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Show ' ' [ 148] 10 erally afford some fertile and well-watered land, capable of settlement. Rivers of tl~e Great Basin.-The most considerable river in the interior of the Great Basin is the one called on the map Humboldt river, as the rnountains at its head are called Ifumbol,dt river mountains-so ca11ed as a sma)l mark of respect to the "Nestor of s ci~ntific travellers," v;h.o has done so much to illustrate North American geography, without leaving his name upon any one of its remarkable features. It is a river long known to hunters, and sometimes sketched on maps under the name of Mary's, or Ogden's, but now for the first time laid do\vn ·with any precision. It is a very peculiar stream, and has many characteristics of an Asiatic river-the Jordan, for example, though twice as longrising in mountains and losing itself in a Jake of its own, after a long and solitary course. It rises in two streams in mountains west of the Great Salt lake, which unite, after some fifty miles, and b ears ·westwardly along the northe'rn side of the basin towards the Great Sierra Nevada, which it is destined never to reach, Inuch less to pass. The mountains in which it rises are round and handsome in their oll:tJine, capped with snow the greater part of the year, \veil clothed With grass and wood, and abundant in \Vater. The stream i~ a narrow line, without affiuents, losing by absorption and evapor~tlon as it goes, and terminating in a marshy lake, with low s?ores, fringed with bulrushes, and whitened ·with saline encrustations. It has a moderate current, is from two to six feet deep in ~he d.ry season, and probably not fordable anywhere below the J Unct~on of the fork~ during the time of 1nelting snows, when both lake _and nver are con~tde~ably :nlarged. T.he country through which It passes (except Its Immediate va11ey) Is a dry sandy plain, w·ithout grass, wood, or arable soil; from about 4,700 feet (at the forks) to 4,200 feet (at the lake) above the level of the sea, winding among bro~en ranges of tnountains, and varying from a few miles to tw.enty In breadth. Its own in1mediate~alley is a rir,h alluvion, b eau_t~fully covered with blue grass, herd grass, clover, and other n_utntl~us ~rasses; and its course is marked through the plain by a 1tne. of .willow and cotton '.Vood trees, serving for fuel. The ~ndtans In the fall set fire to the grass and destroy all trees-except 1n low grounds near the water: Thi~ riv_er possesses qualities which, in the progress of events, may g1ve It both value and fame. It lies on the line of travel to California an,:. Oregon, and is the best route now known through the Great Basin, and the one travelled by emigrants~ Its direction n.e arly east and west, is the right course for that travel. It fur: n tshes a l e~el unobstructed 'vay for nearly three hundred miles and a continuous supply of the in dispensable artie] es of water' wood, and g ra ss. Its head is towards the Great Salt lake, nnd con s?qu~nt]y to:vards the Mormon settlement, which must become a po1.nt In the line of emigration to California and the lower Coh: m b1 a. Its termination is within fifty 1niles of the base of the S1 erra N evada, and opposite the Salmon Trout river pass-a pass on ly seven thousand two hundred feet above the level of the sea ' .. 11 [ 148] • and less than half that above the level of the Basi~, and leading into the valley of the Sacr.amen.to, some. fo~ty miles north. of Nueva Helvetia. These properties give to this :Iver a prospective value in future communications with the Pacific oce.an, and the profile view on the north of t~e ~a~ shows the elevattons of the present travelling route, of wh1ch 1t 1s a part, fro~n the South pass, in the Rocky mountains, to ·the bay .of San Fra~ c isco. . The other principal rivers of the Great Bastn are found pn .Its circumference, collecting their waters from the Snowy mo_u~tai~S \vhich surround it, and are, 1. BEAR RIVER? on the ea~t, r~sing In the massive range of the Tiinp~nogos mountains and fall~ng Into t.he Great Salt lake after a doubhBg course through a fertile and pict uresque valley' two hundred miles long. 2. The UT_AH RIVER and TrMPANAozu or'TIMPANOGos, diseharging themselves Int? the Utah lake on the east, after gathering thei.r copious streams. In the adjoining parts of t.h~ Wal~-satc~~ and T .tmpanogos mountains. 3. NI1 COLLET RIVER, nsing south In the J~ng range of the Wal~-sa.tch mountains and fal1ing into a lake of Its own name, after ·ll1aktng an arable ~nd grassy valley, two hundred ~iles in length, through mountainous country. 4. SALMON TRouT nver, _on t~e west, ru?ning down from the Sierra Nevada ana . falling Into. Pyramid lake after a course of about one hundred mdes. From Its source, abou't one-third of its valley _is through a pine timbered co~ntry, and for the remainder of the way through very ro cky, na~ed ndges. It is remarkable for the abundance and excellence of Its salmon trout, and presents some ground for cultivation. 5. CARSON and WALKER rivers both handsome clear water streams, nearly one hundred miles l~ng, coming, like th~ preceding, do~n the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada and forming lakes of their o~n name at its base. They contain salmon trout and other fish, an~ f~rm some large bottoms of good land. 6 .. 0\vENS RIVER, Issuing from the Sierra Nevada on the s0uth, Is a large bold stream about one hundred and twenty miles long, gathering its "':aters in the Sierra Nevada, flowing to the southward, and f.orming a lake about fifteen miles long at the base of the mo~ntain. At a medium stage it is generally four or five feet deep, In . pla~es fif- .. teen; wooded with willow and cotton wood, and makes contln~ous bottoms of fertile land, at intervals rendered Inarshy by spnn~s and small affiuents fro1n the mountain. The wat er of the lake In \vhich it terminates has an unpleasa?t smell and bad ta_ste, but a round its shores are found small streams of pure \Va ter \VIth good 0~ ra.ss. On the map -this has been called 0\VENS river. Besides these principal rivers issuing from the mountains on the, circumference of the Great Basin, there are many oth ers, all a round all obeyincr the gene.ral law of losing th ernselves in sands, or lake's , or belts ob f alluvion, and almost all of1 them an 1. ncl ex t o some arable land, with grass and wood. . Interior of the Great Basin.-The in terior of the Great ~as1n, so far as explored, is found to be a successio~ of sharp mountain ran.ges and naked plains such as have been descnbed. These ran ges are Isolated, presenting' summit Jines broken in to many peaks, of \~·hich the ' |