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Show 191 reached Steptoe Valley, a high, r e l a t i v e l y narrow plain, hemmed in by the high Egan Range on tbe west and the equally high Schell Creek Range on the east, which they bad just crossed. Ruby Valley was a good seventy miles to the northwest. Somewhat of an anomaly in the Great Basin's interior, Steptoe Valley is one of the few valleys that i s adequately watered. This i s mainly because of the high elevation and close proximity to the surrounding mountains with their attendant runoff. As the Mormons made t h e i r descent into the valley, they picked up Steptoe Creek (which they called Soap Creek) and followed i t north. The stream widened to about five feet and a depth of one and a half feet with a rapid current and rocky bottom. They soon struck another stream flowing northeast issuing out of the Egan Range which measured a foot deep and six t o ten feet wide. Adams named this stream South Creek, but on today's maps i t is known as Murry Creek. As the explorers refreshed themselves by i t s banks, they stood precisely on the future s i t e of Ely, Nevada. Both of the streams, found by the Iron County men, sank in the middle of the valley a few miles away, forming a bottom land of "luxurinat grass, intermingled with clover." 24 But Adams found the land too cold for farming purposes, there being frost every night. Had i t not been for this and a l s o being outside of the arbitrary limits imposed by Brigham Young, i t would have made an ideal place for a settlement. The city of Ely, Nevada t e s t i f i e s to the a b i l i t y of i t s resources to support a moderate popular tion. The expedition continued its northward trek up the valley past the present* day site of McGill. About seven miles further, they turned east into the Gallagher Gap, a canyon in the Schell Creek Range. Undoubtedly tbe explorers 25 were following up Duck Creek, a sizable stream, toward its source. Adams called this stream North Creek, probably because this was the northern-most |
