Smyrna times., 1886-03-03

mud.
In the middle of the forenoon we
were at Rock Springs, coal mining
town, right in the midst of all this des-
OlatiOn. Its name has recently become
familiar as the place of the great anti
Chinese demonstration. 1t depends on
Green River, town fifteen miles west,
for water, where it is put into barrels
and shipped to Rock Springs and sold.
Though flowing streams of water are
all about Rock Springs, they contain
alkali in unpleasant proportions. |
Some enterprising friend of humanity |
"a patent medicine doctor-cOuld |
make a fortune selling them as an
"anti-fat"
Breakfast and dinner at Green River, |
a change of engines and conductors, |
and once more we follow the steel |
thread toward the setting sun, travel |
ing through the same barren country
with a snOw-shed (which, except for |
window every fifty yards is as dark as
a tUnnel) now and then to relieve the
mOnOtOny. In the middle of the after
noon we saw signs of life in nature
again in the form of a stream of LiUing
water, with a path more crooked than
a serpent, and with cottonwoods and
willows growing on its banks. We
now began to see large herds of sheep.
Passing Hilliard and Evanston we were
soon riding in Utah, the home of the
MormOns.
UTAH.
The route across the plains of the
old '49ers and all emigrants who went
to the land of the golden fancies or to
another 1COrld before 1868 (the year the
last spike was driven in the Union Pa
ciic) lays north of this through the
SWeetwater country, and l am told it
is quite fertile and beautiful But back
to Utah. The scenery grows less re-
pulsive and more attractive and beau
tiful, eliciting eXclamations of delight
from the passengers. 1t makes one
feel like taking a ramble after sitting
so long. On, past Castle Rock and the
1000 mile tree from Omaha, through
Echo Canyon, with the swift tide of
the Weber running below US, into the
Valley of the Weber, the Eden between
two deserts, the home of the Saints(?),
painted crimson by the rays of the set
ting sun, and on, to Ogden Canyon,
past the DEVILS Slide, and through
with the twilight to Ogden, where the
trailing robes of night had fallen.
Once at the depot it seemed the duty
of every passenger to get out first, but
they didn't all succeed This is the
! terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad.
All passengers change. Those going
west to the Central Pacific North, the
Utah & Northern marrow guage)
South, the Utah Central, or the Den
yer & Rio Grande marrow guage).
CITY OF OGDEN.
Ogden, like Cheyenne, has a com
modions, brick -dust-red, frame depot.
with a news stand which helps occupy
the space, and an addition as a restaur-
ant. Supper over l paced up and
down the platform waiting for the
| train to Salt Lake City to get in readi-
| ness. The night air was pleasant. A
soft breeze was blowing that seemed
in sympathy with a weary traveller.
| To the right, the crest of the noun
tains could be seen in dim outline and
on the plateau below and about a hun
dred rods distant lay the city of Ogden
with thousand lights cleaning into
the darkness. All was still, but at the
depot everything seemed in a hustle
the sounding of bells, the escape of
steam, the grating of wheels, the
shouts of the brakesmen, the rumbling
of trucks, the thuds of trunks walking
on their beam ends, the cry of the
neWsbOys, the slamming of car doors
and the sounds of the hurrying feet of
passengers. "All aboard for Salt
Lake" sounded above this din and 1
/ hn a.
smoking car. Here, of course, the pas
sengers were all men and already they
were engaged in card playing and
dOminOes. We pushed from the depot
and were soon going toward Salt Lake
at a good pace. Our car soon filled
with bOisterOus laughter and smoke
and the black bottle passed around
several times. About midnight we
landed in Salt Lake City and a ride
through its deserted streets brought us
to our hotel.
SALT LAKE CITY.
After breakfast the next day 7 went
into the streets of the city. It lies in
the basin of the Great Salt Lake, nearly
surrouded by high mountains. 1t is a
pretty city, with broad, regularly-laid-
out avenues and many fine buildings.
1t has street cars and all the appoint
ments of enlightenment and civiliza-
| ton. Paying a visit to the Mormon
Tabernacle l was shown through by a
very gentlemanly Mormon. The
building is elliptical in shape and
pierced by numerous doors. Its seats
are circular and arranged in terraces,
descending to the centre, where a fOun-
tain plays. The pulpit stands at the
end opposite the main entrance Back
and above it in the balcony stands a
huge pipe organ, once the largest in
the world. The building does not echo
the voice and yet the faintest whisper
can be heard from any part. A pin
! dropped at one end can be heard at
the other, distance of something over
200 feet. The roof is bow-shaped and
stands without a support. 1t is the
only one in America of like dimen-
siOns and form so standing. The build
ing, with all its contents, is the design
and workmanship of Mormon archi-
tects and builders A huge and beau
tiful temple was then in course of
erection and nearly finished. The
Mormon buildings for worship, with
their grounds, cover two blocks and
are enclosed by wall eight feet high.
The Great Salt Lake can be reached
from the city by street cars. Nearly
every tourist must have a bath when
they are there in the proper season.
Unlike other bathing resorts the trou-
BILE is in sinking. No lovers arms are
needed here-the frail flowers cannot
sink beneath the wave. The water
contains % per cent. of salt.
The streets of the city, like the
streets of every American city, were
filled all day long with people hurry
ing somewhere and the merchants
wagons were flying hither and thither
on their errands of busin ess-many of
these bear the letters r. c. NJ. l., mean
ing Zion's Cooperative Mercantile
Institution" or, as the Gentiles will
insist, Geological Collection of Nor
mon Idiots" At night the business
streets were cleaning with electric
lights and the stores and shop windows
and business houses were lighted bril-
liantly and the stars shOne brightly
over all. On the quieter streets CLEANS
of light were streaming through shade
trees and from the habitations of men
lullabys could be heard.
THE MORMONs.
To an ordinary observing stranger
who does not enter the home of some
Mormon with plural iUife one can see
,Othino t1nnoaal aithn, IN CcIk I Il