The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-10

TO pump water and leave the rest oil the manuia'
turing to the sun. hence they have faith that til
Lord will not inflict the blow upon them. The
need river water for irrigation, therefore the
take IT, they look to the lake water for some Q
their income, therefore they expect that the dvin
power which, they believe led them to their hol,
land, will see that the lake is kept filled. Til
contradiction in their action and their faith the!
| do not appear TO notice They certainly lookec
| to none but themselves to settle the irrigau
| difficulty.
To the older generation OF Mormons the lake i,
| a sort Of fetch Tho pioneers regarded IL with
actual reverence, and though they were not IL
finders they never would consider that any who
| preceded them had part in the honors Of the dis
covery. They made their own claims good by be
slowing upon It the name il bears
The Great Salt Lake has been discovered fol
the first time by as many different persons as
| have most parts OF Africa Before any one &C
tuaily visited it news of tho existence OF body
OF bad tasting water had been carried by the In.
dians over tho mountain ranges on either side.
Tho historian of the West, Hubert Howe Ban
croft takes pains TO say that the Frenchman,
Baron La Hontan, who explored, or pretended 10
explore the lower and central Mississippi country
in the latter part of the seventeenth century, drew
upon his imagination when he wrote that his In
dian guides told him of tho bitter water" as far
west as the sunset Mr.. Bancroft, however ad-
vances no proof OF his assertion. Although Baron
La Hontan wrote many fairy tales he told the
truth in many instances, and this may have been
one of them. The tale is plausible enough
The Great Salt Lake was in the country OF the
Comanche Indians when the Spanish friar
Escalante, came almost to its shores in the next
century and he learned they had been rulers there
for several generations The Comanchc infu-
ex led far tn tha ward nj
would be more natural than that the gossip OF the
bitter water should travel to border tribes and by
them be transmitted to the river dwcllers
Escalante gave civilization the first definite
knowledge of the Great Salt Lake In 1776 he was
stationed at Santa Fe, the outpost Spanish
settlement Of the middle north. The commandment
desired to learn il route could be found be
tween Santa Fc and Monterey on the Pacific coast
The frar volunteered to be an explorer and early
In the summer set of at the head OF party. In
stead OF going west he went north, an error which
prevented his reaching Monterey. but which
brought him carly in September to the shores of
Utah Lake He found its shores inhabited by the
Yuta Indians, who told him Of the warlike Co
manches to the north and of the salt lake
"The other lake with which this communicates"
he wrote In his diary. occupies as they tell us,
many leagues and its waters arc injurious and ex-
tremoy salt He who vets any part Of his body
with this water Immediately feels an itching on
the wet part"
Escalante did not go on to make proof Of hearsay
but turned to the southwark and made an effort
to scale the Sierras. He failed and returned to
Santa Fe Apparently his discoveries at the north
aroused no curiosity. He did not go back and
no other Spanard followed In his footsteps.
Nearly fifty years passed before a white man
stood upon the shore and tasted the water to prove
that tho Indian legend was true The man was
James Bridger, an American trapper and hunter
whose party had been encamped for tho winter
Of 1S24-25 at Bear Lake. Bridger had heard the
Indians tell Of the bitter water and perhaps had
paid some attention to them. His discovery
was the result Of a wager that he could follow
Bear River to the body into which it emptied. He
hardly would have made the bet had he believed
his journey would be long He left his friends
and went down the river in company with Indian
guides. When at length he returned he told his
white companions he had discovered branch
Of the ocean He held to his conviction until
the following year, when he and three other
members Of the party circumn avigated the lake
in skin boats, finding that it had no outlet
Skeen Ogden, another hunter, whose name
remains that OF the important railrosd junction
point north Of Salt Lake City, led party of Hud-
son Bay company trappers to the shore of the lake
in that same year, and after that it frequently
visited by the members Of this hardy class
II was not until 1882 that Captain Bonneville,
q second La Hontan, came upon the lake. He
was so anxious to magnify himself that he was
not content with giving his own name to the actual
lake. but bestowed it also upon the prehistoric
sea- which he was the first to see must have ex-
listed Washington Irving paid the advcnturer
the undeserved tribute OF keeping the title, Lake
Bonneville.
General John G. Fremont. the Pathfinder"
showed as much vanity as Bonneville. He spent
several months in the Salt Lake basin in 1S43,
the lake in rubber boat In his
published work he afterward claimed his boat was
the first to cut the heavy waters He landed
during his first trip on one OF the numerous small
islands in tho lake, evidently expecting to 10
rewarded for his stiff climb to the summit OF the
rock by the sight which he would see there He
found nothing to satisfy him, and he gave to the
island the name OF Disappointment II held tho
title until the Mormons changed it to Castle Island
Fremont went on his way, and the rake again
was left to its solitude.
On Friday morning in 1S47 two men rode
through a canon close to where Fort Douglas
now stands and from the heights OF tho plateau
gazed over the wide expanse Of lake and valley
below, One of them threw wide his hands, both
barred their heads, and tho elder OF them spoke
THE Lord be praised" he said He has led
us to the promised land"
The devotees were Orson Pratt and Erastus
Snow, Mormon elders, who had left Brigham
Young and his pioneer detachment and ridden a
day march ahead to see what was beyond the
at their 'front.' Twenty four hours
later flag was floating from Ensign Peak. the
name OF Immigrant Canon had been bestowed
upon the pass, and the men Of Young detach.
ment were making camp The following day
Brigham Young bathed in the lake and, on emery
ing from the plunge. gave it the name Great Salt
Lake Hitherto, except by Bonneville il had
been referred to only as the salt lake.
The happening which has made the lake next
10 sacred in the estimation Of Mormon people |
was that OF the following year, after Brigham |
\ Dung had gone back 10 the Mississippi Valley |
and returned with the rest of the men, the women.
and the children. The crops were planted and |
were coming up when plague of black crickcts
descended upon the valley. The invading army
marched in from the west, a solid phalanx with !
miles OF front All vegetation disappeared before
It's advance In vain the immigrants plowed |
bitches ahead OF the column, pouring into them