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Show OACHB CAVB- StTHMIT- YELLOW CRBHK. 225 bling turrets, bastions, & c. Yesterday numerous places were observed in the high clifis below, where a black and apparently viscid substance, resembling mineral tar, had oozed out between the strata and trickled down the face of the cliffs. This would seem to indicate the vicinity of coal, although no other evidence of its presence was discovered. , From the mouth of Echo Creek to Cache Cave, a distance of five and a- half miles, the clifis begin to disappear, the rocks cropping out only occasionally through the soil, and the hills gradually diminishing in height. From Cache Cave, ( which is merely a small hole or grotto in a large gray- sandstone rock appearing in a low bluff on the left,) the route winds up the valley of Echo Creek* and ascends a pretty steep hill to the dividing ridge between the waters of the Weber and Yellow Creek, a tributary of Bear River, into which it discharges its waters about six miles below.' Here it was evident that the road should not have followed the valley of Echo Creek at all, but should have continued up the valley of Red Fork, from " Chicken- cock Bluff" to a depression in the hills to the northward, leading over into Yellow Creek, by which the route would have been shortened as well as much improved. From this ridge the Weber Mountains can be seen through the Red Fork Kanyon, distant about twenty miles, and also the mountains beyond Camass Prairie: From the observations taken from this elevation, there is every indication that by following up the valley of Yellow Creek to its head, a good route may be obtained over to the waters of the Weber before it enters Camass Prairie, by which the whole descent of Red Fork can be avoided> and also the consequent necessity of the ascent of the Weber for twenty miles to that beautiful meadow, whence, as before remarked, the route to the Timpanogas is as level as a floor. Here the roads might fork, one leading to Utah Lake, by the Timpanogas, and the other, by Silver Creek, Bauch-min's and Golden Pass Creeks, to Great Salt Lake Oity. Any exploration, for either a railroad or a permanent mail routa through this region, should embrace a careful examination of the country in this vicinity. Encamped on the banks of Yellow Creek, which is about three feet wide, with steep banks, and fringed with willows, but no timber. Day's march, seventeen miles* Distance from Salt Lake. City eighty4wo miles. Lat. 41° 09' 00". 2; long. I l l 0 14' 18". Wedneeday, September 4.- Morning quite cool. Ther. at sun- 16 |