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Show 198 posed to the sun l a y across t h e i r path. This mountain was very l i k e l y the 11,298 foot Troy Peak. From the top the view was b r e a t h t a k i n g . To the north they saw a "high pyramidal peak p e r f e c t l y w h i t e . . . , which Pres. Dame pronounced t o be the White Mts." These mountains were estimated t o be one hundred miles d i s t a n t, and Ifartineau wrote, "we have since learned £ i t j must be a high peak on the 14 Humboldt River." No doubt, Dame's l a t e s t candidate for the White Mountains was the Ruby Range. To the extreme west the majestic snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada were clearly v i s i b l e and c o r r e c t l y estimated to be 150 t o 200 miles d i s t a n t. Between them and the S i e r r a s was "a perfect desert extending as far as the eye can extend." Immediately west of Gray Head was Railroad Valley with i t s huge, white alkali f l a t , by far the l a r g e s t they had yet seen. Dame estimated its size t o be "20 t o 40 miles in e x t e n t . " Looking t o the e a s t , the awestruck explorers saw the mighty Wasatch Range forming the eastern flank of the Great Basin. I t s southern terminus below Harmony was e a s i l y discernable. Here a geographic fact was e s t a b l i s h e d . They were now midway between the two great mountain ranges of western America. At t h i s point, nearly one t h i r d of the distance across present-day Nevada, Colonel Dame had indeed reached the center of the Great Basin. This was an area never before trod by the white man, and even today i t i s s t i l l one of the most remote regions in the country. From t h e i r unique p o s i t i o n on the top of a high mountain in the center of the Great Basin, these three men stood in reverence as they surveyed the great unexplored wilderness which surrounded them. Their sole purpose: to find the refuge for God's people. "But on t h i s mountain peak," recalled Martineau, "the spirit of l i b e r t y seemed t o dwell; we seemed l i f t e d above the sinful world and to be nearer to heaven."1 6 There was an abundance of f l a t stones lying around |
