The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1872-08-25
Salt Lake City; Utah.

Sensation Wrlt0r6 nave come TO S6l6 LRN0 |
City, and written fanciful sketches Of this
beautiful flower garden nestled in the
broad lap of the Rocky Mountains. The
bright pictures they have painted for us
and the reality are SO different that the
disappointment il also painful. would
other extreme of this matter, for certainly
have NO desire to depict the Mormon peo-
pie and their metropolis any worse thar
Grey are. but would prepare those OF
your readers who may hereafter visit this
place for the stern reality. l would not
Is model city in its beauty and sypametry;
wish to tell them that those broad |
avenues of which they have read, with |
| their beautiful overhanging arches of
living green, and the, bright, ripping
waters coursing along their side, whisper
4 highly -colored visions from the heated
brain of enthusiasts. The bare truth ts
that these avenues look more like lonely,
solitary wastes are .nnpaved, and In wet
weather are only long stretchee Of mire and
mud, through which weary horses with
weather one mass of sandy dust. The
only relief to be found is in the water and
in the trees the one, beautiful and clear,
and in one of the main streets courslpg IKE
n q nopptain torrent through the town, bnt
more often slow and tusbid, ploWing ies ss
} the streets, collecting il. ugly paddles, at
times covering one third the street the
, trees are bright green, and grateful enough
r out in the midst of this barren region but
! not go snowy, large or numerous as you
: will find in hundreds Of country towns
throu ghout the country. This. indeed, is
Q the keynote to all the tabled beauties OF
r Salt Lake. They are wholly and entirely
comparative. They are only such when
the surroundings are regarded. The won
der and astonishment which it has become
# SO customary to express as to the work
J. done by the Mormons in this valley is ex'
j. cited simply because they have made the
s best Of q bad situation.
l. But it should never be forgotted tha
~ that bad situation is an exceedingly oae
}. one, and though they have made the best
it, that is very little compared with wha
le may be seen in other places where circum
o, stances have been more favorable. 1t
B. like all the talk Of cultivating the grea
IN plains. 1t may be done after great SUM
Or have been expended for irrigation an
le other purposes, but it is an equally nnmie
ID taxable fact that there are thousands 9
ID acreo elsewhere, still uuoccupied, which
h. after all, are far more fertile, with les
to labor and less expense. So far as Sal
of Lake City is concerned, l may say wit
10 equal certainty that there is not anothe
city in the country of equal popuiatlo
It which is not more substantial, more hand
he some, and more prosperous than 1t. A
ed that wonderful thrift and energy. so fre
m ouently prated about, would have accom-
plished Infinitely more elsewhere. With
IT | have no fault to fnd it has accompiishe
ne much, and for that render all credit.
at do object, though, to over, estimating
4 exaggerating the extent Of the accomplisl
FOR hlent. The city is large, bat ,stragglir
,as aud disconnected. Notwithstanding.
an boasts some twenty thousand populatio
Try you look In vain for substantial edihc.s
1ts and in fact the only building OF any aret
= itectupal pretension in tue town is the lit
er; Gothic Episcopal chapel, and that, it shou
do he acknowledged, is quite q: handsoI
l6t structure. e.-Cor. st. Louis Republican. ID