Smyrna times., 1859-09-15
NJ sc CELLAN EOUS,
GREELEy'S OVERLAND JJyU2rEY.
SALT LAKE AND IT'S ENVIRONS.
SALT LAKE CRY, July l8, 1859.


SALT LAKE CITY, July l8, 1859.
a party Of US visited the Lake on Saturday
It Is not visible from this city, though it mus
be from the mountains which rise directly nor
OF 1t and more remotely on all SIDES
Crossing, just west Of the city, the Jordan
(Which drains the fresh waters Of Lake Utah
into Salt Lake, aud is large sluggish cree kl,
we are at once out of the reach of irrigation
from the northern hills--the river InterceDtInr
all streams from that quarter-and are once
more on parchCd clay plain covered mainly
with our old acquaintances, Sagcbush and
Greasewood though there are wet, snrngv
tracts, especially toward the southern noun
ia Ms and near the Lake, which produce rank.
coarse grass. Yet ihIs seeming desert has ma.
naturally better soil than the hard, pebblv
gravel on which the city stands, and which
irrigation has converted INTO b0unteuus gardens
and orchards rejoice to perceive that dam
over the Jordan Is III progress, Wht reby a con-
siderable section OF the valley of that river (4O
miles long by an average Of 20 broad) is to be
irrigated There are serious obstacles TO the
tull success Of This enterprise in the inequality
Of the plain, which is gou2ed aud cut M by
numerous (noW dry) waller courses; bur, il this
project is well engineered, it Will double the
productive capacity Of This valley, and | ear
nestly trust It may be. In the absence of iudi.
clou5 and systematic irrigation, there are far
too many cattle aud sheep on this great com.
mon, as the gaunt look of most of the cattle
abundautly testlies. Water also is scarce ana
bad here; we tried several of the springs
which are found at the bases Of tile southern
mountains and found them all brackish, while
not single stream flows from thuse mountains
III the five or six miles that we skirted them.
and am tcld that they afford bat one or two
scanty rlvuiets through the whole extent Of this
valley. In the absence OF Irrigation, nothing
is grown or attempted but wild grass; of the
half dozen cabins we have passed between the
Jordan aud Lake, not one had even the sem.
bIance of garden or Of any cultivation what.
ever. A shrewd woman who had lived seven
years near the Lake assured me that it would
do no good to attempt cultivation there; "too
much alkali was her reason. | learn that on
the city side of the Jordan, when rri cation was
first introduced and cultivation attempted, the
soil, whenever allowed TO become dry, was COW
cred, for the first year or two, with some whl-
tlsh alkaline substance or Compound but this
" as soon wasLed out and washed Oft by the
water, so that no alka!l now exhibits itself ard
this tract produces handsomely. Let the Jor-
dan be so damned and its water conducted into
lateral canals that It's whole valley may be am.
ply irrigated, aud there are few tracts of like
areu that Will produce most generously, a!belt
a maj jority of It's acres now seem as sterile and
hopeless as the great American Desert.
That this Lake should be salt, is no anomaly. |
All large bodies Of water into which streams
discharge themselves, while they have several
Iy TO outlet, are or shall be salt. Ii one such |!
is fresh, that Is an anomaly indeed. Lake Uiah
probably receives much saline matter as Salt |
Lake, but she discharges it through the Jurd2n !
and remains herself fresh; while Salt Lake,
having no issue save by evaporation, is proha-
bly, the safest body Of water on earth. The |
ocean is mparatlvcly fresh /; even the Mcdit- |
erranean at LeghOrn Is not half so salt. am
told that three barrels Of this water Weld Bar.
rel of salt; that seems rather strong, vet its |
intense sadness, no one who has not had 1t in
his eyes, mis- mouth, his nOstrs, eau realiZe-
You can no more sink in il than in a clay bank,
but very little of it in your lungs would suf- |
fee to strang!e you. You MAKE your way in
from a hot, rocky beach, over a chaos of VOL |
canc basalt that is trying to the feet; but a
depth of yard or more you have a fine sand
bottom, and here the bathing is delightful.
LIFE IN UTAH.
These Mormons are in the main an industri-
Gus, frugal, Woodworking people, Few of them
are habltunl idlers; lew live by professions or |
pursuits that require no physical exertlon. -
They make work for but few lawyers-I know
but four among them-their differences and |
disputes are usually settled in and by the
Church they have no female outcasts, few
doctors, aud pay no salaries 10 their preachers
at least, the leaders say SO. But a small Dor
ton of them use tea and coffee Formerly
they drank little or no liquor; but, since the
army came in last year, money and whisky
have both been more abundant, and now they
drink considerably. More than a thousand
barrels of whisky have been sold in this CITY
within the last year, at an average of not less
than SO per gallon, making the total cost to
of over $b250, 900, whereof the Nor.
mons have paid at least half If they had
thrown instead $l50,000 in hard cash into the
deepest part of Salt Lake, it would have been
far better for them. The appetite they are ac-
quirlng or renewing will cling to them after
the Army and its influx Of cash shall have de-
parted and Saints who now drink little will
find themselves as thirsty as their Valley, be-
fore they suspect that they care anything for
liqusr. As yet, / believe, they have few or no
drunkards; but there IS nothing more deceitful