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Show [ 174 J Sulphate of soda Sulphate of lime 158 .. • 0.23 - 1.12 100.00 Glancing your eye along the r~ap, you will see a small stream entering the Utah fake, south of the Spa~tsh for~c, and the first waters of that lake which our road of 1844 crosses m com.mg up from th~ southward. Wht:n 1 was on this stream with Mr. Walker m that year, he mformed me tha~ on the upper part of the river are i~~ense beds of rock salt of very great t~lCk· ness, which he had frequently vtstted. Farther to ~he ~outhward, t~e n.vers which are aflluent to the Colorado, such as the Rw VtrgP.n, and Gtla nver, near their mouths, are impregnated. with salt ~y the cliffs o.f roc~ salt .be· tween which they pass. These mmes occur m th.e sarr~e ndge. m wh~ch, about 120 miles to the northward, and .subsequently m thetr more rmmedwte neighbor hood, we discovered tl~e fossils belon.ging to the oolitic per~od,.and they are probably connected wtth th at formatwn, and are the depostte from which the Great Lake obtains its salt. Uad we remained longer, we should have found them in its bed, and in the mountains around its shorP.s. By observation, the latitude of this camp is 41° 1 5' 50", and longitude 112° 06 ' 43". The observations made during our stay give for the rate of the chro· nometer S 1 ".72, conesponding almost exactly with the rate obtai~ed at St. Vrain's fort. Barometrical observations were made hourly dunng the day. This morning we breakfasterl on yampah, and had nnly k~mas for supper; but a cup of good coffee still distinguishefl us from our Dtgger acquaintances. September t 2.-The morning was cleat· and calm, with a temperature at sunrise of 32°. W c resumed our journey late in the day, returning by nearly the same route which we had travelled in coming to the lake; and, avoiding the passage of Hawthorn creek, struck the hills a little below the hot salt springs. The flat plain we had here passed over consisted alter· nately of tolerably good ~andy soil and of saline plats. 'hT e encamped early on Clear creek, at the foot of the hi gh ridge; one of the peaks of which we ascertained by measurement to be 4,2 10 feet above th~ lake., or about 8,400 feet above the sea. Behind these front peaks the ndgc n~es towards the Bear river mountains, which arc probably as high as the. Wrnd rive!' chain. This creek is here unusually well timbered ·witlt a vanety of trees. Among them were birch (belttla,) the narrow-leaved poplar (11opulus anguslifolia,) severnl kinds of willow ( solix,) hawthorn { cratr.egu.9,) al· der (alnus viridis,) and cerasus, with an oak allied to quercus alba, but very distinct from that or any other species in the United Stntes. We had to-night a supper ofsea gull s, ,\hich Carson killed nearth? l.ake. Although cool, the thermometer stnnding at 47° , musquitoes were suthctent· ly numerous to be troublesome this evening. September l 3.- Continuincr up the river valle)· we crossed several small I:) ' , . streams; ~he mountains on the right appearing to consist of the blue tme· ~tone, whtc? we had observed in the same rid~e to the northward, altcrnat· mg. here wrth a granular quartz already mentioned. One of th ese streams, W}Hch forms a Smaller \ake near the rivrr, was broken up intO several ch:tn· nels; and the irrigated bottom of fertil e soil was covered with innnmera~le flowers, among which were purple fields of eupatoriurn purpureum, Wltl' 159 [ 174 ] heJiant~1i, a handsome .sol.idago ( S. canadensis,) and a variety of other plants rn bloom. Contmmng along the foot of the hills, in the afternoon we found .fi~e or s.ix ~ot sprin~s gushing out together, beneath a conglomerat~, comnstrng pnnc1pally of trapmenfs of a grayish-blue limestone, efUorescmg a salt upon the surface. 1 he temperature of these springs was 1 34o and the rocks m the. bed were colore~l with a red deposite, and there wa; common s:1lt crystallazed on the margm. There was also a white incrustation upon leaves and roots, consisting principally of carbonate of lime. Ther~ were rushes seen along the road this afternoon, and the soil under the hi.IIs w~s very .black, and appal'ently very good; but at this time the grass Is enttrely ~rred up. yve enca?'lpcd on Bea ~ river, immediately below a cut-off, the Cil110n by whtch the nver enters thas valley bearing north by compass. The night was mild, with a very clear sky ; and I obtained a very e~cellent obse.rvation of an occultation of Tau.1 Arietis, with other observatwns. Both Immersion and emersion of the star were obsenred · but ?Sour observat.ions have shown, the phase at th e bright limb generally give~ rncorr~ct longrtudes, and we have adopted the rc&ult obtained from the emerst~n at the dark limb, without allowing any weight to the immersion. Accordmg to these observations, the longitude is 11 2o 05' 12" and the latitude 4lo 42' 43" .. All the longitudes on the line of our out\~ard journey, b~tween St. Vr?m's fort and the Dalles of the Columbia, which were not du:~ctly determmed by satellites, have been chrono:netrically referred te> th1s place. !he people to-day were rather low-~pirited , hunger makin (l' them very qUiet ~nd peac?able; and there wns rlrely an o~th to. be heard in the campnot e-ven a solrtary enfant de garce. It was tune for the men with an expected supply of provision~ from F~tzpatrick to be in the neighborhood; and th~ gun was fired at evenmg, to gtve them notice of our locality, b1:1t met wtth no response. September- 1.4.- About four miles from this encampment, the trail led us down to t~e nv~r, where we unexpectedly found an excellent ford- the :tream berng. wrdened by an island, and not yet disengaged from the hills t the foot of the range. \V e encamped on a littl e creek where we had made a noon halt in descending the riv'€r. The nigbt was very clear and pl~sant, the su~set te~pe raturc be in~ 67°. kill he people thrs even mg. looked so forlorn, that .r u·ave them permission to 1 d'a fat young horse wlllch I had purchased wrth goods from the Snake Pn· tans, and they were very soon restored to gayety and good humor. ~lr. rreuss and myself could not yet O\'Crcome some remains of civilized prcj u- ~/ces, .and preferred to starve a little longer; feeling as much sadde ned. ns 1 a cnme had been committed. bl T~e next day we continued up the valley , the soil being sometimes very saf~ 1 n?d good, occa&ionally gravelly:. and oc ~asionally a kind of naked two ~ 31 ~~· We found o~ the way th1s mornmg a small encampment of of k famtltes of Snake fn~1ans, from who.m we p~rchased ~ small quAntity u 0 : 0J!ah. ~hey had pries of seeds, of three dafTe rent k1nds, spread out bp h PJC<'es of buffalo robe; and the squaws had j ust ga th ered al>out a t~ls el ?f the ~·oots ?fa thistle, ( circium Virginianurn. ) They were about ~ ordtn~ry stze o{ carrots, and, as I ha ve previously rll ention ed, are sweet ~n 1well fln~ored , requiring only a long preparation. Tiley had a band of a~~uve or .filteen horses, and appea red to be growing in the sunshine with t as httle labor as the plants they '\Vcre eating. |
