Year: 1859

we followed to its head, and thence too


over divide to the head of another sucl


on which our road wound down to "Ea


Canon Creek" fair, rapid trout-brool


running through deep. narrow ravint


up which We twisted, crossing and recross


ing the swift stream, until We left il


greatly diminished in volume, after track


ing it through mile or SO of low, swan


py timber and frequent mudholes, ant


turned up little runnel that came feebl,


brawling down the side of a mountain


The trail ran for considerable distanc


exactly in the bed of this petty brooke


said bed consisting wholly of round


waterworn granite powders of all size:


from that of pigeons egg up to that Of


a potash kettle; when the ravine widenet


little, and the trail wound from side tc


side of the watercourse as chances for a


footbold were profered by one or the 9th


er. The bottom of this ragine was poor


ly timbered with Quaking Asp and Bal


sam Fir, with some Service Berry, Choke


Cherry, Mountain Currant. and other bush.


es; the whole ascent is four miles mot very


steep except for the last half mile; but


the trail is SO bad that is is good two


hours work to reach the summit. But


that summit gained, we stand in broad


open, level space on the top of the Wah.
satch range, with the Wintah and Bear


Mountains on either hand, forming per.
feet chaos of wild, barren peaks, some OF
them snowy, between which We have a
glance at part of the Salt Lake Valley,
some thirty miles distant, though the City
much nearer, is hidden by intervening
nights, and the Lake is likewise conceal
ed further to the right. The descent
toward the Valley is sleeper and shorter
than the ascent from the side of Bear
River-the first half mile so fcarfully
steep that judge few passengers ever
rode down it, thong carriagewbeels are
uniformly chained here. But, though the
southern face Of these mountains is COW
cred by far more luxuriant sbrubbery
than the northern, among which Oaks
and Naples soon make their appearance
for the first time in many weary hundred
miles, none of these ever seem to grow
into trees; in fact. saw none over six
feet high. Some Quaking Asps, from
ten to twenty feet high, the largest
hardly more than six inches throug gh, COW
er patches Of these precipitous mountain
sides, down which and over the low in
tervening mountain they are toilsomely
dragged fifteen or twenty miles to serve
as fuel in this city, where even such poor
trash sells for SIS to $50 per cord. The
scarcity and wretchedness of The timber
II have not seen the raw material for
a decent ak helve growing in a|l-my last
thousand miles of traveD--is the great
discouragement and drawback with re-
gard to all this region. The parched
sandy clay or clayey sand of Plains dis
appeared many miles back; there has been
rich, black soil, at least in the valleys.
ever since we crossed Weber River; but
the timber is still scarce, small, and poor,
in the ravines, while ninty-nine hun
dredths of the surface of the mountains is
utterly bare of it. In the absence of Coal
how can region SO unblest be ever thick
ly settled and proftably cultivated


The descent of the mountain on this
side is but two miles in length, with the
Mail Company's station at the bottom
Here 3 miles from the city, q from
Bear River) We had expected to stop for
the night, but our new conductor, seeing
that there was still two or three hours of
good day light, resolved to come on. So,
with fresh teams, we soon crossed the
"little mountain'--steep, but hardly a
mile in ascent and half mile n i'm medi-
ate descent-and ran rapidly down some
ten miles through the narrow ravine
known as Emigration Canon" where
the road, though much traversed by
Mormons as well as emigrants and
merchant trains, is utterly abominable;
and, passing over but two or three miles
of intervening plain, were in this city
just as twilight was deepening into night.


SALT LAKE CRY wears pleasant as
pect to the emigrant or traveller, weary,
dusty, and Drowned with thousand
uiieo vi Joi1inS, iotuibS, eaW PiuS, 'oiooen
the scorched and naked American Desert.
1t is located mainly on the bench of hard
gravel that slopes southwark from the
foot of the mountains toward the lake val
ley; the houses-generally small and OF
one story are built of adobe (sun. hard
ened brick), and have neat quiet look;
while the uniform breadth of the streets
(eight rods) and the magnificent distan-
ces" usually preserved by the buildings
leach block continuing ten acres, divided
into eight lots, giving quarter of an a.
ere for buildings and an acre for garden,
fruit, &c., to each househ Older make up
an ensemble seldom equal.ed. Then the
rills of bright sparkling, lesping water
which, diverted from the streams issuing
from several adjacent mountain csnons,
fow through each street and are oonduc-
ted a. will into every garden, diffuse an
cir of freshness and none can fail to en-
Joy, but which only traveller in Sum-
mer across the Plains can fully appreci-
ate. On a single business street, the