The emigrants' guide to California : containing every point of information for the emigrant -- including routes, distances, water, grass, timber, crossing of rivers, passes, altitudes, with a large map of routes, and profile of country, &c., with full directions for testing and assaying gold and other ores

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28 further will lead you across Black's Fork three times more. 'fhe grass is good all the way; road somewhat heavy. FORT BRIDGER is thirteen miles onward ;-you cross a number of small creeks. The Fort is a small tra­ding post of four log houses; timber and water is good. Between the Fort and MUDDY FORK~ 13 miles, you ascend to the summit of a rocky ridge ; route te<ijous. Several springs are found here, having a strong alkaline character. Twelve miles from the MUDDY you reach the footof the di viciing ridge. Six miles further brings you through the su1nmit pass to the SULPHUR SPRINGS. The elevation ofthe summit is 8230 feet above the level of the sea, and is the bjghest land: you ha~e travelled over during the entire route. This is a connecting ridge between the Bear river or Eutah Mountains, and the Wind River chain of the Rocky Mountains, separating the waters of the Gulf of California on the East, and those on the West belonging more directly to the Pacific_, from a vast interior basin . ' whose rivers are collected into numerous lakes havina ' 0 no outlet to the ocean. ',The road is crooked and some .. times steep, passing between high mountains. Water is scarce during this distance. At the S~TLPH UR SPRING you find go.od grass, and stone coal1n the mountain side, a little distance from the road. NAPTHA, o~ TAR SPRING is a mile off, in a South West direction ; a wagon trail passes near it. it is well worth seeing; the·tar is goocl for galls on hors:s or cattle. Two miles from here you cross the BEAR RIVE~. The stream is here two hundred feet wide, and fringe~ '":ith willow and occasional gr.oups of hawthorns. Th1s IS a beautiful valley, three · or four ~9 miles in breadth, perfectly level, and boundP.d by moun­tains one above another, rising suddenly from the plain. Alt. 6400 feet. From the entrace of the valley of the Bear river to SMITH'S FORK, twenty-nine miles, the facilities for camping are t?;Ood at almost any point. The valley, ·after passing the Fork, begins to narrow rapidly, and at the gap, is only five hundred yards wide. From here the road is winding, mak\rg many sharp and sudden bends. After crossing THOMAS' FORI{, ten miles distant, the bottom is unsurpassed in beauty. Wild flax grows here in great luxuriance; it is equal to oats for feeding to stJck.­Rest in this valley a few days to recruit your teams and stock. Fourteen mil l!~ s dow'n the bottotn, the road turns up a b~oad valley to the r ight, while the river passes through an open canon, where there are high vertical rocks to the waters edge. In crossing the ridge, the road is very steep for a n1ile. D1stance ~.round the ca­non, five miles. From the Fork to where you strike the river all'ain the distance is twenty-two miles ;.:-timber 0 ' and water are excellent here. From here to , . BEER SPRINGS, a distance of thirty-six ·miles, the road continues down the valley, and presents an abun­dance of everything needful for camping. Beer Springs are 80 called on account of the acld taste and effirvesc· ing gas contained in these waters. They are a pl_ace of very great interest; some of them are thrown a few feet 1n the air, forming a beautiful}et de eau. STEAl\IBOAT SPRING is supposed to resemble the puffing of a steamboat, and hence its name. Lat. 42 ° 39' 57'~; Lon. 1·11 o46,00"; Alt. 5.8. & 40. ..