The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-03-15
BEAR LAKE.
The Land Of the Snow and
the Home Of the Cold.
BEAR LAKE VALLEY,
March 9Th, 1884.


Editors Herald:
Having some business in this par;
OF our glorious country, 1 left the
sunny valley Of Salt Lake few
days sgo in tue hope that winter q!
least would be on the point of break.
ing up here. l went east on the
Union Pacific, and got no further
than the mouth of Weber Canyon
before encountering breath of air
cold enough to come from the
North Pole. Ice covered the
rocks, frost the trees. and SNOW
the gr0und-quite contrast
to Ogden, where everybody enjoyed
a buggy tide who could afford it the
day before left. Snow, of course,
gets deeper as the train proceeds
eastward, till at the head of Echo it
is both deep and dreadful. All is
cold, white and desolats not track
visible, cave the one of iron which
we follow: no life visible in any
form except few shivering "Celes.
tlals, who [ should think would be
dreaming OF their home in the
"tOwery kingdom" Onward we
speed to Evanston, from which
am to take stage for my rancho, 100
miles north. There is hardly any
snow in Evanston or around it for
miles; | suppose for the reason that
dust, ashes, coal and earth are scat
tered by the machine shops and coal
works. loaded myself on the
semi-occasional conveyance that
carries the mail to and
from Bear Lake, and about
7 o'clock am. We started. One
would naturally suppose the snow
would be less the further down you
60, but this is not the case. In
Bear Lake the snow is deeper than
on the backbone of the Wasatch
Range. When We arrived at the
head of LsketO wn Canyon the VAL
ley lay beneath our feet, covered
with snow as white and epOtless as
winding sheet, beautiful to be.
hold, and the lines of Dora Shaw
IF they are her lines) involuntarily
Droke from my lips:
''Oh, the snow, the beautiful snow,
Pure as an angel and to-"
Fiddlestick there is no fckIeness
in Bear Lake snow. The sentiment
is not put as I thought it wa.
There is no doubt as to its white
ness and purity; the power of re-
fection is immense; it blinded my
beautiful blue eyes and bIistered
my cheeks, till I look like cross
between a Danishman and q ModOc
Indian 1t has ruined, for an ins
definite length Of ime, my fair COM
pleXjon and Is is bresking my heart.
No, the snow of this valley cannot
De the snow Dora speaks of in her
poem, for no lover, no matter how
exscting and sentimental, could de-
sire the object of his feelings to be |
more constant than Bear Lake snow.
Why, let me see, 1t is four m onths
since was here last; was tired of |
winter then. l forget how long it |
had been cold or showing, but it
seems go far back that it is among
the events I have the dimmest re,
Of, and here I sm again |
with
Snow drifts to left Of US,
Snow drifts to right of US,
Snow drifts in front Of US,
Snow drifts behind us,
Snow drifts under Us.
Snowdrifts everywhere, except |
above US, and there might as well
have been as we were not going that
way. We had many narrow ess
capes, but our conveyance only
rolled over and split US out twice. |
The country may look well, but to
tell you the honest truth as q matter
of fact 1t looks dreadful and desolate !
as did the country around the
mouth of the Lena river where De-
Long and bis men landed and starved !
to death. In few places along |
the rosd between Lake To Wn and
Paris the fen5e posts are becoming
1t has rained a few days
ago, and settled the snow; it has,
no wever, also loosened 1t, there ny
travelling very difficult and
oAAOSG LIZ pOSoiDiC' OOluc dIS WlSu~
ing it would freeze up again. I am
thinking if this country were stocked
with seals and walrus" it would be
a perfect Eden for Esquimaux. I
wonder if they would not thrive on
s'suckers." 1t would take a man
with "gall'' to say with pride, "This
is my own. my native land" and
honestly believe 1t wo I'D take two,
or maybs three, applications Of
Sloan'S lecture on Utah to make a
man feel sure that this pat Of Utah
is one OF the most desira ble spots on
earth to live on. In place Ike
Csche Valley one application is OF
course enough to satisfy the moss
skeptical. There is SO much snow
here now that 1 wonder where it
came from, and still it is coming. T
dread to think how the county will
be when it melts-if il should hap
pen to melt-this season. Stock is
be2inDing to suffer in the south
end of the valley. There is, as vet,
plenty of feed in the north. but it is
impossible TO have it anywhere, and
If, as it now appears, we will have
to feed four to elk weeks longer,