The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1884-08-02
Great Salt Lake.

The fame of this large body of "nox-
ious and extremely salt water pene-
trated southwark to the early Spanish
explorers, and the French from the
Northwest got near enough to it a CEN
fury ago to hear of its magnitude and
peculiarities. 1t is put down, therefore,
in maps made toward the end OF the
last century as much by guess as maps
OF twenty years ago contained the lakes
of Central Africa in problematic posi-
tions. When the trappers of the fur
companies began to overrun the Rocky
Mountains, Utah was invaded and tho
beautiful valleys of the northern Wah-
satch became favorite winter,ng places.
From any of these peaks the lake would
be visible, but it is not known that be-
! fore 1925 any white man had reached
! its shore. 1t was not until Captain
| Bonneville had come back from obliv-
ion to the eyes of surprised world,
and Washington Irving had written his
travels, in 1897, that we knew anything
! definitely about this inland salt sea, and
could place it on a map correctly. 1t
is great pity that the good and proper
name Lake Bonneville has been lost in
the prosaic name it now bears, and will
probably forever retain; but Il just at
tempt to restore it has Eeea made by
Major Powelrs survey. The present
lake is only a remnant of more ancient
and larger body of water, whose bounds
can now be easily traced in the hori-
zonta, benches along the base of the
mountains.
Stimulated by lrving's book, emigra
ton Immediately began overland to
Oregon. In 1912 and 1843, General
Fremont pioted his celebrated expedi-
ton thu ough the mountains and made
boat trip on the lake, although at
that time it was not the property of
the United States, but belonged to
4 Mexico.
Utah and its lake were well known to
geographers when the Mormon Church,
expelled from Illinois, driven out OF
Missouri, and prosecuted to the point
of death in Iowa, decided to abandon
| their beautiful Nauvoo, and betake
, themselves not only to the far West
but outside of the lines OF a country
whose people and Government they
hated. ..I..f.
, DAYS counted themselves into weeks
, and weeks made months, and months
followed one another from early spring
into midsummer, and still the emf
: grants, likening themselves to Israel in
, the wilderness, kept their faces west
, ward. On the oath of July, 1S47, the
head of the advance train, winding its
way down through the last tortuous
little ravine in the western foothills OF
} the Wahsatch, looked out on that great
basin-miles OF sage-green velvety
1 slopes sweeping down on every side
a from the bristling mountain rim to the
5 azure surface of the tossing salt sea.
Brigham Young, their leader, tolt
+ them that here the Lord commanded {
halt and directed that His tabernacl,
should be set up. This sounded well
0 and perhaps the majority believed; bu
< Young knew well enough that beyonC
5 lay the lifeless alkali deserts, and tina
o this spot was the very last upon which
a his band of faithful emigrants could b'
: colonized with any hope for the future
But the camp was not made on thu
$ borders OF the Great Salt Lake, nor i
o the present city in proximity to it. 1t i
@ almost twenty miles away in a straigh
It line, and just at the base of the range
c Indeed, it is only from the "bench" tina
!, the lake can be seen at all from within
d the city limits, and then it appears onl
+ as line of distinct color between tn
o dusty olive of the hither plain and tn
Q vague blue of the further hills.-ErneS
It IngersoU, in Harper'S Magazine.