The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-01-27
THE GREAT AMERICAN
DESERT.
"reminiscences of the Long Ago.
Plus Ultra Visits Old Scenes and
Recalls the Past.
A Query by Horace Greeley.
special Correspondence
ETcTT S,nnT1Tr,
"reminiscences Of the Long Ago.
A Query by Horace Greeley.
Special Correspondence }
FISH SPRINGS, TooELE Co,
IItah- Ian. 10Th 1899

FISH SPRINGS, TooELE Co,
Utah, Jan. 10th, 1888.
Editors Herald:
Being fully possessed by demon
of unrest, and wishing to revisit the
scenes of earlier years, and prospect
the mountain ranges over which l
had passed many years ago as a
"Pony Express rider" on the 9th
of December 1 turned nv back on
the allurements of civilization, the
festivities of the New Year and
wended my way toward the Great
desert. l reached Fairfield late in
the evening of the same day, and
found shelter and creature comforts
for man and beast with the presiding
genius of the place, genial Bishop
Carson. Camp F!eyd, after the de-
lection of the then secretary of war,
rechristened Fort Crittenden, exists
only in name. The present town
occupies the site of what during the
occupancy Of the troops was known
as Adobe Town. The only thing
which marks the spot where the
barracks once stood is few heaps
Of crumbling adobies and long lines
of ashes and cinders where the
army burned their fuel and super
fuous equipments when they aban-
doned the place. The only member
of the invading host now remaining
in the place is one Sny der who fol-
lows the peaceful Vocations of
merchant and farmer.
FAUST'S STATION.
Leaving Fairfield at an early hour
next morning few hours of sharp
riding brought me to the vicinity of
the old Rush Valley mail station, at
that time kept by II. J. Faust, now
resident of your city. AS des-
cended the long benches, approach
ing the station, my memory re-
called each hill, ravine, and gully,
unchanged and familiar, as in
the days Of '5S and 80. So
wildly did past events and
association arise in my mem
DRY, that forgetting the present in
"reminiscences of the past, 1 almost
expected, as l rode up to the house,
to hear the old cry of '.Ex-pr. ess, -
which used to greet the ears of the
incoming rider. and see the famil-
lar faces; hear the CHEEKY voices of
Faust and his amiable wife bidding
me welcome as in days Of yore.
Alasl the landscape is the only
thing unchanged; the station house
Is net the same; the station keeper
and his assistants are gone and the
place will know them again no
more. Of the half hundred jolly,
reckless, fellows, who under Major
Howard Egan, risked life and limb
among the western deserts and
their savage denizens, for scanty
fare and a miserable pittance,
they never received, in the employ
of George Chorpenning, mail con-
tractor and 1 presume the parent Of
''star reuters, the greater number
have passed into the valley of the
shadow of death, and the remain
ing few, like myself, are looking
backward from among the first
gray shadows of that same land of
uncertainties.
POINT LOOKOUT PASS,
So named, as from its summit the
westward bound travellers get the
first sight of the Great American
Desert. Mounting the pass, / halted
to place q stone on the grave of the
emigrant who was killed by q
stroke of lightning during thunder
storm in the summer of so. This
recalled a laughable incident which
occurred shortly afterward. a wagon
arrived in Ruby Valley laden with
a beverage at that time known as
'sMoon's Valley Tan" One of the
station men, named Perkins, got his
neck full and in his inebriety per
sisted in monkeying with a wild
mule. On some Of his comrades
cautioning him to beware or the ami
nal would kill him, he exclaimed,
"Pm the man that lightning
struck. I'm too brave to die" "
Uttering this braYado, he staggered
forward, and the hybrid seeing a
favorable opportunity for getting
even with his tormentor, handed
him one, with the easy, graceful
abandon of which only a mule is
capeabl of extending such favors.
When Perkins recovered from the
shock, he gazed with a frightened,
repentant look into his comrades
faces, and inquired "Say, boys,
did lightning strike me?"
THE DESERT.
When Horace Greeley crossed the
continent, I had the privilege Of
accompanying him over portion
of the route-from Simpson Spring
to Deep Greek. When we reached
summit Of Dug-a-way Mountain, we
halted fer the purpose of eating
lunch. The sun was bright; the sky
cloudless, and the eminent journal
ist could look out over the vast eX-
panse Of desert. Looking north
ward the desert stretches away,
level and unbroken, save where an
occasional mountain peak rises
abruptly, like an island, from the
midst Of the sea of sand and white
alkaline flats, until it is lost in the
blue haze of the horizon. South
ward the gaze rests on the innumer-
able low black ridges Of the desert
mountains, alterDated with the des-
,t., 70 lnOlyF,lrr cf,.;Tc of Jncnrt pOu.