The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1859-10-27

lDgs, snu itS water, Tor al least tue lower
half OF its course, 10 about the most de-
testable | ever tasted choose to suffer
thirst rather than drink it. Though $50
miles in length, it is never more than a
decent mill-streaw; | presume it is the
only river of equal length that never had
even canoe launched upon its bosom
its narrow bottom or intervale produces
grass but so coarse in structure and so
alkaline By impregDation that DO sensible
man would let his stock eat it if there
were any alternative. Here however,
there is none. Cattle must eat this or
die-mauy of them eat it end die. One
of the most intelligent emigrants | con-
yersed with on its banks Informed me
that he had all the grass for his stock
moved, as be had found by experience
that his cattle, If graaed upon it, pulled
up much of their grass by the roots, and
these roots we're far more alkaline than
the stalks. | believe no tree Of any size
grows on this forlorn river from its forks
to its mouth am sure saw none while
travcrsing the lower half of its course
Half dozen specimens of large, worth
less shrub, known as Buffalo bush or
Burberry, with prevalent fringe Of Will
lows about the proper size for school
marm's use comprise the entire timber of
this delectatle stream, whose gad-Hies,
musketoes, gnats, &C., are so countless
and so bloodthir-ty as to allow cattle so
unhappy as to be stationed on or driven
along this river no chance to eat or sleep.
Many have died this season of the bad
water, that would have survived the wa
ter but for these execrahle insects, by
which the atmosphere, at times, is dark
ened. 1t certainly is not pleasure to
ride night and day along such stream.
with the heat intense. the dust constant
cloud, and the roads all quilted and
ground into chuck holes; but then, who
would stay in such region one moment
longer than be mustl
| thought | had seen barrenness before
ON the upper course of the Republican
on the North Platte, Green River, &c.
but | was green, if the regions washed
By those streams were not Here, on the
Humboldt, Famine sits enthorned, and
waves bis scepter over a dominion ex-
pressly made for him. On the above
named rivers, regarded Cottonwood
with contempt, here. a belt, even the nar-
rowest fringe. of Cottonwood would make
a comparative Eden. The Ssgebusb and
Crossword which cover the high, parch.
ed plain on either side of the rivers bot
tom seems thiDly set, with broad spaces
of naked, shining. glaring, binding clay
between them; the bills beyond, which
bound the prospect, seem even more na
ked. Not tree, and hardly shrub,
anywhere relieves their sterility; not a
brook, save one small one, runs down be-
tween them to swell the scanty waters of
the river As the only considerable
stream in the Great Basin that pursues a
general east and west direction, the Hum
boldt may continue for years to be trav-
eled; but | am sure no oDe ever left it
without a sense of relief aud .hankfulness.
There can never be any considerable set
tlement here.
After course, at first west by south,
then north by west, afterward south west.
and for the last 50 miles due south, the
river falls into Lake Humboldt fine
sheet of clean water perhaps l 5 miles in
length and 40 10 circumference. l tried
to obtain an approximation to its depth,
but could not; those who have staid be-
side it longest assuring me that no boat
had ever foated upon its waters-a state
meut which the destitution Of wood IN all
this repion renders credible. am salts
fed, however, that this Lake is being
slowly filled up from the gradual washing
down and washing in of the bills which
approach it on the east and south, and
that time will make great changes in its
confsuration and the volume of its wa
ters.
"A stream, not so copious as the III
yer. runs from the Lake on the south,
and flows with gentle, sluggish current
into a large tule or reed marsh, which
has no outlet, and is said to be but mod
e.ately salt. The Lake water is account
ed sweeter than that Of the river. Here
the Humboldt is said to Slnk, like the
Carson, Truckee and Walker, which issue
from the Sierra Nevada and run east
wardly into the adjacent desert; but
suspect they are all drank up by evnpora-
ton and By the thirsty sands which sur
round them The Mississippi, if 1T ran
across the Great Basin and kept clear OF
mountains, would be threatened by sim
liar fate.
We reached the Sink at 81 p. N. on
Thursday, the 29th-scarcely two days
from Gravelly Ford, where We struck the
river, having in those two days traVersed
soue 220 miles of very bad and intense
" hot. dusty road. At g, We were ready
to pass "the Desert''--that is, the desc
late plain which separates the Sink OF the
Humboldt from that of the Carson. But
one of our fresh mules was sick aud could
not be replaced, which made our first
drive a tedious one, and we contrised, BY
dexterous mismanagement, to get stuck
in bayou or back-pet of the Huuboldt
Sink. where we for a while seemed likely