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Show 189 In bis instructions t o George W. Bean, Young ordered him t o continue his explorations to the southwest and south in search of settlement s i t e s . But he "need not look North or North West with a view of making settlements." In this way, Bean's company would be marching closer to the imagined oasis and also in the vicinity of Dame's explorations. Young closed his l e t t e r by saying that if i t didn't storm, he would v i s i t the explorer in Provo on Friday, which was two days away. The prophet was obviously no longer in any hurry; yet it was just three days since he had made allusions to going to Sonora in his Tabernacle address. Friday rolled around, i t stormed, and Bean departed for the desert without seeing Young. Bean arrived at the White Mountain camp on Snake Creek about May 5. The men bad not been idle in his absence. According t o Orson B. Adams's map, a 21 complete reconnaissance of Snake Valley had been made. Parties had reached Salt Marsh Lake in the north end of the valley and as far south as Hamblin Valley Wash, a distance of seventy miles between the extremes. Upon his a r r i v a l , Bean began to reorganize bis company for the further exploration of the desert beyond them. The Iron County brethren, under the command of Orson B. Adams > were chosen t o extend their explorations to the northwest. This was not done with the idea of planting new settlements, as Brigham Young had instructed Bean t o look to the south and southwest for that object. Bean's motive was probably to connect their explorations with the known points on the Humboldt or Beckwith routes. His l e t t e r to Young of April 26 shows an i n t e r e s t in that direction when he asked if the prophet wished him to extend his explorations toward Ruby Valley or to find the distance to Reddings Springs on the Beckwith route. George W. Bean bad been a member of the exploring party sent out by Steptoe in 1855 to find a shorter route to California south of the Great Salt Lake. It appears that Bean may have s t i ll |