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Show CHAPTER XII RENDEZVOUS IN WHITE RIVER VALLEY Worried and perplexed, Dame made his way back to the Desert Swamp with his pack train. The reconnaissance of Gray Head had been disappointing. Mid-May was approaching, and the company had yet to plant a seed in the ground. The journey back to camp was a difficult one as well. The explorers chose to return by a different route a little further to the south than the one they had gone west on. After crossing the Golden Gate Range, they entered desolate Coal Valley. Here they endured considerable suffering from the intense heat. Martineau's estimate of a thirty-»five mile trek back to camp was obviously exaggerated Dy the suffering he endured. As the explorers looked across this flat, unforgiving wasteland, they saw a mirage resembling a beautiful lake five or six miles distant. What they probably saw was the sunlight reflecting off the Coal Valley alkali flat to the south. After a difficult march, they arrived in camp where they found all was well. The animals had been stampeded sometime earlier by the hordes of gnats that infested the "swamp," Dut all was now under control. Without wasting any time, Colonel Dame dispatched more reconnaissance parties in new directions to ascertain the value of the country. Ross R. Rogers, of Beaver, was sent with seven men to explore up the creek (White River) which fed the "swamp" from the north. Another seven men were sent to the southwest under the command of John W. Freeman, of Washington, to locate a large spring their Indian guide had reported about forty miles distant. The sanctuary Brigham Young had spoken of must surely lie somewhere in this 206 |