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Show 208 direction, towards every promise of water, no matter how slight. To the west of Gray Head he found only more desert worse than where they had already been. Freeman had found nothing in the south, and now Rogers offered little encouragement for putting in a settlement to the north. But the decision was not difficult. To the north there was at least flowing water-tbe life-blood of the desert. There was also wood and grass available. The verdict was reached: At sunrise the Southern Exploring Company would march north. The morning of May 12 saw the wagons of the frustrated company rolling up the White River Valley toward Desert Swamp Springs. These are the springs presently known as Flagg Springs located on the property of the Nevada Fish and Game Department's Sunnyside Wildlife Managemant Area, a migratory bird refuge. These springs and others further north provided the water for Sunnyside Creek, a major tributary of the White River_. The river is now dammed five miles downstream to form the Adams-McGill reservoir. Several other dikes below the dam flood the valley bottom during the winter months. The area between the Mormons' Desert Swamp and Desert Swamp Springs is one of the wettest parts of the entire valley. As the main camp was moving up to the springs, President Dame and eight others, including the faithful Martineau and Johnson, rode ahead of tbe company with five days provisions. Their purpose, according to Dame, was "exploring in the neighborhood of the White Mountain"2-in this case, the Egan Range which forms the eastern flank of the valley. The pack train arrived at Desert Swamp (Flagg) Springs well ahead of the heavy wagons plodding up from the south. While the explorers found some rather large meadows in the valley bottom, the place was primarily a sea of sage and greasewood ten to fifteen miles wide between the Egan and Grant Ranges. Dame s exploring party stopped for about two hours at the springs to rest and feed the animals and then pressed on toward a large canyon in the Egan Range. Eight miles |
