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Show 131 peaks in the Snake Range. Bean called this snow-capped range the White Mountains. Marching fifteen miles southwest across the valley floor, the Mormons discovered Snake Creek at the foot of the towering Wheeler Peak. The expedition had now reached the present Utah-Nevada border. Bean estimated they had travelled 150 miles since leaving Cedar Springs. Upon further examination of the valley, another stream was found flowing up from the south which emptied into a small lake just below Snake Creek. Pruess Lake, as it known today, was estimated to be one quarter mile wide by one and a half miles long by the explorers. The stream itself was fed by large springs twenty-five miles to the south, and attained a width of five feet and depth of three feet before terminating at the lake. Lush meadows flanked the creek in the south end of the valley which were capable of supporting large numbers of cattle. Snake Creek was the best, if not the only, prospect for a settlement yet found. Bean reported: "Here we found pretty good land and sufficient water to justify making a small settlement. The best of pine timbers within a few miles, grass not very convenient."1*2 Although this valley was far from being the total answer sought by Brigham Young, it was a start. Here, on the site of present-day Garrison, Utah, the White Mountain Expedition planted its first seeds. To fascilitate the founding of the new settlement, Barney was elected president of the mission, while the one-armed George W. Bean took a fast horse to Provo to confer with Brigham Young. It was April 22 when Bean rode into Provo, more than a month since he had forced his way out of town through deep snow. Back in Salt Lake City, the exodus was nearly complete, as was evident to Bean by the thousands of families camped along the river bottoms west of Provo. Brigham Young was continuing to rally the Saints with his speeches and trying to sell them on abandoning their homes. His March 28 Tabernacle speech, his first since the "Sebastopol" speech of the week before, attempted to further |