Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-01-14
Correspondence Of The Sentinel.
An overland "Trip TO California.
AUSTIN, NEVADA, Oct. 25 lS6

LDlIOh SkNIINkL. Nnch last Nfoee you 4
was in the vicinity of Fort Bridger. The same
day | reached that dslectable military post, and
found it TO consist of collection of wooden
buildings, chiefly ranged round large plaza,
more adapted TO the wellknown habits OF the
denizeBs OF such establishments on the frontier
than TO the legitimate purposes of the protection
of the persons and property of citizens Of the
L United States within their area of operations
Their inyariable accomplishments - gaudly
dressed sauaws-swarmcd about the place, while
troops of halfbreed children told of "Indian
loves" The officer in command was one Capt.
Zobriske His idea of justice can be duly esti
mated by the fact that he applied 10 BY the
owner of an emigrant train TO set out the goods
and chattels OF portion OF the men whom be
had hired to drive his teams from Illinois to Ore
gon, without condescending to hear the defense
OF the parties accused. though they demanded it,
and offered to prove the charges against them
false, ordering posse of soldiers 10 throw out
their goods upon the plains. leaving their women
and children without any means of subsistence or
transportation, far from home and friends. in the
land OF the savage. Some of the men thus sum
marily elected were discharged soldiers of the
federal army, who bore upon their persons scars
won upon some of the bloody fields of the pres
ent war. But deaf ear was turned 10 repre-
sensations of that fact, and all others. and
hearing denied. A red faced, ''blue nosed !"
by when efforts were being made to secure a
trial, remarked that the emigration this year
we're all id copperheads, secessionists, Nor
mons and negroes, and not entitled 10 the pro
lection of the government. OF course this ere
Gently elevated" pimp Of bawdy house, sudden
ly dragged up from condition of vagrancy TO
sport shoulder straps had free license TO talk
! he pleased, with a bevy OF drunken soldiers Ut
/ his back to do his dirty and cowardly bidding.
/ It,ff he do Of ofrt,t ia M hapH araH
when it comes such men will sink back into their
old vagabond haunts.
! 70 emigrant has been projected by these mil
tary posts; on the contrary. they have been the
means ofdepriving them OF their arms, in MANY
instances, and in others OF heaping insults aud
| petty annoyances upon them. By their low bred
unsoldierly occupants. 1t were far better Tor
the security of person and property that these
| establishments were broken up, and emgFants
| left to their own resources. 1t is we'll known
that emigrants who are posted, have TO double
their guards in the vicinity of these posts. II
! they fail so to do, they sure TO lose stock.
At Salt Lake city, the commanding officer
! Gen. Conner, aud other officers in the federal
service, are engaged in working a silver mine.
and are using United States soldiers in many de
partments while Indians. on Bear river, and
along the route to East Bannock, engaged,
daily, in depredations upon settlers, emgrants,
an unwary emigrant in the act of GeaounciDg
Lincoln. or ayOwing preference for Mcclellan
and then TO seize and iron him. and afterwards
make him carry go lbs. of sand for ten or twenty
| days. in the broiling sun, seems to be a favOrite
| amusement with these feather bed soldiers; and
then, il is trumpeted abroad in their official pa
pers that they have done the country great ser
vice in arresting the progress oftreason, in catch
lag a rebel and bringing him to punishment In
fact, in no part of the United States has the
reign of terror" been more keenly felt, than
in the military districts west of the Rocky Noun
tains in the vicinity of the military posts.
Fort Brdger possesses no characteristics com
mendng it 10 notice military establishment
Surrounded with bleak hills, and encompassed
with dreary wastes, with only here and there, an
oasis of grass along the margins of the streams;
far from timber; protecting no important pass:
dominating nothing except sGuaws attracted there
for purposes sub rosa; it is difficult To conceive
what morbid military genius dictated its location
From Fort Bridger the stage route westward
lies along and across high, steep and rugged hills
to Bear river; where, for The first time snce leay
ing the settlements" i'm Nebraska, we saw cul-
tiyated fields OF oats and large patches of veg
etsbies, such as cabbage, potatoes, beets onions,
carrots and turnips, produced by irrigation. The
1 valley of this river IL about three fourths of
mile wide, and exceedingly fertile, Astounding in
grass. and embelshed with scattering groves of
cottonwood. The stream is about one hundred
feet wide, clear, rocky and rapid, and filed with
speckled trout Beaver find fayorite haunts
along it margin, and their dams. at intervals of
few miles, attest their industry and ingenuity
| | saw trees of eighteen inches in diameter they
/ had gnawed down and cut up into convenient
lengths for their dam purposes 1t is one of the
tales of travellers" that their (the beavers >
/ tails make palatlbe mOrsel for biped epeure
of the genus homo; but enter my protest
/ against this "made history" IL tastes rank and
| fshy. For its legitimate design of "troweng"
mud il is well adapted. and there its usefulness
/ probably ends.
The MOrmons are starting a colony about ten
miles above the crossing of the stage road. by
/ command of Brigham Young. The valley
there is said to bs wider, and well adapted to
/ farming
From Bear river the road lies along grassy
canyon, (the photography adopted out here,) at
the foot of range of low hills, interspersed with
/ granite lodges, and sloping back into great sage
/ brush wastes cherries and treeless TO the mouth
+ of Echo CANYON Here the hills are bolder
! more rugged, and rise up on either side of the
/ road, sometimes in overhanging cliffs of granite,
having an intervening space of about one hun
dred yards, wide, nearly level, covered with
+ grass. and waterea with numerous springs, grad
uslly collecting ! swelling into a beautiful
/ clear, rapid little pebbly creek, Astounding in
mountain trout, aud fringed along it, margin
/ with clumps OF willows and cottonwood.
The descent is gradual. almost imperceptbly
50 for twenty miles to the rocks. where the echo
! giving name TO the canyon, IS most distinctly
heard Here the little vale j. walled in with
/ huge granite precipices many hundred feet high
and tar up the rocky mountain side 10 the dizzi-
est verge, the pine aud cellar cling with scrubby
/ growth 10 the crevices in the rocks, beautifully
variegating the scenery Here a whisper is
+ swollen into an audible sound, and common con
yersation so repeats itself that exctes me risi
+ bes at FIRST and after awhile annoys. In this
CANYON the Mormons, during Buchsnans al
mnslration, fortified TO resist the advance of the
+ United States troops under General Kearney.
+ Their works may VET DC traced on the roadside,
1 and exhibit skill and no ordinary genius in adapt
/ ug the natural advantages Of the position 10 de-
/ fensive purposes. In truth. il is Thermopyle
At the western terminus Of the canyon there
is q Mormon settlement, along Weber river
Here the stage road DIVORCES ~ the left, while
down the river there i dimlY marked out path
way 10 Ogden-a little town forty mics north Of
Salt Lake City, near the lake Down the river
determined 10 90, because it promised better
grass. wilder scenery, and because il was i com
parativeiy new route, used only by the settlers
and was well paid for my temerity, in scenery,
hunting fishing. and in era zing and recruiting
I -