
Our winter camp is in the narrow valley
of Blacks Fork, sheltered by high bluffs,
which rise abruptly on each side of the bot
tom at the distance of six or seven hundred
wards from the channel of the stream.
The work of killing cattle and jerking
the beef has been prosecuted busily during
all the week; but the meat has suffered some
deterioration in quality from the circum-
stance of having been beaten with ox-whips
over a thousand miles of road since the
beginning of summer. Indeed, to speak
plainly, it is reduced to muscle and gristle.
To increase the unsayory prospective, is
added the fact that there has been no salt in
camp for more than a fortnight. The ave-
rage cost of transportation from Leaven
worth City 70. the Salt Lake is from 13 to
18 cents per pound. and it was thought un
economical to haul an article across the
plains at so heavy expense, the value of
which at the expected termination of the
march would not exceed cents per pound.
So We are bountifully provided with boiling
kettles and all the machinery for operating
on the water of the Great Salt Lake but
the Great Salt Lake is unfortunately just
1l3 miles distant. shook the final grains
from my salt-cellar to-day, over superb
Mormon turnip taken from a cache unearthed
at Fort Supply. 9
The civil officers of the Territory have
founded Gentle city in nook in the wood
above the camp of the 10th Infantry, and
by the talk about ''twenty feet 'front.'" and
''corner lots passer-by might imagine
himself In Kanzas. The Governor occupies
a scollop in the eastern line of the wood, on
which he has planted his tents, aud unload
ed his wagons. Next comes the Chief Jus
tice, who has excavated quadrangle, four
teen feet square, and built rough log hut
over the hole. His establishment is more
complete than that of the Indian Agent,
which is progressing on a similar plan, but
larger scale. The half dozen Utes who are
at work on it, handle the shovel and pick
axe with more dexterity than | had believed
that Indians could acquire. The Marshal,
and son of the Surveyor General, together
with Mr.. Mogo, the Deputy Surveyor, are
building cabin which will surpass in size
any other in the row except the projected
court house. - ~ 81. s.....t 81.
-g,s5s AN EXPEDITION AFTER SALT. r-! -.|
Il Capt. Marcy, of the 5th Infantry, will
start tomorrow for New Mexico, with
picked company of 35 men, % of whom
have been furnished from the 10th Infantry,
and the remainder from the 9Th. His OBJ
ject is to procure supplies of salt, and make
arrangements for forwarding mules to the
army in the early spring. The trail which
he viii eventually strike leads to Taos
Notwithstanding the dangers to which such
an expedition is exposed at this season of
the year, the prospect of inactivity through
out the winter has caused general desire
among officers and men to be attached to it.
Each company of the Infantry regiments
was called upon to furnish list of FIVE men,
from which its quota was to be selected,
and In one instance, that of company a,
10th Infantry, commanded by Lieut.. Kelly,
every private applied for place upon the
list eil1. r+
NIsNANAGENENr IN THE oUARTERMAsTER's
DEPARTMENT.
The old proverb about the stable door and
the stolen horse may be applicable TO any
criticisms that may be made on this cam
paign /; but it is a fact, and ought TO be un
derstood and established, that had the Quar-
termaster's Department provided proper
supplies of corn, in view of the contingen-
cies of the campaign, or had Col. Alexander
anf r1 S~,do
Springs, the headquarters of the army
would now have been in Salt Lake City.
Between Fort Laramie and Fort Bridges
"a distance of 400 miles-the only depots
Of grain were at the Platte Bridge and
the bridge over the Sweetwater, and neither
contained corn enough to supply regiment
of dragons with weeks forage. The ter
rible loss of animals which the army has
suffered is justly chargeable on those off,
GERS of the Quartermaster's Department who
were entrusted with the provision and dis
position of the supplies. They seem to have
entirely Ignored the possibility of the Nor
mon community rising In arms. The pub
lie, to be sure, had the right TO doubt that
possibility, but it was criminal neglect for
those to leave it out of view whose duty it
was, and who were provided with sufficient
funds. to guard against every contingency.
1t is impossible for me to write on this sub
leet without feeling, for of the pitiable spec-
tacles of other than human distress have
ever witnessed, none can compare with those
which were of, daily Occurrence during the
marc march to this point from Fort laramie
When the wolves, and ravens, and buzzards
nave finished their feast, and the snow has
melted in the spring, the road will be Tte-
rally walled with skeletons.
LAUNDERING OF COL. ALEXANDER. es.is.
With regard TO the prosecution of the
movement towards Soda Springs, Col. Al
e1ander arrived at Green River with his
regiment on Sept. 90. The same night a
IOrcad rnarcl, sf ..,.ui = 90 rail-. ,r,- ,aaI