New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-08-30
An OVERLAND JOURNEY.
XIV.
XIV.
ou SALT LAKE TO CARSON VALLEY.

PLACERviLLE Csi July 81, i1'''
vH.,s are tso emisrsnt trails fro@ Sale LAKE
~, "a Carson Valley and tas pass the ICE 1910
Cs.i,s,rpis-tbe older soi more f'vsred sar''
~e,,h west from tie Mormon Z,"n, passes nor'n
md vest of Sal, Lake cro,,iog Weber ana nea'
Ri,,rs near tb.ir mouths, with se'ersi SUP"
e,e.ks, and gradually veeriDs west ana sou'"'"
90 q. 70 st,ike the head spriogs OF the ho
which stream il folio IS more than to'ce hnoureu
miles In lis ".iot, within hundred m1es OF tue
...,.,, base Of the Sierra Nevada The o'ner |
,.,,. leaves the Mormon capital IN sou'n |
.v,,te,,, direction, touches Lake U'ah on 'ns
18Th n,sses west Of that Lake through Provo, J
cd ,hen,e ,outberDy through Fillmore, the nom'-
"a, ,.ots, Of the Territory, and so dcTn by SesF
P;,er and Like nesIy to The southern bound1I', Of
Ih.b. vhepce it stretches west nearly upon tue
.a,thern RIM Of the Great Basin, on which re the
~Mouptain Meadows" where large migrant
v,yty from Arkansas was go ~ roc0asly
m.s.scred in 1857. Thence this trail turns
,orth-west 70 hit the sink Of CSIson Rger.
IL can get no tolerabe map OF tab, and the
above may lot be entirely correct, bu. is Dearly
,s> II will be seen th,t each Of these routes
pu,t necessarily be very cire difOus, and that
,,usst, if not quite, half the Territory lies be
tween them. TO, last year, Major Chsrpening'
Ne contractor for carrJ ing tbs Salt Lake and Cal
fo,n;a Nsil, resolved TO see|. thorter route mid
"a, b.tseen them, which ne partially uceeded
in establishing. This roy.te passes Camp FLOYD,
AZ miles souil Of Salt Lake City, and thence
,t,iles west southwest through "the Desert,
% called, which it penetrat.s for 80 miles or
mare: tAence turning northwest to reach and fJl-
NV the original emgran and mau-Ioute down the
Hupboldt. Even TAU, 1t is some~ht. shorter
tbsn any oihsr Travelled route from Salt Lake to
Carson Valley, but stIll very tOrtuou', and at least
LEO miles longer than it should b.. Capt Simpson,
sf tie u. s. Typographical Corps, has made his
way quite through the desert, on rOu'e which
nsles the dlstsDce only SCI miles from Camp
Floyd to Carson Vslle,; whereas it is go by the
pse.t Mt maIOute, and further by any other
-Cspt Simpson is now engaged in further surveys,
whereby be hopes to shorten the distance from
6sk Lake City to Genos, near the head of Carson
Valley, to about $50 miles; and two Of MAJ n
Chs,peIing tupeIinteIdents are now examining
The pew portion of this route intending to recon-
mend transfer Of the Mail TO it should they deem
practicable for wagons, and not hopeless'y desti-
tute Of grass and water. trust they will find ii
passabe; meantime, let me give some accoun. Of
10 much Of it % have travelled as an not ware
that any is yet extsnt
/ left Camp Floyd in the msil wagon from Salt
Lake City, on the morning Of Thursday, JGly 2lst,
pursuing = southwest course over low mountain
paw. Twenty miles on, ne found small brook,
Il
thirty plain, which, presume, soon drank it up.
The yeRe taton was that same eternal Sagebush aud
Grsasewood (AIterniss, / tbiak, is Il more widely
sseessixed designation Of this plant), which am
tssd of mentioning, but which, together or sePa
Iais,y ever twothirds Of all the vast region be-
tween the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada.
IN places, the Sagebusb, for miles in extent is
dead and whitening, seemingly psrched up by the
al pervsdiDg dIouth; the Greasewood is either
lAroier, or chooses its ground more jadiciousy;
for it is rarel, found dead by acres There is some
Bsucb-erass on the sides OF two three mountairs,
but very little Of sueht that can be relied on to
saitain human OF animal life. The mountains and
plains seem TO divide the ground very family between
thsn--ibe soil of beth being mainly white clay
While the former have that creased gallied, washed
away appearance, which have repeatedly noticed
Son etimeE they are nesrly perpendicular on one o
mere sides like the Buttes tur.hers east; but usu
AIk they can be sscended any side, and seem /
rise Int one So three thousand feet above the plain
at,h.ir bases These plains appear from distance
toke level as 10 many tables; but, on attempt
iDs " cross them in swssoD, you fnd them crease
and secured by ionumetabe water-cOurses, nos
dry, but showing that, in the wet season, water i
most abundant here. In most instances, gra }u.
slope Of q mile or two intervene bet yeen the 70 d
ola mountain aud the adjacent plain or valley
SAs 'lope is apt to be intensely dry sterile sat
covered With dead or dying SAgebusb. l judge
Aese slopes to be composed of the rocky, gravelIy
material Of the mountains, from which tue lelte
clay has been washed cut and carried off The,
y sfien seem TO be composed almost wholly of sma'
Bits Of roch. The valleys or plaus are from fve t
hiteen miles across, though they seem 10 the clear
dry atmosphere of Utah, not half so much Ties
plans have an impercep,ble slope 10 soule poin
Aear their respective centers where wider wster
course rups toward some acj,cent vsl'ey; in som,
Dssts, msrsh or naked space near the center irdi
eates that the surplus water frem the surrounding
mountains forms here in Spring petty shallow
hhe, which the bot soon evapOra.e or the
tAibty Soil sbsoIbs. The mountains are thinly
hetsd or dotted with low, scrubby CedSr, seldom
ten feet high and often nearly IS far across the
green top formed by three or tour stalks or stems
starting from common root. The mountains
seem to have no particular, or rather, no general