Year: 1869

DlsnOp hlngsley, IN letter TO the Pitts
burgh AdrOcate, speaks in the highest
terms of the beauty of the site of Salt Lake
City. We quote as follows:


Salt Lake City is thirty miles off from
the railroad. This is pity, and will be
felt to be more and more so, l think, in
( time to come. The railroad should have
run directly through the place. We stop
/ ped at the station, commonly known as
/ Desert, and then took passage by coach
/ The city is situated ON the southeast side
of Salt Lake. Most of the distance from
the railroad station to the city is along the
eastern side of the Lake, through a char
ming and well cultivated valley. Salt
Lake is eighty miles long, forty or fifty
miles wide, and four thousand three hun
dred feet above the level of the sea. So
intensely salt is the water that no animal
can live IN it. 1t Is to all intents and
purposes the Dead Sea of America. In the
micst of this salt sea rises an island, con-
stituting a mountain several thousand feet
in height, abounding in springs and streams
of fresh water. Many cattle are kept sum-
mer and winter upon this mountain island d.
Three considerable rivers, besides great
numbers of small streams, are constantly
flowing into the lake, and yet it has no
outlet. On the south at the distance of
/ forty miles is beautiful lake Of pure fresh
water, perhaps three lines as large as
! Chatauque Lake in New York. The out
| let of this lake forms the river Jordon and
empties into the Dead Sea, already named
This Jordan abounds in fine trout, as does
also the lake-Utah-fro which it flows


As to natural scenery, the site of Salt
/ Lake City is one of the finest to be found
in the world. On the east, and south, and
west, it is surrounded with lofty, snow
capped mountains To the north and
northwest stretches away the Salt Lake
Valley. The soil is very rich, producing
every variety of grass and grain in great
abundance. L never saw finer corn and
wheat than this country produces. 1t has
heretofore been the invariabe practice to
irrigate the soil, by employing the noun
tain, but the steady increase of rain, as the
country has been cultivated, encourages
the hope that soon artificial irrigation may
be dispensed with altogether. And this
remark applies both to Colorado and Cali
fornia, the great wheat crops of the latter
country being now produced without ir-
rigation.


Salt Lake City is regularly laid out and


about four miles from north to south,
and about three from east to west. Ii is
laid off in blocks of ten acres each, and
each block subdivided into eight lots, so
that an ordinary building-lot contains one
acre and a quarter. Mr.. Townsend, pro-
prietor of the hotel bearing his name, in
formed me that he had known hundred
bushels ofwheat to be grown on one of
these town-lots. Their large size affords
room for abundance of fruit and garden
vegetables The streets are very wide,
and planted with trees, and on either side
of every street is stream of pure, cold
water. This is one of the most attractive
features of the city. This water is formed
by the melting snow, and is fit to drink
just as it runs along the side of the wide
street. This arrangement gives the city a
rural and very attractive appearance
The houses are nearly all of unburned brick.
This brick is made of tough clay, and when
thoroughly dried in the sun, is strong
enough for houses of two stories. When
more than two stories are required, the
upper story is generally of wood Lumber
is scarce in all this country, being confined
to the mountains, and of an inferior quail
ty. This remark applies to all the timber
in the Rocky Mountinas, and to all the
mountain regions east of the Sierra Nevada
This latter range is an exception, pro-
ducing the largest and best pine to be found
on the face of the globe.


CIR mite of an excellent quality, and also
stone are obtained in the mountains The
foundations of the temple are of the for
mer, the town-hall, and some other public
buildings are of the latter. The tabernacle
is one of the sights of the city, and at a
little distance resembles huge sea-turtle.
1t rests on stone pillars,is elliptical in form,
and will hold twelve thousand people. By
reason of its enormous length and breadth
it has squatty appearance, yet it is eighty
feet high. In this tabernacle the Mormons
hold their religious services, and expect to
do so even after the temple shall be built.
The latter is to be used for place of bap-
tisms, and other ceremonies of the Church.
but not as place for preaching.


In the tabernacle they are now construct
ing an organ at a cost of one hundred
thousand dollars. 1t will rank among the