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Show 130 Finally ready to press onward, the Bean company began i t s descent of Cache (Dome) Canyon. The view t o the west was magnificant. Looking down the canyon like the sights ona r i f l e , they saw a vast alkali plain before them stretching for miles across the desert floor. Because of t h i s , Bean called i t Saleratus Valley. The descent was steep. Bean l a t e r reported the canyon was "a complete wall of rocks on each s i d e . . . . about five miles long and from f i f ty to two hundred yards wide." In t h i s account, made after he returned from the expedition, Bean somewhat underestimated the width of the canyon. *• The company rolled across a l k a l i for more than three miles before re-entering the sage and greasewood so typical of these valleys. The alkali flat was a perfect white sheet, void of a l l vegetation. The valley was twenty-five miles wide, f l a t , and very dry. Only one spring was discovered in this desert. The oasis , called Indian Spring by the explorers, was a small pond surrounded by rushes standing in the center of the valley due west of Cache Canyon Pass. Tule Spring, as i t is now called, offered a welcome repose to the travelers. Proceeding west, they crossed a low divide (Cowboy Pass) and entered Snake Valley, which Bean called Long Valley. From Cowboy Pass in the Confusion Range they got their f i r s t good look at the majestic Snake Range with 13>063 foot Wheeler Peak looming over the valley. To the north a large alkali bed was visible, and many small patches were scattered through the valley. Bean brought his force down the divide and then turned south to explore for water along the western f o o t h i l l s of the Confusion Range. Here they discovered a fair size creek coming up from the south, which they called Meadow Creek, probably because of the willows and rushes which grew along i t s banks. This was the stream presently known as Baker Creek, which sinks not far away. From t h i s point they were almost directly east of some of the higher |
