The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-02-04
ROAMING THE DESERT.
Plus Ultra Continues His Travels,
Natures CuriOsities and Legends.
The Mammoth Mine.

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 2, 1888.
Editors Herald:
Leaving Fish Springs, 1 turned
southwark, skirting the base Of the
mountains, making my way in a d.
rect lins toward the Pah-gat-ze
Mountain, whose black, rugged
peaks could be plainly seen from
my starting point. About noon l
reached the "Devil's Hole" This
singular natural curiosity, with a
rather suggestive, but perfectly APP
propriate name, is very like an old
prospect shaft partially filed with
water. 1t is situated on the bench
near the base Of the mountain,
about twelve miles south Of Fish
Springs. The "hole,' or well, is
about twelve feet across at the sur
face Of the water and perfectly
round The water rises to within
about fifteen feet of the surface, the
banks or sides of the well being a
steep slope from the top to the
water. Below the surface of the
water the walls or sides of the pit
recede very rapidly, and person or
animal falling into the water has
no chance of getting out without
assistance from above. The water
GIBBS and flows once in every
twelve hours, and the greatest
height TO which the water rises
during Spring tides is about FIVE
feet. The water is warm and very
brackish. During the winter Of '5S,
some parties undertook to sound
the depth of the well, and to do SO
fastened two forty-fO0t GrietGS and
the lead reins Of a four-horse team
together, using large rock az 9
lead, the result was s'no bottom. ,
The Indians (Goshutes) have q
singular tradition concerning the
"h0le." They say that many years
ago the Great Spirit was angry with
the stars and threw seme of them
down; one, very large one, fell al
this place and a great smoke rose
Immediately that it struck the
earth. On the following morning
several Of the tribe ventured to the
spot to look at the fallen star and
they found nothing but a hole full
of water. The Pahvants, who have
a joint claim on the country, have
a different tradition: They say that
the evil one (Shinob) determined tC
destroy the earth by fire, and to dc
so, dug a hole upwards from the
center of the earth, his abiding
place, where he lives in the midst
of smoke and flames. The Great
Spirit (Peapah), hearing the roar.
ing of the flames and seeing
the ground shake, caused the waters
Of the great lake to flow into the
hole, and thus circumVented the
purposes of the evil spirit. The
present rise and fall Of the water is
caused, they say, by the evil one
constantly burrOWing back and
forth, vainly endeavoring to find an
outlet for the waters, and thus &C
complish his Interior purposes.
THE PAH-GAT-zE MOUNTAIN,
meaning the place, or mountain
where the water stands. / reached
this place, the objective point of my
journey, late on the evening of the
second day. The wind was blowing
perfect gale from the northwest
the air was filled with fine particles
of frost, and the cold so intense that
l could not keep warm by trotting
along behind my animals. 1 haC
frosted my feet pretty badly, so, Sc
Letting the largest cedar l cOulG
find, l cut away the branches on the
lee side and constructed sort O
wic-ke-up inside its spreading
branches. 1 then built a rousine
fire and prepared to "hold the fort
until the,weather moderated. Thii
mountain range is an up
heaval CT granite, slate, por
phyrY and lime, trending south,
east and northwest, and lyinl
south of the proposed line of thu
Denver and Rio Grande railroad
about thirty miles. The mountain
shows signs of the existence o.
galena and carbonate ore; indica
lions of copper abound and large
veins of iron ore of the hematitt
and magnetic varieties. AS thu
snow was unusually deep and thu
leold very intense, with no indica
lions of an abatement of its severity
L prospected but little; and afte
lying in camp for two days
started eastward.
CRATER MOUNTAIN,
SO named from the thermal spring
which exists at its southern extrem
ity. This range is an upheaval o.
volcanic rock, trending north ano
south and evidently continuation
of the volcanic range which is
found running through Millart
County. The spring from which
the mountain derives its name oc-
cupies the orifice of an extinct era
ter. Volcanic ashes and scoria
abound in its vicinity. The water
is quite hot and emits strong
sulphurous odor. The eartt
in the vicinity of the spring
throbs and shakes at irregular
intervals, the pulsations or throb
bling being more marked in theil
action at this season than at any
other time of the year-str0ng evil
dence that the volcanic forces are
only in partially quiescent state
not extinct.
DESERT MOUNTAIN,