Connecticut western news., 1873-06-13
On the Pacific Railroad.
BY A. W. CHURCH.
LContinued.l

'. lContinued.l
 Upon leaving Ogden We passed aroan
 the head ot the Great Salt Lake, and to tn
 south of chain of mountains whose ton
 are now covered with snow. TheAcountr
 where it has not been redeemed by Mol
 mon cultivation, is of the same drear
 character as that traversed since leavin
 Green River. On one side the shores o
 the lake, desolate as those of the Dead Sea
 their briery wastes producing no green o
 living thing, save where Till from tn,
 mountains renders less brackish the soi
 saturated with salt; on the other the in
 terminabe sage bush and grease wood witl
 their dull pearl gray hue, making the land
 scape monotone of dismal color,-
 Wherever the Mormons have settled they
 have obllterated the sage bush and made
 the desert blossom, but this has been done
 by severe labor, and by the aid of irriga-
 ton. Whatever may be thought of theiI
 peculiar belief, one can but admire the pA-
 tient industry of these people. doubt if
 the most enterprising of your countrymen
 scknowled as they are, to excel all nations
 in thrifty energy, could have accomplished
 what these MormOns have done.
 Not far from Ogden is Corinne, the only
 Gentle town in the territory, situated near
 the mouth of the Bear river. This is the entrepot for the territory of Montana, and
 all the supplies for that country are hauled
 by wagons from this place. The capital of
 Montana, Helena, is distant .45O miles, and
 yet I saw stage, filled with passengers,
 drive up to the depot from that far off
 town. The place has an air of bust
 ling thrift, but nothing appears per
 manent. The houses are very cheap struct-
 ures, and look as if the people who built
 them did not intend to occupy them for
 life. As soon as railroad is,toward He
 lena, Corinne will wither, as other towns
 along the great overland route have been
 blighted, as there is nothing to maintain a
 village except the forwarding business It
 was quite dark when we left Corinne, and
 we soon betook ourselves to our berths.
 The rate of progress over this portion of
 the Central Pacific is internationally slow,
 not exceeding 10 miles an hour, and when l swoke in the morning we were winding through the great slkali desert, with the Promontory mountains near the Salt Lake, still in view behind us, while in our front stood the snow clad caps of the Humboldt range. To change Sidney Smiths remark, God might have made more forbid6ing country than this, but certainly He never did. A dead flat plain, bounded on either side by gloomy volcanic mountains, with nothing to relieve it's monotony save the struggling clumps of sage bush, which rear their ash colored leaves through soil bleached with the effervesence of tt e alkali, sometimes so white as to resemble light snow. No animal; no bird; not even a lizard or toad to break the utter desola- ton of this horrible place. All is dead. dead, dead! Even the water for our en- gines had to be carried, as the water to be obtained here is SO saturated with alkali as to prevent its use. The Almighty seems to have blasted this country-to have decreed that 1t should not be the habitable abode of any living thing. A little after sunrise we came to the source of the Humboldt river, which is an oasis in the desert Here the heavy trains used to pause in their hot and dusty march, and refresh their tired horses and men beside the wells from which the Humboldt rises. The river is formed by number of large springs, which give out an abundant supply of sweet water, and about which are clustered the dwellings of the railroad employees and few rancheros, who find ample food for their cattle in the grass which grows. around the wells. The spot is not very attractive in itself, but sit aated in a desert of unexampled dreariness becomes inviting, and the California emi- grant, weary and overcome by his passage through the alkali plain, must have hailed with delight the green pastures and cool waters of this place. All day long we ran down the banks of the Humboldt, fol owing it's course until near the point where 1t sinks into the ground and disappears from sight forever. The banks of the Humboldt are tame and uninteresting, ex- cept where the river bursts through mar TOW gorge of precipitous volcanic rocks, called the Palisades, which are considera- bly, higher than those of the Hudson. At he north of this gorge is the town of Pali- sades, where wagon road leads off to White Pine and the Pische country, Sam gus mining districts of Nevada territory. In the bar-room of the eating house (every eating house has it's bar) is cabinet of fine specimens of different ores: silver, copper, Antimony, sulphur, &c.; the owner of the cabinet is the keeper of the eating house, and he seems to be quite an enthusiast in His collection IS quite valua- ble, both on account of the intrinsic value of the ores and the beauty of the selections. We supped at Carlin, but before arriving there our names were taken an transmitted | to San Francisco, where they were pub lished in the morning papers, like the ar rivals on & steamer, and indeed trip across l the continent resembles voyage, You | live in your car; you sleep there if you | have lunch you eat there; you have your little table and you play cards, smoke, lounge and pay visits if you are so inclined, for the passengers are permanent and you l have ample time to become thoroughly &C., | quainted with your fellow travellers. as is the case on board ship. Let me commend Carlin as an eating house to favorable no uce. We had fresh salmon and green peas, celery, caulifower, excellent beef, eggs, and plenty of sweet milk were served by neatly dressed Chinamen, who understood us well enough to bring us what we want ed, who invariably answeredt 'all right" and proved himself all right by attending promptly to our needs. Soon after leaving