r
0cuotci ia jpalilics, f ifcvntuve, QVflvkulture, Sce, ilToir Uin, anb cncral Intelligence.
VOL 13.
STROUDSBUEG, MONKOE C0QNT7, PA. SEPTEMBER 29,' IS59.
Published by Theodore Sehocht
TERMS. Twodot!n-sncr!"inum in advance Two
dollars and a quarter, Is?1' r? and if not paid be
Tore the end of the year. T.o c'o"3rs and a half.
No papers discontinuet ir-v-"' sn orrcarages are paid,
oxcept at the option or ' "c E- ' o.
ICAdvcrtiscmcn's o" rr o sc?-c (:ci "ie-)or lebs,
One or three insert. 'np.. r 00. E. c-i n.'c!i.'"on;tI inser
tion, 25 cents. J.o'.c o-cs - p-o 10 :on.
JOES !RIKT!IVG.
Having a general assortment of large, pla'n ?nd or
namental Tvpe, tve are p-epared to execute eve y do
scription of
Cards, Circnl.- s. Bill Hwt Notes, Blank Receipts,
Justices, I.eg.i' rnti olc t'r-ks, Pamphlets, fcc, prin
led with ncitrcs and c'sip.iicli, on reasonable terms
at I his oQice.
J. Q. DUCKWORTH.
JOHN HAYN.
To Country Dealers.
DUCKWORTH & HAYN,
WnOLRSALE DEALERS IN
CrrOCCricSj Provisions JitWOfSj&C.
No. 80 Dcy street, New York.
June 1G, 1859. ly.
AN OVERLAND JOURNEY.
XIX.
!rom Bridger to Salt lake.
Salt Lake City, Utah, July 11, 1859.
Fort Bridger, whence my last was sent,
may be regarded as the terminus in this
direction of the great American Desert.
Not that the intervening country is fer
tile or productive, for it is neither; but at
Bridger its character visibly chauges.
The bills wc here approach arc thinly
covered with a straggling growth of low,
ecraggy Cedar; the Sagebush coutiuues
oven into this valley, but it is no longer
universal and almost alone; Grass is more
frequent and far more abundant; Black's
Pork, which, a few miles below, runs
whitish with tho clay-wash of the desert,
is here a clear, sparkling mountain tor
rent, divided into half a dozen streams
by tho flat, pebbly islets on which the lit
tle village or rather post is located;
while, twelve miles up it? course, an im
provement of 500 acres, begun some years
since by the Mormons, has this season
been put under cultivation, with flattering
prospects. Oats, Barley, Potatoes, Peas,
c., arc the crops sought; and the enter
prising growers have contracts for the
eupply of Fort Bridger at prices whioh
will insure them a liberal return in case
thoy realize even a moderate yield. This
may eeem a small matter; but I doubt
that there arc, in all, 500 acres more un
der cultivation in 250,000 square miles
or more lying between the Jorks of the
Platte on the east, the Salt Lake Basin
on
tho west, the settlements of Ncw-jUex-
ico on the south, and the Yellow Stone on
the north. Yet in this radius are inclu
ded several military posts at which every
bushel of Grain consumed costs an aver
age of S5, while Potatoes and other edible
Hoots would command nealy as good pri
ces, could they be bad. There are herds
men at intervals throughout all this re
gion who have each their hundreds of
head of Cattle, but who hardly know the
taste of a potato or laruip, who have nev
er planted nor eowed an acre, and never
contemplated the possibility of growing
an apple or cherry, though they expect
to live aud die in this region. I trust,
uicreiorc, ua , .-5-
wilUuccecd, and that it will incite to like
experiments in tho vicinity of each wil-
therefore, that the Fort Bridger enterprise
dernets pot. The present enormous cost
of our Military service in this immense
desert may thus be fclightly compensated
by proving tho great acsert not absolute
ly worthless, and creating a batie of civ
ilization for its rude, nomadic, lawless, but
Lardy, bold, and energetic pioneers.
Prom Fort Bridger (named after an
Indian trader who first settled here; then
settled as an outpoht and relief station by
the Mormons when they began to people
this valley, but abandoned by tbem on
the approach, late in "57, of the Army, by
which it has since been held) the Salt
Lake trail rises over a high, broad ridge,
then descends a very steep, rocky, diffi
cult hill to Big Muddy, a branch of Black's
Fork, where 12 miles from Bridger is
l. M,!l nmrr,' tfn1nn at. vchxrh wn .
P . 1
had expected to spend the night. But
the next drive is 60 mile.", and our uw I
conductor wisely decided to cut a piece
off last evening, as the road to the other
end was hazardous in a dark eight. So
we moved on a little after sundown, ri
bing over another broad ridge, and, after
narrowly escaping an upset in a gully
dug in the trail by that day's violent
shower, camped 15 miles on, a'little after
11 p. m. The sky was densely clouded;
the moon nearly down; it was raining a
to rest, most of us under the sullen sky. ,
An hour or more thereafter, our mules j
(which were simply tied in pairs by long
ropes and thus turned out to graze) were
somehow dbturbed, and our stage-men
challenged and stood ready to repel the
supposed depredator. BTe proved, howev
er, to be a friend, traveling on mule-back
from Bridger to this place, who had wan
dered off the trail in the deep darkness,
perhaps been carried among our animals
by the fondness of bis own for congenial
eocicty; so all was soon right, and the
new comer unsaddled, pulled off his blan
kets, and was oon couched among us.
At daylight, we were all astir, and drove
down to Bear River, only three or four
miles distant for breakfast.
We halted before eressing, beside what
is here called a grocory, the only htruo
tarc on that side of tho river bejog a
Vilnolr ami Hi's nlmn fnnns'istlne. I believe.
of a bellows and anvil under tho openaky),
to which some part of our rigging - waa j
U w I - - . ' 1
sent for repair, whilo wo prepared and
ato breakfast. Thore were two or three
men sleeping in wet blankets on the grass,
who rose and made a fire on our appear
ance. Tho grocery was irregularly con
structed of boxes which had once con
tained goods, but, having fulfilled that
end, were 'thus made useful afrosh. I
suppose it was six feet high, and five by
, eight in diameter, though no two of its
; sides were of the Eame bight. An old
' tent cloth for covering completed the ed
ifice, from which we obtained sardines,
canned lobster, and prepared coffee which
', wai said to contain sugar and cream, but
which was voted by our drinkers a swin
j diing humbug. I believe these articles
! exhausted the capabilities of the concern;
j but as we had no bread, we needed no
! more. Some of our party thought other-
w.isc. however; they called for whiskey or
some kindred beverage, and were indig
nantly digustcd at its non-production.
They had become inured to groceries con
taining nothing that could by possibility
be eaten, but a grocery devoid of some
kiud of "rot," as the fiery beverage was
currently designated, was to them a nov
el and mo.-t distasteful experience. How-
ever, a man was at once dipatched across
.1 1. ! .11-1 .1
pint and a half of some diabolio alcohol-
ic concoction, wherein the small modicum
of genuine whiskey had taken to itself
seven other devils worse than tbo first),
and our breakfast was finished to gener
al satisfaction.
A word hero on tho Liquor traffic
throughout this region. A mercantile
I firm in this city, in order to close out
j promptly its extra stock of liquors, offers
! to sell whi-ky at the extraordinarily low
! price of $3 50 per gallon. I believe the
common price from jjaramie westward to
the Sierra Nevada is St per gallon; but it
is usually sold to consumers by the bot
tle, holding less than a quart, for which
the charge is $2 up to S3 50, but seldom
below S'i 50. And such liquor ! True,
I have not tasted it; but the smell I could
uot escape, and I am sure a more whole
some potable might be compounded of
spirits of turpentine, aqua fortis, and
steeped tobacco. Its look alono wouid
condemn it soapy, ropy, turbid, it is
within bounds to say that every pint or it
contains as much deadly poison as a gal-
Ion of pure whisky. And jet fully half
the earnings of the working men (not in-
tuo creeK to a similar estaDiisninent, dui inai aummu gamea, we sianu in a uroau,
more happily furnished, whence be soon open, level space on the top of the Wah
returned with the Indispensable fluid , satch range, with the Wintah and Bear
(price S3 for a flask containing perhaps a Mountains on cither hand, forming a per-
'eluding the Mormons, of whom I have trash sells for 815 to 20 per cord. The
iseen little) of this whole region are fooled scarcity and wretchedness of the limber
j away on this abominable witchbroth and (I have not seen the raw material for
its foster-brother tobacco, for which they a decent ax-hclve growing in all-my last
i pay SI to $2 per pound I The trader thousand miles of travel) is the great
I at Weber, of whom our mail-boy bought discouragement and drawback. with re
j their nt-xt supply of "rot," apologetically gard to all this region. The. parched
observed, "There ain't nothing bad about sandy clay or clayey sand of Plains dis
: this whisky; the only fault is, it isn't appeared many miles back; there has been
good." I back that assertion with my rich, black soil, at least in the valleys,
whole heart. . ever since we crossed Weber River; but
Fording Bear River hero a swift, the timber is still scarce, sraaM, and poor,
j rocky-bottomed creek, now perhaps forty in the ravines, while ninty-nine bun
yards wide, but hardly three feet deep dredths of the surface of the mountains is
we rose gradually through a grassy val- utterly bare of it. In the absence of Coal
ley, partially inclosed by high, perpendic- how can a region 60 unblcst be ever thick
ular t-tone Buttes, especially on the right, ly settled and profitably cultivated I
Tb6 gtoQc (evident, once c, outpost8
of one f tbve Buttes are known a8 Tho
N We thence deseended a lon-
step hill into the valley of "Loss Creek,"
why "lost," I could not divine, as tho
creek is plainly there a fair trout-brook
running through a grassy meadow, bo-
tween high hills, over which we made our
way into the head of "Echo Canon,"
1 down which we jogged some twenty miles
to Weber River.
j This Canon reminded me afresh that e
i vil and good arc strongly interwoven in
our earthly lot. Throughout the desolate
region which stretches from the Sweetwa
ter nearly or quite to Bridger, wo had in
.the main the best natural road 1 ever
traveled dusty, indeed, and in places
abrupt and rpugh, but equal in the aver- ; ?
. age to the caretully made and annually
: j 1. f vr
reuaircu ruaua ui uuw
England.
But in
fa,r grased Lr,avjne. h.e" me? ,n ?J
BlBCF. pwu uluua F''"o
i suing from their bases and gradually gath
i eriug into a trout-brook as we neared the
Weber, we found the "going decidedly
bad, and realized that in tbo dark it could ' It is located mainly on tho bench of hard
not but be dangerous. For tbo brook, gravel that slopes southward from tbo
with its growing fringe of willow, choke- j foot of the mountains toward tho lako val
cherry, service berry, and other shrubs, j lCy; the houses genorally small and of
continually zigzagged from side to bide of , 0no story--are built of adobe (sun-hard-the
Canon, compelling us to descend and ! erjed brick), and have a neat quiet look;
ascend its precipitous banks and cross its I while the uniform breadth of the streets
sometimes
miry ted, oiten wun a smart
i -i r, a. a
ejnc of breaking an axle o
W ltoPP!?. to feed and dine
or upsetting.
at the site
of "Gen. Well's Camp" during the Mor
mon war of 1857-8, and passed ten miles
below, the fortifications constructed under
his orders in that famous campaign.
They seemed childish affairs, more suited
to the genius of Chinese than of civilized
warfare. I cannot believe that they
would have stopped the Federal troops, if
even tolerably led for more than an boar.
We reached our next station on the
Weber a little after 5 p. m, and did not
leave till after an early breakfast next
(yesterday) morning. The Weber is,
perhaps, pt little larger than the Bear, and
r.uns through a deep, narrow, rugged val
ley, with no cultivation so far as we saw
it. Two "groceries," a bUcksraitb-sbop,
and the mail-station, are all the habita
tions we passed in following down it some
four. or five miles to the shaky polebridgo
. ,.
on which we crossed, though it is usually
fordable. We Joon after jtruk off. up a
rather steep, grassy watercourse, which
we followed to its head, and thence took
over a divide-to the head of another such,
on which our road wound down to "East
Canon Creek,' a fair, rapid trout-brook, ven tins region is available as a stock- nil De straggling down the mountain
running thorough a deep, narrow ravine, range thousands on thousands of cattle, dopes, sad, lank, and footsore, as late as
ud which we twisted, crossing and rccross-' mainly owned in the city, being pastured the lt of October.
ing the Bwilt Btream, until we leic
greatly diminished in volume, after track
ing it through a mile or so or low, swam -
py timber and frequent mudholos, and
turned up a little runnel that came feebly
brawling down tho side of a mountain.
. i , ., n i
The trail ran for a considerable distance
exactly in the bed of this petty brooklet: el; this valley about 4,900. The atmos -
said bed consisting wholly of round, 'phere is so pure that the mountains a -
watorworn granite bowlders of all sizes ! cross tho valley to the south seem but ten
from that of a pigeon's egg up to that of
a potash kettle; when the ravine widened
a little, and tbo trail wound from side to
side of the watercourse as chances for a
foothold were proffered by one or tho oth
er. The bottom of this ravine was poor
ly timbered with Quaking Asp and Bal
sam Fir, with some Service-Berry, Choke
Cherry, Mountain Currant, and other bush
es; tho whole ascept is four miles.not very
steep except for the last half mile; but
tho trail is so bad that is is a good two
a good
hours' work to reach the summit. But,
?i 1 1 1
tect chaos or wild, barren peaks, some ot
them snowy, between which we have a
glance at a part of the Salt Lake Valley,
some thirty miles distant, though the City
much nearer, is hidden by intervening
bights, and the Lake is likewise conceal
ed further to tho right. The descent
toward the Valley is steeper and shorter
than the ascent from the side of Bear
Hiver the first half mile so fearfully
etcep that I judge few passengers ever
rode down it, though carriage-wheels are
uniformly cbainod here. But, though the
southern face of these mountains is cov
ered by a far more luxuriant shrubbery
than the northern, among which Oaks
and Maples soon make their appearance
for the firJt time in many weary hundred
miles, none of these ever seem to grow
into trees; in fact, I saw none over 6ix
feet high. Some Quaking Asps, from
ten to twenty-five feet high, the largest
hardly more than six inches through, cov
er patches of these precipitous mountain-
sides, down which and over
tervening mountain they are
the low m-
toilsomely
dragged fh teen or twenty miles to serve
as fuel in this city, where even such poor
The descent of the mountain on this
side is but two miles in length, with the
Mail Company's station at the bottoln.
Here (13 mifes from the city, 27 from
Bear River) we had espected 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. 00,
with fresh teams, wo soon crossed the
"little mountain" steep, but hardly a
mile in ascent and half a milo in immedi
ate descent and ran rapidly down so mo
ten 'miles through tbo narrow ravine
known as "Emigration Canon," where
the road, though much traversed by
Mormons as well as emigrants and
merohant 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 City wears a pleasant as
pect to the emigrant or traveler, weary,
dusty, and browned with a thousand
miles of jolting, fording, camping, through
the scorched and naked American Desert.
(eight rods) and the "magnifioent dittan
ces" usually preserved by tho buildings
(each block contining ten aores, divided
into eight lots, giving a quarter of an a
cre for buildings and an acre for garden,
fruit, &c, to each householder,) make up
an ensemble seldom equalled. Then the
rills of bright sparkling, leaping water
which, diverted from the streams issuing
from soveral adjacent mountain oanons,
flow through each street and aro conduc
ted at will into every garden, diffuse an
air of fresbnoss and none can fail to en
joy, but whioh only a traveler in Sum
mer across tho Plains can fully appreci-
ate. Un a single business street, mo
Post-Office, principal store, &o., aro set
pretty near each other, though not so
eloaeas in other cities; everywhere else
I believe, the original plan of the city has
been wisely and happily preserved. Booth-
ward from toe city, the soil is sotler and
richer, and
there aro farms of (I judge)
i"Qi
told
ley,
ten to forty or sixty acres, but -I am
that the lowest portion of - the valley
nearly on a level with the lake, is so im- those of California west of the Sierra Ne
pregnated with salt, soda, &c, as to yield vada. The head of this magnificent col
but a grudging return for the husband- umn will enter the valley of the Sacra
man's labor. I believe, however, that e- mento early in August: its extreme rear
it, J here- in winter
as well as summer, and:
said to do well
in all seasons. For, tho'
' i a r i . i -
jouuw is uever aoseut irom me mouumiu-
ichains which shut in this valley, it seldom
j lies long in the valley itself.
The pass over the Wahsatcb is, if I
'mistake not, o,3UU feet above tbo sea-lev-
'or fifteen miles off; they are really from
twenty to tnirty. The lake issometwen-
ty miles westward; but we see only the
rugged mountain known as "Antelope Isl -
and" which rises in its center, and seems
to bound the valley in that direction.
But both the Lake and valley wind away,
to the north-west for a distance of some
ninety miles the Lake receiving tbo wa-1 From the South Pass this way for more
ters of Weber and Bear Rivers behind J than a hundred miles, feed is even scar
tbe mountaius in that direction. And ' ccr than on tho other bide: but here the
then there are other valleys like this, ' travel is divided. A glance at the map
nested among
the mountains south and
I I. n.
west to the verv bases of the Sierra Ne -
vada. So there will be room enough
....
0 - r--t..-
years.
But of
the Mormons and Mormonism.
I
propose to speak only after studying
' them; to which end I remain here for sev
eral days longer.
XX.
THE EMIGRATION.
Salt Lake City, July 12, 1859.
The cry of "Gold at Pike's Peak,"
founded on glowing though very slenderly-based
letters written from Denver and
its vicinity last Autumn and Winter, eag
erly and widely circulated through the
Western journals, and fairly crazed a
good portion of tho Missouri and upper
Mississippi valleys by the opening of last
Spring. The people of the old States
have no adequate idea of the extent and
force of this mania. I estimate the num
ber who started for Pike's Peak during
February and the threo following months
of this year at nearer One Hundred
Thousand than Fifty Thousand in fact,
bardly short of the larger number. To
this goldseeking cursade, all the Slave
States except Missouri contributed less
than one thousand persons; all the Free
States east of the Ohio, hardly five hun
dred. There were a few from Western
Pennsylvania, and a handful from Ken
tucky; while the great mass were from
tho very richest States and Territories of
the West, in about this proportion:
Illinois
Iowa
Missouri
Wisconsin
Michigan
15,000
10,000
10,000
8,000
7,000
Indiana
Ohio
Kansas
Nebraska
Minnesota
5.000
5.000
5,000
5,000
2,000
Allothci States
perhaps 3,000 J Total, say 72,000
Of this number, perhaps tho odd Two
Thousand were women and children; the
residue men, mainly, athletic, energetic,
and in the prime of life. How their
dreams of sudden wealth were rudely
dispelled, and the great body of them
turned back on the road homeward, with
out having been within hundreds of miles
of any possible Gold Mines, is already
known. I estimate tho number now in
or about the Kansas G old Region at bare
ly Fifteen Thousand, and they aro quite
enough. Unless discoveries and develop
ments have been made faster than was to
be reasonably expected when I left that
region three weeks ago, not even this re
duced number can find employment and
subsistance thero through the long Win
ter impending. Mining. is a business
which will not be hurried; if the Rocky
Mountain Gold Region should ultimately
provo as ncn anu
1 -i
facile as either Cahfor-
nil nf Alic tnrlin in its liner, nsratn if. tvnulil
here for an this alranfe neonle lor manviiue
still be impossible to set One Hundred if ora?d to alkaline water so far ft shun
mi j - c.t,i :!mer it. acouire a taste for it which they
it in less than two years;
"Pik
c'a
r 1.--: i
posed) "gone "up,"
tho great majority of
tho eold-seekers set their faces toward
home, while a. considerable number re
turnee! only to civilized Kansas and took
up "olaims"thcre. But a considerable
proportion, having started for gold, were
determined to have gold, or at least to
go further in quest of it. So meetiug the! Region; it wa manifest in some of tho
wild rush of disappointed Pike's Peakersjold Buffalo, wallows and other dry water-
aown ino i iuue, luuy tuii
i l ii: -i i
.. . ...
courso and steered for California, whither
nnnc;,.i,ln rotmn Jmnnllnd hv !
"FTnrrt Timn" in Mm Wast, was alreadvlto
proceeding. Swelled by these deflected f
Pike's Poakers, I estimate the total num-
Knr rnvo nta flifl rnnd tn llalifnrnia at
bout Thirty Thounaud persons, with , 17 Creek, tho oouth riatte,-cY.c, are iruo
e n m.,u TT.aD .wi ion'f mm it. there were signs of its preseuce
"
Cattle amounting at tho start to little less j in the dry pood-beds north of the Cache- Vain the entreaty-idle the expostula
.t. n tt...i",j a. uonA Of, la-Pondre. But on the North Platte, tion idle, or, at all events, too late.-r-
IUUU UUli UUUUicu j-uuuounv. -. w I
these, nioro than half (are or wore) Work
ing Oxen.
It was about tho lEt of Juno when thojfj
vanguard of this long array appeared in
tbo South Pass, then considerably en
cumbered with snow; and it is now of
courso considerably west ot this otiy.
Its rear, on the other nana was . ,
of Laramie when 1 leit tt
can hardly yet have passed it. The Em-
igration, therefore, covers tho great tra.
for an extent or more man oeyen nun-
urea mues u. iuiut& ior-uui' was- mu!,u r i - a 1 j
Eight Hundred-or fully half the dis- or six inches deep. Our d liiwr assure d
'tance from tho settlements" of Kansas-toe that 'it made as good bread as any.
1 t t i-: 1. f . ua f ion;
So far as Platte Bridge, 125 miles this
, side of Laramie, the Emigration is divid-
.1 L. 11.. Ill .1 1 XT . 1 TH
- --
eu vy cue x mile anu isorin riaite a-
bout one-third, I judge, keeping north of
those rivers, where tho best grass and
water are iound, and where the lo3s of
cattle is consequently mucb less than on
the south side. From Platto Bridge to
1 the South Pass a distance of nearly 150
! miles all tho emigration and travel to
Utah, California, and Oregou pass over
common irau, ana tor most oi tnc way
the deficiency of grass was already fear-
! ful when I traversed that section ten days
ago. What must it be, then, after thrco
. weeks more
of scorching sunshine, and
the daily
passage of hundreds, if not
(thousands, of hungry cattle?
will show this city far south of a direct
'ime even to Jrlaccrville, mucb more of a
due course to the Feather, Yuba, or even
III .T . .
American. Nor is this route less
rugged, probably, on the whole, than one
or two others, considering the rough
mountain passages between this city and
Bridger. All tho little emigration to
Oregon leaves the great trail on Col Lan
der's new road that strikes off on the oth
er side of the South Pass, and wbile
many more of the California bound, sick
of tho deficient forage and the infrequent
water on the Salt Lake route, strike off
more notherly at various points, expect
ing to find more grass if higher moun
tains and a rougher road by the fainter
trails they severally take to reach the
Land of Gold. Some of them will prob
ably pay for their temerity by the loss of
their cattle if not also of their lives, but
this diverson will save many who could
not otherwise have gone through on the
bare trail through the deserts westward
of this point which tho Emigration al
ready in advance will certainly have left.
Many cattle will die any how, but I think
considerably fewer than if all had taken
this single route.
This terrible waste and destruction of
animal life, which everywhere forces it
self on the traveler's attention, is one of
the most repulsive features of a journey
across the Plains. From Laramie Bridge
(and, I am assured, for a long distance
east of it) to this city, the way is lined
with carcases mainly of dead oxen. You
can scarcely cast jour eyes abroad with
out seeing one such; while three, four, and
even six, are often visible at once. I
'know that some of these havo lain in this
!dry, pure atmosphere for a year or more;
still, the mortality of this season has
been fearful, and is daily increasing as
grass fails, cattle tire out, and a larger
number of the emigrants reach the more
destitute and dangerous portion of tho
way. I was bardly half-way over when
I heard (at the South Pass) of one party
which, having started with a loadod wag
on drawn by eight oxen, had lost every
ox but Qne, which they sold, and, taking
what they could carry on their backs,
started to make their way on foot to and
across the Sierra Nevada-. This is, of
course, an uncommon'casej but overy day
for more than a month has seen its hun
dreds, of cattle on the long journey lie
down to ripe no more, aud every day
henceforth till Octabcr will see that num
ber largely increased. Hunger, th'rst,
weariness, over-driving, abuse, each and
all claim their victims; but what is vague
ly called Alkali water is nioro destruc
tive than them ail. Hence, I judgo that
loose cattle suffer more than those yoked
and drawing wagons, because less under
control with regard to the water they
drink. I am told here that cattle accua-
"gerlj gratify; but thoy generally choose
that so weau mac it may do uruuis. wuu-
that so weak that it may
"be
out causing death.
This alkalino infection, corruption, or
whatever it may be called, of a region
large enough for a kingdom, is most re
markable. I heard it complained of be
fore we struck tho Republican, some three
hundred miles oast of the Denver 'Gold
.j . -.
m no n thnr. rninn i nnnru duuii a uia
h"--i . r ,
that tho grass ot tho bottoms tnereaoouts
because of the alkali, scoured and failed
nurish tho cattle fod
on
it: I saw tho
dry bed of . Sand (or Sandy) Creek, a
northern tributary of the Arkansas white
with it lor many roas; anu, wiougu uuur-
. r - . . ,. 0 e
- - ... . .... ...
and especially tho south siue 01 11, ou xno miguty numan uue now rumu wesu
which the mail runs and most of the Emi- J ward will not pause at my bidding will
gration travels, poisonous mineral water bo stayed ouly by tho fiat of the Al
is a constant source of disquiet if not dan- mighty. In its paths mountain-ebaina
a .1 . cfvttA l. .. t K ! 1 1 1 .1 lAtn1M i nn?a Vitir villa
gen anu. WneD lue XMuue 10 iu
aoross to the Sweetwater, ot the litti wa
ter to bo found on that route of thirty
,lr1 miloa tho. nrnater nart is bad. Just
- ;r"i,nd at Indo-!
WlT
pendenco Rock, we pass 030 bede a
small la
tirely white with a mineral substance said
..jr "LT " " , . n
n nn nnrn rsu.1 iiuiuiui. aim p " -
Sal iEratus," which. I, then sick from
oating bread poisoned by that" detested
miueral, was quite willing to tako hi
word for. IJow sensible people who. sec
their cattle dying daily of this poison can
mix it with their food, and oven give it
to their innocent children, is more than 1
comprehend
i Seventy miles farther on, the Sweet-
.
k . 1 .1 I .J ....
water muisus a souiuem eiuow, auu vm
road (I believe there is a better which
keeps south of the stream) rises over the
hills on the north and keeps away for
more tnan twenty miles. i?or a gooc
part of this distance, there is little grass
and less water; but at last we descend
the hills to the vicinity of a small lake,
full of water at all seasons, and sur
rounded by fair grass. But the admon
ished teamster hurries on his fainting
: beasts, hardly suffering them to look at
j the alluring panorama; for that lake is a
fountain of death, and the adjacent grass
is only less pestilent. Evn tho traveler,
unencumbered with the care of stock, has
his attention arrested by the facts that
that grass stands uneaten though hun
, dreds of hungry cattle pass it daily, and
that no track leads down to those bright
ly shimmering waters.
A cross weary hundreds of miles f
such country, where sterility is aggrava
ted by constant peril, the long colnm of
the California Emigration is now slowly
toiling, and mut be for anxious months
yet to como. Their eyes often bandaged
or goggled as they best may be to shield
them from the eternal glare of these hot
Summer days on this shadeless, glisten
ing plain, the teamsters move as listless
ly as their patient, hollow, drooping oxen,
in whose eyes meekness and misery alike
find expression. As the mail-wagon,
drawn by six mules with one by their
side ridden by a whipper-up, whirls by
them in a cloud of dust, flounders over
the Sagebush where the track is narrow,
or darts from this to that side of the long
train in order to wind its way as rapidly
as may be from the rear to the front, I
catch a glimpse of sunbrowncd wives and
flaxen-haired children nestling in some of
the great wagons or wearily plodding a
long in front (all the women on this great
highway have the good sense to prefer
the Bloomer dress, and the courage to
brave the fool's laugh, in obedience to
the dictates of convenience and comfort);
I see them in their evening camps, with:
the little sheeliron stove taken down from
behind the wagon and filled with stioks,
or, at the worst, with Sagebush, and the
prepcration of the evening meal going
busily and tidily forward; I rejoice to
note that the emigrants generally fare
better than we rapid travellers can car
rying with them a hundred little contri
butions to comfort which cannot reasona
bly be looked for in rudo mail stations in
a vast and desert wilderness; I see that,
in everything but the duration of the
journey, these moving iamucs, wun many
of their household gods around them, have
the advantage of us jerked and jolted tsa
gcrs, who are often toiling by their white
tents and smoldering fires long after the j
are buried in deep, refreshing slumber;
and yet, as I glance at their worn, anx
ious faces (for nothing but the Raven is
really jolly throughout this land of silence
and death, and he is so gorged and stu
pefied that he can scarcely rise from his
putrid feast when our mules seem about
to run over him.) I am sorely tempted to
cry out, "Why O countrymen and womenl
this long march through a region so de
structive and inhospitable! Was there
no room, no chance, to die in your far
Eastern homes! Grant that you should
all at length reach safely the Italy of our
continent, what can it proffer to compen
sate you for the sacrifices, the anxieties,
tho privations, the sufferings of this long'
journoy! Do you not realize that there,
as everywhere else, care, and toil, and
disappointment, and struggle, and be
reavement, make up the wisely appointed
earthly lot of man! Do you not know
that thousands in California aro discon
tented and restless as you ever were!
Nay, yon mast know it; for some of you
are every day meotingt hem on their way
to the Atlantic States, .and must note that
tbey are, in the averager palpably poorer
and leas amply provided than yourselves.
Do you not realize that the States you
havo last left embody tho most fertile and
init?ng portion of our 'planet that1 to
winch many times your nuaber are fond
ly looking or eagerly pressing from eve
ry part of the civilized world! Why,
, .
imu. uv i - - j
- - ,!,. v.j
u j -7 i
and low prices, and pecuniary embarras-
mcnts, and all that make up what are
called IIard Times,' are peculiar to your
late homes! - Do you not know thatyoa
will find these, or their equivalents, in
California or Oregon as well I Pause,
I pray you, and Considerl"
,. . , :. , Mi 1.
uru uuu uutuueta, ivuyijr mei v "."-
and deserts rather stimulants to its eor-
ao than serious impedimenta to its'pfa-
gress.
Remonstrance is btat waste or
breath-it will not bo arrested short o
arrested short of
Let e, tkere-
e M of a beni BaBt. fcoBgfc
inscrutable Providence in "this -igklj
lnoycment. aD(j reat in faith and hope.
movement,
,
, 1 ess on
sternly, ei
then,
countrymenli ftrly,-
even
though-
.wearily, aaxiously