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Show 218 PASS THROUGH THB WAHSATCH MOUNTAINS. by Big Kanyon Creek, and which has lately been opened and worked by the Mormons, who demand a small toll on each animal, to be devoted to its improvement. The ascent is not so abrupt as I had anticipated. The valley is very narrow, with bold escarpments on either side, scarcely affording space between them for the passage of the turbulent little mountain- stream, which, with its bright, flashing waters, comes tumbling down the pass with a cheerful, murmuring sound, producing, after the dead silence of the barren plain? and dreary sand- flats of the lake, a sensation peculiarly pleasant and refreshing. The road, which is very crooked, and in many places even dangerous, passes over a friable sandstone, underlying a heavy stratum of limestone. Cedar, oak, maple, service- berry, aspen, bitter cotton- wood, and willows are found in the pass; and I observed several fine vines of the wild hop, loaded with fruit. Much heavy grading, expensive side- cutting and walling, besides inclined planes, would be required to render this pass at all eligible for the passage of a railway. A good wagon- road, however, can here be made, and at a moderate expense. The great obstacle to the use of all these mountain passes is the vast accumulation during the winter of snow, which, drifting over from the bordering heights, effectually blocks up the valleys, not unfrequently to the depth of thirty feet; thus rendering them impassable* from five to six months in the year. As the sun went down, the temperature became sensibly lower, and at nine o'clock the thermometer stood at 46°. Observations of Polaris gave for latitude 40° 45' 40". 5. Day'B march up the pass, seven miles. Friday, August 30.- Morning clear and cool. Thermometer at sunrise, 52°. Our road continued up the Big Kanyon Creek, ( crossing its south fork) for five miles, when we reached the summit of the range, and struck upon Bauchmin's Creek, a branch of East Kanyon Creek, which latter is a tributary of the Weber. Latitude by meridian observation at summit, 40° 44' 48". The valley is here from two to three miles broad, and near the summit several large pines are growing, as yet undisturbed by the emigration. Scrub- oak and aspen constitute the predominant growth. The road continues up the valley of Bauchmin's Creek, crossing several small affluents, until reaching a main fork coming in from the right. This stream, which is six feet wide and two feet deep, \ |