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Show 212 Grant and White Pine Ranges. Twelve miles north of Willow Springs the Dame party began to find water. First there was Deep Spring,where they stopped at noon. Then, thirteen miles further up the valley, they found a beautiful large stream. According to Martineau, i t was "the f i r s t mountain stream we have seen since leaving Coal Creek [at Cedar CityJ, (except Wibe Creek) and the brethren were so much rejoiced that TO with one voice it was named 'Eureka.'" J What the party had found was the upper part of the White River a few miles below the present-day site of Preston. The men believed the stream was capable of watering 2,000 acres of land, and the bottom lands here were "exceedingly rich, and would produce great crops," claimed 14 Martineau. The stream spread out over a meadow considerably larger than any previous meadow they had discovered, and, as a result, there was an abundance of native hay. And, unlike the valley further south, alkali did not seem to be a problem. Surely this was the best prospect for a settlement they had yet found, but the nights were very cold, with ice frequently forming in their drinking vessels. Also in this valley, the men found an Indian whom they wanted to question, but, like the others, he was very much frightened and scurried away. He was run down in the usual manner, but he was apparently of Shoshonian origin, and Shirts found he could not interpret his speech. Relentlessly, Dame pressed onward toward the north end of the valley. By 9 P.M. they finally reached the foothills of the Egan Range which pinch off the north end of White River Valley and separate it from Steptoe Valley to the northeast. Tired and weary, the explorers made a dry camp among the cedars on the hillside. They had traveled forty miles that day-a record. Camp was broken early on the morning of the 15th. The company advanced slowly toward the pass in the Egan Range. Their water supply was now getting low, and they hugged the base of the range hoping to find a spring or stream |