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Show 130 UTAH SUPERINTESDEFCY. who lay at the point of death and could not be cons~~lteodn any subject, and no reports of estimated expenditures at the different reserves having been made to me, I prepared estimates on the best data within my reach, and caused the same to be forwarded to the department by mail on the 27th day of November, 1860, and the same day started on my contemplated journey westward. My outfit consisted of the ambnlance and baggage wagon attached to this superintendency, each drawn by four mules, two wagons, drawn by fou and six mules, laden with flour, bacon, coffee, sugar, material for lodges, or wipknrpts, (as they call them,) blankets, shirts, coats, pants, hats, boots, shoes, stockings, women's dresses, hand-kerchiefs, tobacco, ammunition, t~inkets,&c.k, c.; oneguide, two guards and herders of stock, and one coolr, who, together with the teamsters and myself, constituted seven men, four vehicles, and twenty-one animals. hfessengers preceding mc convened the different bands, after much exposure and labor, at Deep creek, Shell creek, Spring Valley Buttes, Ruby valley, and other places along my route, where I held councils, made fcasts, and distributed presents, which sent gladness to their hearts, and I have no doubt saved hundreds of lives among the naked, miserable, and wretched inhabitants of these desolate wilds. The absence of every living thing (save the poor Indian) fiom these dreary n-astas adds to its solitude, and the fierce winds, driving snows, tcnible storms, and intense cold that nrevail here in the winter season. render such a ionrnev as this so hazard-ous A d full of peril that my return t o '~r e a tS alt ~ a k ;c itY"in thirty-eight days from the time of starting (having travelled eight hundred miles, over mountains, through deserts, among liostile~avagesa, nd- sleeping all the time out of doo~s upon the frozen ground without tents) was a matter of surprise to the most ex- , perienced and fearless mountaineers. The po5-erty, misel.y, and wretchehess of the poor creatures, men, women, and children, who crowded the wayside on my return trip to shake hands and beg me to "came again soon with presents from the great chief at Washington," is beyond conception, much less description; and their number, I regret to say, is much larger than previously estimated. Two or three flocks of the mallard duck, which we seared np from some of the warn sulphur springs, and a few 1 rabbits, were all the game we saw during the whole journey. At some of these snrines nrere immense auantities of dark-colored fish. called '(the chub," about foGr i&es in length, w&ch the Indians used to eat inkinter, but the overland Califoinia mail company has built stations for their convenience, and located men and qnartered stick -about these spots, and the Indians no longer visit them. No sign of antelope, deer, mountain sheep, elk, not so much as a prairie dog, weasel, bear, buffalo, or anything except wolves, was discov-ered; and at Spring valley I found a family broiling a wolf to eat. Indians generally have a tradition that good braves, after death, go to happy hunting grounds, and had ones enter into n.olves and roam over the earth as a punish-ment for their wickedness. Hence the wolf is an object of religious veneration, and its life is held sacred. But the raging hunger of the poor creatures in these regions forces them to yield to its demands at the risk of future punishment, and they devour the wolf, entrails and their contents, as they did the beef cattle I mused to he slaughtered for them. They are the only Indians known who eat the wolf (or riota, as they call it.) As an experiment, we camped at one of these springs and caught some of the fish with a hook and line, which we cooked for supper; but either the poor quality of the fish or our bad cooking caused them to be a very tasteless and indifferent article of food. Stock will not drink the water of these springs, because of its sulpl~nric and other medical properties. Further west, and in the northern and eastern portion of this Territory, there are fine fish and large lakes of excellent water. Provo lake, thirty miles sonth of the Great Salt lake, has abounded in fish, but they are now scarce there, and but few find their way down tho river Jordan, the outlet by means of which ihb lake empties itself into the Great Salt lake, which latter is not inhabited |