The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-11-06
lFrOn the stss5rdshire gns) scHti"eil
An Overland Journey from San Francisco
10 New York.
fconeladed from our last ]

fconeladed from our last
The second night passed as the preyisns one /;
in the morning we were in the Great Salt Lake
Desert. The sun rose very finely over the lake ;
and we all looked round ne with great interest.
The waters are OF a beautiful deep color the
mountains on the opposite side, capped with
snow. looked very grand. The view was a
7 pleasant relief TO the eye, after the dreary waste
of sand and alkali we were passing over. The
whole Of this desert, as well as the plans OF
Laramie and Wyoming, are covered more or less
with alkali, which makes the water injurious TO
man and beast. Fortunately we had been warned
of this, and taken with US some light California
wine to drink. Others who had not done so,
suffered in consequence. At Promontory Point
we changed trains. This is the point where the
Central and Union Pacific lines meet there was
great excitement amongst the passengers running
% see where the last rail was laid. This had been
done with much ceremony six days previously,
, and the event celebrated with great rejoicing
throughout the United States. y few miles fur
iher ON We came 10 the Great Salt Lake Valley,
and had n magnificent view OF the lake from Its
north head. y fine foreground OF rocks, below 1t
the valley and lake, and beyond these the snow
covered mountains. Ii was one OF the grandest
|, views We had ever seen. We could trace Brig
ham Young's road for many miles through the
valley and saw many large wagons travelling
| over il. The line here runs over some very danger
ous-looking trestle-work, very fearful to look out
upon, as the train passes slowly over and, know
ing these bridges To be as yet untried. we could
not help feeling very nervous till we were safely
across. Down IN the valley below there were
the remains of three villages, with the ominous
names Of 80 Blue Ruin " Dead Fall" and " Last
Chance They had been occupied by a gang Of
desperadoes and roughs, who follow up the Ia
borers on the line of railroad, glnbied with
them, and lived by plumber and murder. Now
that the line is 50 far completed, they have gone
on to White Pine diggings. Ii would be imPos-
n - - q. - 49, u,rDn, fiaa nf tho afrn-
cities and murders they have committed along
the line. There are grayeyards ut every little
village, and il has been estimated that only one,
out Of every fifteen buried in these, has died n
natural death. These three villages IN the Salt
Lake Valley had been deserted Just the day he
fore our arrival. Dead Fall took it's name from
the murder Of n poor young man there. The
ruffans would stand at their doors and fire, for
amusement, OH any passcrs-by. In this case u
great number of them turned out at Blue Ruin,
and told the poor fellow 10 run for his life, they
firing on him as he ran. He turned ON them and
shot four Of their number dead before he fell him
self. y young man In our car told Us that n few
days before, he was travelling along the valley in
n wagon with some others. y lew men came
up and used bad language TO them. y man, sit
ting behind, answered in the same strain, and
was Immediately shot through the shoulder.
Every tent in these villages was either Il gambling
house or Il drinking saloon. At Corinne " the
conductor OF our train locked the doors OF the
cars, as he said, : to i keep out the Dead-heads."
These are men who force their way into the cars
and get passages without paying. We stayed at
this place thirty minutes, aud sOmc OF the Iassen-
gers got u wretched dinner there, but we were
thankful to lave our food in the cars. Even
the clerks in the ticket and telegraph Offices
lad each n loaded revolver on the desk before
him, and not n single man went unarned. This
place again was full of saloons and gambling
houses. These are frequcntcd mainly by roughs
and the team drivers of the supply wagons, which
are sent To the military posts all over the country.
There arc a great number of them employed all
along the line. They are generally lawless men,
of every nation, and many of them have women
with them from the East. The character Of tile
COMPANIONS of such men can be easily imagined /;
We saw n few OF them ON our way, their appear
ance was most rcpuisivc. Three weeks ago there
were three hundred of the same class in COrinne
alone. Strange that 50 vile n place should be
named alter SO beautiful u character as Madame
de Stael's heroine. The dancing saloons are
called .. Hurdy Gurdies !" the amount of money
made in them is enormous. For each dance the
men are charged one dollar, of which half goes
to the saloon-kecTer, and half to the girl who
acts rs PARTNER. We were glad to lose sight OF
this place.
We were now in the Mormon territory proper {;
n few miles more along the shore of the lake
brought us in view of brigham City, which is
about n mile of the railroad. 1t looked n fine
town the houses are built mainly of stone the
country Tor q lew miles rOuiiu IL Nds CoNcTeu
with fine crops, forming n great c.ntrast To the
barren desert all around. They have made the
apparently poor soil rich by irrigation and
everywhere are neat cottages, standing in their
own gardens and orchards. Ii was pleasant To
look on green fields and trees again. There is a
grass grows about here called bunch grass,
which fattens the horses and cattle very quickly.
The Mormon settlements everywhere show
signs of industry and perseverance,, but this seems
all that can be said in favor of their owners. We
had many reliable stories about them, from gen.
tlemen with whom we Travelled, who had lived
for some years among them, but they are Tor the
most part too ugly to relate.
At Ogden city, twcnty-onc miles further on,
the passengers for Great Salt Lake city left us.
Ii is a very pleasant looking town, Astounding in
orchards and gardens. The houses are of stone,
and the poplar and willows about the river
Weber which runs PAST tie town, gave it a very
hOmelikc appearance to us. About the station 1t
was very rough. There were the usual saloons
etc. and mcn standing about pIacticing with re-
volycrs, which was disagreeably suggestive.
Leaving Ogden city, we entered the Weber
canon. The word canon signifies gate of the
mountains, and il used instead of valley here.
The scenery was very fine in the Wahsatch range
Of mountains We bad n thunderstorm tor, which
added to its grandeur. The Cliffs ON each side
tie line nre nearly two thousand feet high. We
had now got to the most dangerous Iartof our jour
ney in the valley, near TO the Devils Gate. The
road becomes very narrow, and our line runs high
mp ON the mountain side, the river foaming below
to our right. The rain had swollen it very much,
and the water wac running down the mountains
in streams, right across our newly-made track,
IN some places damaging il n good deal. of course
we went very slowly, and roon came to n stand
still on account Of a slide on the road, just ahead
of US. We had to wait nearly three hours whilst
men were got to clear il away then there was
another one further on. All this time it was
raining heavily and close to us, there was the
trestIe-work bridge over the Devils Gate tn cross.
IL had broken down two weeks before, and only
one passenger train had passed over it since, the
day before Us, when il had sunk three feet. The
conductor poohpoohed our fears, but whilst we
were waiting some of the navyies told one of our
party not to be persuaded to ride over it, adding
that they would not do it themselves for five
thousand dollars. When the road was clear
again the conductor said 60 The bridge is per-
fectly safe, but those who wish may have the
privilege of walking over" A large number of