The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-25
Vivid Description of This Place of
Many Wonders.
DESERT MADE TO BLOOM
COLD THIS YEAR MARS ITS
TROPICAL CLIMATE.
Silver Reef, Once Famous, Now De-
serted-Kanarra, Which Gave
Palmer a Majority and Which
Has Precisely the Same Inhabit-
ants Now as Three Years Ago.
Sad Correspondenee.l

Cedar City. May 21--That Dixie is
land of wonders is a fact most vividly
impressed upon the visitors mind, bu
to satisfactorily explore her man,
charms and oddities would require
lifetime. 1t is an immense basin sur
rounded by lofty mountains and stud.
ded with hills less lofty. which are il
themselves curiosities, that rival any
thing within the conception of the hui
man mind. Here is a mountain of lava
Tor instance, thrown from a volcano
whose source has never been deter
mined, While possibly the opposite side
OF the same mountain is a clingins
! mass of sandstone. A ridge divides
the opposing formations and usually
is pialn-level, giving the mountain from
the lava side, the exact shape and APP
pearance of the old ironside Merrimac.
whose conflict with the Monitor ended
the maritime strength of the south in
the civil war. Two-thirds of Dixie 5
mountains are thus shaped. and at a
| distance might be taken for a monster
| fleet of these peculiarly constructed
warships. As was expressed in SER
mon the other day, the country looks
| as though il had at one time contained
the wickedness of the universe, I'd in
the judgment day had been turneS over
| and shaken most vigorously by JehO-
vah's hand
Dixie was settled by the cream of
President Brigham Youngs band of
pioneers. Every man who took part
was carefully selected by the great
colonizer, else it would not be the land
it is today. There is a spirit of pro-
gress there. not manifest in places set
tied promiScuously and at will. The
trials and hardships through which
they passed can only be conceived
through knowledge of the land with
which they had TO contend. 1t was
thought to be impossible to penetrate
the region, and it is true the journey
from Salt Lake required many weeks
of privation and suffering. But the pio-
neers have worked wonders They have
cultivated the land and built for them
selves and families comfortable homes:
they have progressed and prospered
until now there is an absence of the
primitive surroundings that might be
expected.
Fruits Are Backward.
This is the coolest May and dryest
year the Dixie people have known, and
the fruits with which it usually
abounds at this season are a little late.
Grapes, the lands star product will
not arrive until the latter part of Au-
gust, but Strawberries are now obtain |
able. Figs VIII ripen in three weeks. |
This, by the way, is a fruit the people !
seem to think very little of. Its growth
here is taken as matter of course,
while to those on the outside it is very
Nectarines and almonds |
are not far distant, and green peas are !
ready to pluck. The first crop of hay !
has been cut and was very disappoint- /
ing. the yield being less than the third |
crop average under more favorable /
Of |
at least, not many of them. Silver Z
Reef, once the liveliest mining camp in |
Utah, is deserted almost to a man. The
ruins of a few structures, either of
stone or frame, and the dilapidated
cover TO a crumbling shaft here and
there marks the remains of the once
camp. The mines are there,
and are as good as they ever We're, but
be worked in the far-away re-
gion with silver at so. The Reef is be-
-ween st. George and Toquerville. about
seventy miles from the railroad.
'Toquer." as the village is called for
short, is the quainteSt of the quaint.
1t is a trifie higher than st. George,
hence is a little cooler. In the campaign
IF 1896 it gave Palmer and Buckner
of % votes, and it is Just as
different from its sister settlements in
else as in this. 1t has the
equation of growing the finest straw
berries and wine in the country. Cap
ain A. +. Dodge's orchard, where
from gOoseberries to water
Melons, including almonds and figs, is
'aised, is one of the most beautiful
sights to be seen. The CAPTAIN him
self is a veteran of the Mormon bat
alton. and the oldest resident of To-
luerville.
At Standstill.
There are forty families living at
<anarra. This way of estimating the
population suffices, and will continue to
Iufffce for in four years there has not
'een change in the number. Kanarra,
90, is an older town than st. George,
lack of water and other facilities re-
ards its progress. John ID. Parker,
me of Joseph Smiths original body
,uard, lived and died here. Kanarra
vas also the home of Bishop Roundy, !
Who lost his life under tragic circum-
tances in the Colorado river. {
The road to Bellevue is the toughest 9
,nown to man. Bellevue was once a I
own, but only the foundation of a {
tone wall remains The advertising c
gent has gotten in his work on an old c
arm that has phenOmenally withstood q
he wind and snow. Big black letters
irect the traveller to Provo for tomb
tones and funeral supplies and with
accomplishments of "a hair vigor and
harness OIL
The difference between Dixie and the :
egion adjoining on the north is re-
larkable. Dixie ends abruptly, in fact,
journey of 100 yards takes the trav- :
Ter from rocks and mountains to sand
nd plains. and at the juncture Dixie is
Eft behind.
Cedar City, where everybody reads
he Herald, is the best town of the [
outh thus far visited. 1t is but thirty
lies from the railroad, and is grow
Is every year. Cedar has population
$500, but very busy population
is. 1t boasts of the greatest iron de-
csits in the world and mourns the alb
ance of capital TO open them up. 1t
generally believed that the Utah &
acific will extend this way, an event
, which the people are looking for
ard with great interest.