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Show . [ 174 J 138 the bottom, au d cro Ss·111oa t11e little~ stream ·w hich· has b1e ·e n1 a1l reda dy mentt ido ned, 1 v1· st· tc d sev ·ra 1 r·c \ n1(a. 1·1{ablc red aud whtte lulls, w u·c 1 w. 1· at1tr ac e my attent·w n fr.o m tt1l e· t·oad 111 the morn i.n :c:>r . These arc .11 mbm c1u wtde, y u,p· o· n t1 1e f d l'J e those alrcad y mentwncrl, arc formeu y t 1e eposnwn o stream, an ' 1 success1· vc t · t' ·• ft·orn tile c::pr.m o-s 0 n t1tc u· · snmn· u· t s, t l1e Ol'I. frees tl1l'Otlob- h s 1 a "" ~ o • 1 1 · bl d which the waters had Leon discharged were s~ l~rge .. t lat ~ ~c~ _1ese~1 e nu· m· al, ul.e Ci.a t e\I ''-~', be1' 11orr ·s ome of them severa.l feet 1n UldIi nctel·l, c·n .1c ularr, a.nd ro(l'ularly formed as if by art. At a former tnnc, \~hunt te.s? c n?~ -npr tOllll· taft1s were all in motiou, they must have made u uoanttful dtspla~ ou a rand scule ; aud uearl y all this basi11 appears to me to have ?ceu formed ~nder their actiou, aJHl shonld be called tl~c pl11.ce of fow'.''~'~'·Y.. A~ the foot of oue of these hills, or rather on lts s~de ~w~u. the ~ba~e, arc several of these small lime~tone colnmns, n bout one foot 111 dtanwtet at tbe base., and tapering upwards to a height of three or foLH feel; aud. on the sum•.ntt the water i~ boilitlO' up and bu bbliuo- over, constaut.l y addmt; to the hetgh~ of the little obcli::;k~. Jn some, the water only boils up,.uo longer ovcrflowm~, and ha · here the same taste as at the .,teamboat. prwg. Tile ohser~er wilt remark a grauual subsidence in the water, which ~ormerly snpphc<.l the fountains, at; on all the surntllits of tho hill· the sprmgs nrc t~ow dry, and are fonllu only low down upon their sides, or on the snrroundlllg platn. A little higl10r up t.lte creek, its bauks arc for~ucd by stt:a ta of a very heavy anJ hard scoriaccous basalt, having a br1ght mctallt~ lustr~ :vhen broken. Tlte moutJtuius ovcrlookiug tile plain arc of an cnt tr?ly dlflercnt geological c!Jaracter. Con tinning on, l wn.ll ed to the sunllntt of. one of them, where the priucipal rock was a granular quartz. Dcsccndmg. the mountaius, anu returni11g towanb the camp alolJg the brlsc of th~ rH~ge which skirts the plaiu, I founu at the foot of a. mountain spw> an? ISsutng from a compact rock of a uark-blne color, a. great number ol spnng~ hav· ing the same pungeut and disagreeably metallic tnstc alrca~y mcntton~d, the water of which was collected into a very rc11w.rkable basw, whoso stn· gularity, perhaps, made it appear to me very ben utifu I. It is l~rgeperhaps fifty yarus iu circum(ercnce; and. iu it the water is contaltled at an elevation of .several it.~et above the surrouuding ground by a wall of cal· careout; tufa, composcrl principally of tho remain· of 1110s e.·, three or four, and soruetimes ten feet high. The wnter within is very clear au<.l pure, aud three or four feet deep, where it conlcl be convclliently me:lsured.near the wall; and, nt a cou,·iderably lower level, is another pond or has111 °~ very clear water, aud appareutly of considerable depth, fron1 the botto!~ ~~ whtch the gas was e .. caping in bubbling columns at many places. 1 hiS water was collccteJ into a small stream, which, in a few hundred yards, &ank under grouud, rc~1 ppenring amoncr the rocks bet ween tltc two great springs near the river, which it cntercdbhy a little fall. . . Late in the afternoon r sat out on n1y return to the camp, and, rro ·sJng 1n ~he way a large field of a salt that was . everal inches tlecp. found on r~y arnval that our emigrant friends, who had been encatnp<~cl in con~J>nllY .with us, had resurned their journey, and the road hau again a.·. tuned tls solttary character. The temperature of the largest of the lll'er sp ri11gs at onr e~~carn~ me~ll wu.s 65° at snnset, that of tltc air being ()2.5°. O~tr haromctn~ obsct vatwn gave 5,840 feet for the elevation above tltc ~11lf, bctng about 50 fc~l lo1~er ~1au tl~~ Uoi!ing spri•.'gs, which a~e o(' n si 111 il~1· llttl nrc, at the f~~~ ol P1ke s peale. I he astrouoaucal obscrvauons <>ave lor on r latJtuUe J 3 9' 57", aud 111° 46' 00" for the longitude. 'J'}~e night was very still au 139 [ 174 J cloudless, aud I sat up for an observation of the first satellite of Jupiter:~ tho emer ion of which took pl~ce about tnitluight; bnt fell asleep at the telescope, a waking just a fow mtuntcs after the appearance of the star. The morning of the 26th was calm, anu the sky without clouds, but smoky; anti the temperature at sunrise 28.5°. At the same time, the temperature of the large Deer spring, where we were encarnped, was 56° ; that of the Steamboat spring 87°; and that of the steam hole, ncar it, 81.5°. In the course of the n1orning, the last wagons of the emigration pa. sed by, aud we were again left in our place, in the rear. Rcmainiug iu camp until uearly 11 o'clock, we tt·nvel lcd a short distauc down the river, nnd halted. to uoou on the bank, at a point where t!Jc road qnits the valley of Bear river, and, crossing a ridge which divides the Great Basin from the Pacific waters, reaches Fort Ilall, by \vay of the Portuenf river, in a distance of probably fifty mile~, or two and a half days' journey for wagons. An <•xamino.tiou of the great lake which i;:; the otttlet of thi~ river, aud the priucipal feature of geographical intere~t in 1hc basin, was one of the main objects contcmplalc(l in tho general plan of our survey, aud I accordiugly determined at this place to leave the road, and, after having completed a rcconnoissauce or the luke, regain it subsequently at Fort Hall. But our little stock of provisions bad again become extremely low; wo had on I y dried rnc ttt snillcicn t for one meal, and our supply of flour and other comforts wa~ entirely exhausted. I therefore immediately despatched one of the party, Henry Lee, with a note lo Car ou, at Fort tlall, dir~ctina him to load a pack horse with whatever could be ohtaiued there 111 the way of provisions, and endeavor to overtake me ou the river. In tho meau time, we had picked up aloug the routl two tolerably well-grown calves, which would have uccolllc foou for wolves, and which had proba- • bly been left bv some of the earlier ernigrant~, none of those we had met having made u i1 y clain1 to them; alH.l on the8c I main I y relied for support duriug our circuit to the lnkc. In sweepiug arouud tho point of th moun tain which rnns down into ~ he bend, the ri \rer here passes bet ween perpendicular walls of basalt, w ht?h aJ way fix tl1c a1 tent ion, from the regular form in which it occur , and 1ts pcrfi.ct distiuctuess from the surronndiug rocks among which it. has been placed. The mountain, which is rugged and stoep, aud, by o.ur measnr~lllcnt, 1,400 feet above the river directly opposite tho place ol onr halt, .1s called the Sltet'p -roclc-probably becansc a Ilock of the common mountaul sheep (avis uwntauct) l1ad been seeu on the craggy point. As wo were about resu'miuo- our march in the afternoon, I was attracted by the siugnlar n ppearance oP au isolated hill with a concave Slll~unit, .in the plaiu, about two miies from the river, and turned oll' towards 1t whtle the camp proceeded ou its way to the southward iu searcl~ of the lake. I fon~Hltho thin aJJd stouy soil of the plaiu eutircly uudet:Jatd by tho basalt winch forrus the river wnlls· and ,vhcn 1 reached the lleJghborhoou of the hill, the surLace of tile plain' wa::> rout iuto frequent fissnres anu chasms. of the same . coriutcd volcanic rock front forty to sixty ioot deep, bnt which t!lere was 110t sutllcient light to' penetrate entirely, auu whicll I ~ad u~t tunc to descetJd. Arrived at the summit of the hill, 1 fouud that 1t termlllatcd in a V<.!ry perfect crater, of au oval, or nearly circular form, 360 paces in circlttnfcrcnce awl 60 feet at the greatest depth. The walls, which were pel'lectly ve~·tical, and disposed like rm~soury in a very t~egular mauucr, were eompo::>eu of a brown-colored sconaceous lava, evtdcutly |
