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Show 127 in 1855. Up the long incline from the Sevier River, the party made its way to the base of the mountains. Two days behind them, the Fillmore and Beaver companies were following in their tracks. At the foot of 9,678 foot Swasey Peak, Bean's force discovered the refreshing Antelope Springs, finding good grass and water "for small companies." Here, among the foothills of the imposing House Range, the company established a camp for the night, this being their fourth night since leaving Cedar Springs. This place offered a commanding view of the desert they had just crossed. Almost due south, the Sevier Lake was plainly visible, the sun glinting off its white alkali beds and thin sheet of water. To the southeast, the shiny, snowcovered peaks of the great Wasatch Range dominated the view. On the morning of the 8th, the expedition began its long, winding ascent up the slopes to Dome Canyon Pass. Bean called this pass Cache Canyon, possibly because they cached some supplies there; although he does not say in his reporter letters. That afternoon, after reaching the summit, the expedition was slammed by a tremendous blizzard. Bean, a man not given to superlatives, called it "the roughest snowstorm that it was ever my lot to meet." And again, alluding to the Evil One, he asserted: "It seemed that an opposing 28 power had got into our path trying to prevent our further progress." Caught in the open, the men "got into any shelter possible" and waited out the storm which lasted twenty-seven hours without cessation. Some of the men dug holes in the ground to shelter and save themselves." " The heavy winds tore the wagon covers to strips, and cattle were driven forty miles before the storm. Six horses and one cow were lost.3° Some of them had been driven to a high cliff where they fell to their deaths.31 Two or three days were required to put the expedition back together again. |