The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-11-15

AMUNU HE EAlh1Ss
An Inside View Of M0FmOBIsm-The
Rev Jerusalem-UOWt TO Get There
and What 10 See-The Great salt
Lake Basin and the Valley or the
River JORDAN Glance at the City
Of Saints-EXceiient System OF Ire
Observation-Disclosures 6FaHd Canal
Echeme-HOW lie Proposes te Gull
tiFate Garden in the Midst Of
Desert = Cooperative Mercantile
Institutions TO MonOpOlIge Trade,
Etc.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH TERRIToRY,
November J. 1863.
After all that has been said and
written on the Mormon question, it
would seem that the public ought to
be satisfied. But not so. Each adj
ditional contribution to its store of
knowledge seems only to add fuel to
the desire for further inquiry. You
are probably not as well aware of this
as am; you haven't seen any of the
shoal Of letters that the postman
stacks up beside me at the arrival of
every Eastern mail. If=you had, I
think you would agree with me that it
would be difficult undertaking to
make my correspondents ideas of af-
fairs in Mormondom more vague or
incomprehensible.
[ have fairly forgot the date of my
last letter, the interval has been so
great. Under these circumstances
you cannot expect, and doubtless do
not wish, me to tarry with my descrip-
ton, though there are many things of
interest that / might picture for you.
However, with your permission | will
drop O hint to the traveller for this
section, both as to scenery and routes.
The Lightning Express train from
the East reaches UIntah Station, or
as the MoTmons call it, Deseret, at
precisely II o'clock noon. The pas
senger from the West reaches there
sixteen hours later, which is 4 o'clock
A. M. The fare from Uintah, 81; dis
lance, 80 miles; time, 5 hours. At
the above named station the traveller
from the East energies from the
famous Weber Canon, Spelled by the
Mormons according to its Spanish
pronunciation KGny0n), where the
Weber and Bear Rivers flow into the
level plains, and shortly add their
waters to those of the Great s.
Lake. The latter river is crossed &
the railway track ;aore than a hun
dred miles east of there, where it is
Only brook. 1t flows north, rounds
the Wasateh Mountains. fertiliz-
ing hundreds of farms, drains
a portion of the Territory of
Montana. and enters Salt Lake be-
tween Uintah and Corinne. Fifty
miles south of the railway,
the Jordan, the largest of the
tributaries of the Great Salt Lake,
flowing northWard from the confines
of Arizona, mingles its waters with
the bfackish and briny flood, while
from all the hillsides around the lake
low limpid streams, fed by the more
distant mountain SHOWS, which con-
stitute the wealth of Utah. When
the Mormons first pitched their tents
here, the sage brush, the symbol of
poverty and desolation, was the sole
tenant of the soil. With no rain from
April to November, any attempt at
cultivation without artificial irrigation
would, of course, be useless. During
the first two years of the settlement,
the pioneer Mormons suffered every
DdIElX
capped starvation, and only the most
hardy constitutions survived the des-
perate pTiYations of the initial colony.
The process of irrigation is doubtless
well known to your readers. i'll mis-
take not, explained the system at
some length in a former letter. Salt
Lake City was first laid out in garden
plats, and the bitches were cut regu-
IA
street. City Greek runs through
the middle of the central
street "a broad mountain tor
rent clear as crystal-and after yield
ing supplies of water for O whole
chess board of streets, has a flood
left, large enough to turn the ma
chinery of a New England village.
These ever present and rapidly flow
ing rills keep the whole city as clean
and fresh as the orchards which thew
no irish OF late years the rains have
become moro frequent, the streams
larger, and Salt Lake has risen a
dozen feet IN as many years, and is now
rising at the rate of one foot per year.
causing the abandonment Of large
number of estates. What Is to be the
end Of this new phenomenon is an
important question to those who own
real estate on Its margin. As / have
not the fortune, whether good or bad,
of owning any of these lands, feel
little inclination to speculate on the
probable result.
The coach line operating between
Uintah Station and this city is one of
the best In the West, if speed, com
fort and safety go toward making this
condition. Fast driving here, as, in
deed, all over the Pacific slope, is con-
sidered complimentary. Each coach
is drawn by four feet horses, which
are changed every ten miles.
Up hill and down they 90
at a.raging gallop, making scarcely
pause at the numerous irrigating
bitches which cross the road, bring
ing the waters of the Wasatch SHOWS
into the Mormon fields, orchards and
gardens. The everlasting sage brush
is the only vegetation visible On the
hills, and towering grandly above the
valley on the West the snoW-clad
peaks Of the Wasatch Mountains sa-
Lutte you. The little Mormon farms
along the route show but small signs
Of prosperity. One story log or
matched, or very rough boarded
houses, sloYenly cultivation and GEN
eral look of poverty. would be fair
descriDtiOn The traveller not nm