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Show 180 WESTERN WILDS. Copper is found in vast quantities in Tintic and some other districts, but the reduction thereof has not made much progress. Bismuth ore is found in the southern counties in abundance. Graphite, black- lead, native sulphur, alum, borax, carbonate of soda, and gypsum are widely disseminated. Beds of the latter have been discovered that will richly pay for working. Salt is so plentiful as scarcely to be an article of commerce. Near the lake, and in many other localities, it can be had for shoveling into a wagon and hauling home. Fire- clay and sand-stone are abundant, as is building stone of every description, including marble and granite. Kaolin of the finest quality abounds. All the ochres used for polishing, pigments, and lapidary works are in inex-haustible supplies. The Territory will not average one acre in forty fit for agriculture, but nearly all the rest is valuable for some kind of mineral. This growing interest has created a party in favor of an-nexing Utah to Nevada. The new State would be about as large as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois combined, but it takes some-thing more than area to make a State. The population would be, per-haps, 150,000 just about enough for one member of. Congress. The advantages would be immense. It would bring them under the min-ing laws of Nevada, which are probably the best in the world ; it would give the non- Mormons a free ballot, and some chance for repre-sentation, and balance the crushing power of the priesthood by a large population of miners and Americans. Perhaps it would be well to annex only the two northern degrees first containing the most mines and when Nevada shall have assimulated them, add the rest. With some such consummation as this, I have no doubt the American pub-lic would be only too happy to bid farewell to Utah Territory. To many Americans Utah is even yet a land of mystery the home of strange rites and unhallowed religion ; but to me, in its physical features, it is already as the home of the soul. As more and more I become familiar with it, I see how little Mormonism has to do with its real greatness, how small a space it will occupy in its future history, and what countless other matters there are of wonder and interest. Long residence and frequent travel have made the Territory as an entirety far better known to me than any other part of our country. On the instant a mental picture, colossal in outline and interesting in details, rises to my vision: its snow- clad peaks glowing in the clear air of June, and dazzling white beneath the burning sun of August; its 30,000 square miles of rugged mountains, seamed from side to side with mineral wealth ; its cafions and cool retreats ; its shadowed trails and dashing mountain streams swarming with trout. Not less roman- |
