Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1858-08-05

luftier peaks which bound 1t on the south
The other half of the kanyon becomes ii
consequence deep glen, as the cliffs which
bound it on the north rise almost perpen'
dicularly from the level of the creek. This
glen is filed with bushes, and in it, thus
protected from the wind. the Mormon ar
my hal its winter quarters The huts they
occupied were constructed by digging cir.
cular holes in the ground. over which were
placed boughs in the same manner as the
poles of an Indian lodge Willow twig:
were plated around these boughs. and tho
whole hut was finally thatched with straw,
grass and bark The doors were formed
by framework plated and thatchcd in the
same manner Many of these huts had
chimneys built of sods and stones. An
open spot a few hundred feet below the dam
was the sight of the headquarters of the
command. Here the huts were built around
a square. in the center of which was plant
ell tall pine flag pole. The whole num-
Der of huts was about one hundred and fif-
ty, and they could accommodate on an aver
age fifteen men apiece. A little square
stone building near the fag-pole was used
for powder magazine. The scenery al
this point is excee lingly picturesque. Gut
Of the tsngle of willows. elders and wild
cherry trees spring the sandstone cliffs, in
every crevice of which ccdars and fir-trees
cling to the jagged points of rock. On the
other side sheet of rich verdure rolls up
the glen ripples the little creek underneath
an arch of fragrant shrubs twined with the
slender tendrils of wild hop vines.
These Notifications possess no merit and
little strength. There is not Brevet Sc
cond Lieutenant in the army who will not
smile when he passes them.
THE ROAD, AND FIRST VIEW OF THE CITY.
Echo Kanyon opens on to the Weber
River which the road follow, for several
miles to ford The scenery along the va
lev is as romantic as dream of the -alley
of Rasselas. The horizon on the north
and south is bounded by corrugated ridges.
above which rise rocky peaks streaked with
snow. There seems to be no outlet for the
road, but after crossing the foid the mouth
of a kanyon is seen on the west, into which
the road turns. Itrasses over a series OF
high ridges down into the East kanyon,
through which flows Bushman's Fork
Here we were struck by a heavy thunder
storm, and forced to camp. The rain pat
tered ON us all night long. and lasted
through the next forenoon. We climbed
the Big Mountains into the clouds, and
lost, of course. the famous view from its
summit. The clouds lifted as we descend
ell into Emigration kanyon. All down
the slope of the mountain the road was
lined with rose bushes in full bloom. clus-
ters of celumbincs and parti-colored tufts
of wild flowers. dropping under the weight
of raiu-drops, and just visible through the
ini~f
1t was not until we emerged from Emi-
grafton kanyon that we obtained our first
view of the city The sky was clear over
head, and the SUBMITS of the West Noun
tains. They still hung low down ON the
peaks which bound the valley on the south
east. almost covering the snow upon the
crcsts of the range The line Of the Great
Salt Lake was glittering along the western
horizon The transition was SO sudden that
the whole party uttered shout of delight.
We spurrcd our ponies down the long
slopes, those of the company who hal liv-
ci in the city pointing ont the prominent
buildings as we gallopcd along-tle tinnesl
cupalo of the Court House, the mansion
and the Lion House of Brigham Young.
the Temple square, and the Arsenal. All
down the valley on each sile of the & Eat
southern road. were broad fields of ;,Iain
to which the showers hal impaired an adj
ditional green. Through the plain we
could trace the winlings of the Jordan by
the glitter Of the sunlight on its ben'ls.-
As we role through the streets hardly a
soul was visible. AT last we saw a group
of half naked boys padding in one of the
rivulets which run along the cutters. The
city is deserted.
The Herald's correspondent thus de-
scribes Salt Lake, and its character:
Like blue tinted mirror rejecting the
sunshine. we remarked the lake about thir-
ty-five miles to the northwest 1t is now
about seventy miles long from north to
south, anil thirty miles wide from east to
west. II once filled, and most probably
formed the entire great basin." as it is
termed, extending SOD miles from north to
south. AMI $50 miles from east to west,
hemmed in by the Sierra Nevada mountains
on the east and the Goose Creek and Hum
boldt ranges on the west. Mountains were
then Jagged islands, ravines and straits,
sweeping hollows and gulfs and shores of
this vast aud silent sea. II has shrunk a.
way to its present dimensions, and is the
immense reservoir into which all the streams
and rivers of the "basin. pour their melt
ed sorrows.
1t has no apparent outlet, although grad
ually diminishing, apparently more rapidly
than can be accounted for by mere evapora-
ton.
Many fats, blackened with an incrusta-
tion Of dazzling salt crystals, were covered
with water when the Mormons first went
there, and their fiat boat was pushed easi-
~ over long stretches of now baking and
cracked soil. Its bottom is very fiat, how
ever. and very slight increase of water
would again submerge miles of now ex-
posed surface. The density of the water
varies necessarily in different seasons from
the quantities of fresh water pouring down
into it. 1t averages from l. l6 to l.l8 of