The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1859-09-28
WHOLE NUMBER, 500.

which was many hundreds ii not thousands
Of miles from their former homes-that they
generally reached these valleys 10 the fall,
which afforded them excellent chances of
starvation before they could raise a crop
that they have been constantly invested and
begged or stolen from by the Indians, whose
game they killed or scared away, and who
feel that they have a right to live here so
long as there are cattle or crops to live on
THAT these valleys are lofty, narrow, and
parched by intense drought from May to
November that implements and seeds are
scarcely TO be obtained short of a three
months journey, and then at an enormous
cost that they have had one year OF virtual
and costly hostilities with the Federal Gov
ernment, in which very little could be done,
and improvement was out of the question:
and am amazed that so much has been we'll
done here in the way of building, tilling.
fencing, and planting trees, &c. OF course
this city is far ahead of any rival, being the
spiritual metropolis aad the earliest settled;
Lake is better cultivated than this, though
Provo, its county seat. is far behind the city,
which, with its broad, regular streets, re-
freshed by rivulets of bright, sparkling, danc-
4 ing water, and shaded by rows of young but
). thrifty trees, mainly Locust and Bitter Cot
d onwood, is already more attractive to the
r eye than an average city of like size in the
v States. The houses (of adobe or merely
d sun. dried brick } are uniformly low and gen.
d orally too small /; but there is seldom more
IS than one family to a dwelling, and rarely
+ but one dwelling on lot OF an acre and
;. quarter. The gardens are we'll filled with
v peach, apple and other fruit trees, whereof
) the peach already bears profusely, and the
10 others begin to follow the example. Apri.
le cots and grapes are grown, though not yet
II abundant so of Strawberries. Plums are
ID in profusion, and the mountain currants are
ID large, abundant and very good. Many of
to the lots are fenced with cobbIe stones lain in
" clay mortar, which seems to stand very we'll.
r. That of Brigham Young's garden and
4. grounds is nine or ten feet high, three feet
,e thick at the base, and cost some sixty dollars
ur per rod. Undoubtedly this people is steadily
- increasing in wealth and comfort.
q Still. the average life in Utah Is hard
one. Many more days. faithful labor are re-
qured to support family here than in Kan.
sas, or any OF the States. The climate is
,;s severe end capricious--Aow intensely hot
,b and dry in winter cold and stormy and
es though cattle are usually allowed to shift
ns for themselves in the valleys, they are apt to
resent the insult by dying. Crickets ant
-. grasshoppers swarm iu myriads, and often
If devour oil before them. Wood is scarce ant
m. poor. Irrigation is laborious and expensive
"a, as yet, it has not been practicable to irrga
,,., one fourth of the arabic land at ALL Ulti
- mately, the valleys will be generally irri
l,v gated but this will require very costly
nm dams and canals. Frost is very destructiv,
no here Indian corn rarely escapes it wholly
be and wheat often suffers from it. Wheat
I'M oats, corn, barley and rye, are grown a
nix about equal cost per bushel--$2 may bt
nv taken as their average price ; wheat is un
I'VE usually heavy, though this year it is threat
,ev ened to be relatively light. I estimate tha
md one hundred and fifty days. faithful labor il
nv Kansas will produce as large an aggregate
~, Of the necessaries OF life--Food, Clothing
"a, Fue--as three hundred just such days. worl
aof in Utah. Hence, the adults have general!
II toll worn, anxious look, and many of ther
ard are older in frame than in years. ardent
:. " hope it may not always be- thus.