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Show 217 On May 20 Nephi Johnson's exploring party rode into Desert Camp from their excursion far to the south. In later years, Johnson recalled that "we went without food on the way back.... When we arrived in camp we were a hungry 25 crowd." His report of the country was for the most part favorable. He had been deep into the Pahranagat Valley, one hundred miles to the south. By his own estimates, "this place [was] within 2 days ride of the crossing of the tt26 Muddy, California road. Here he discovered a large stream and good land 27 believed "sufficient to support 2000 people." In places the stream was waist deep and several yards wide. There were also fish in the stream measuring up to a foot in length, which meant that the stream did not dry up later in the summer like so many of the Basin streams do. But Johnson found the valley thickly settled by Indians. The natives had planted wheat which was just heading out-an indication of the valley's mild climate. They bad also successfully cultivating squash, corn, and watermelons. The Indians were not unfriendly, and they had, in fact, invited the Mormons to come and settle in the valley on free land. Johnson continued to follow the stream south, actually the lower end of the White River, to a lake about two miles long, which Johnson named after himself. He also discovered a smaller lake of about one hundred acres and named it Rush Lake because of the tall bull rushes surrounding its shores. These lakes, the Upper and Lower Pahranagat Lakes, can be viewed today from U.S. Highway 93 a few miles south of Alamo, Nevada. The bull rushes still grow thick around their banks. The Johnson pack train bad reached the Pahranagat Valley by retracing the expedition's tracks back to Desert Swamp. But instead of following the White River wash south, Johnson rounded the west side of the Seaman Range and proceeded south.through Coal Valley. Near the valley's southern end, the exploring party |
