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Show [ 174 J 272 far into the Great Basin. lVIr. Joseph Walker, onr guide, and who ha more knowledge of these parts than any ma.n I know, informed me that air the country to the left was Ullkno_wn to lum, an? that ~ven the nil{ger tribes, which frcquente<l Lake • ev1er, coni~ tell lnm notlung about it. Jt!la,7J 20.-We me~ a band of Ut!lh Iudmt~s, l~eaded by a well-known chief, who had obtamcd the Amcncan or E,nghsh name of Walker, by which he is quote? a!1d wc1l kno~n. ~hey were all nwun_ted, armed with rifles, and nse thell' n!les well. 1 he ch1ef had a fn~ee, whwh he had car. ried slung, in addition to his rille. They were jonrneyiug slowly towards the panish trail, to Jevy their usual tribnte upon the great Californiancara. van. They were robbers of a higher order than tho e of the desert. They conducted their depredations with form, and UlH.ler the color of trade and wll for passing through ~heir conn try. Iuste~d of atta~l~ing and killing, they alferl to purchase-takmg the horses they I lke, and g1vll1g something nomi. nal in return. 'T'lte chief was qnite civil to me. He was personally ac. quaintecl with his n(,lmcsake, our guide, who 1nade my uame known to him. lle knew of my expediti0n of l .J2; and, as tokons of friendship and proof that we bad n1et, proposed an interchange of presents. We h~d no great store to choose out of; so he gave n1e a 1\llcxican blanket, and I gave hun a very fiue one which I had obtained at Vancouvtr. May 23.-\Ve reache<l Sevier river-the maiu tributary of the lake of the same uamc-wllich, <ldlcctino- from ils northern course, here breaks fr0m the mountains to enter tile lake. It was realJ y a fine river, from eight to twel_ve ft~e t deep; and, after searching in vain for a fordable place, we made ht tic-: boats (or, rather, rafts) out of bulrushes, and ferried across. The~c rafts arc readily made, and give a good conveyance across a river. The rushes are bound in bundles, and tied hard; the bundles arc tied down upon pol~s, as clo~e as they can be pressed, and fashione<llikr a boat, in being broa~~r m the m.tddle anu pointed at the ends. The rushes, being tubular aud JOllltcd, arc light and strong. The raft swims well, and is shoved along by po~es, or p_addled, or pushed and pulled by swimmer , or drawn by ropes. <;>n tlns occaswn, we used ropes-oue at each end-and rapidly drew our httlc float backwards and forwards, fron~ shore to shore. The horses swam. At_ our place of crossing, which was the nwst northern point of its bend, the latitude wa 39° 22' 1 !J''. Tho banks sustained the character for fertility and vegetation w_hic~l we had seen for some days. The name of this river aud lake was an Ind1catwn of our approach to regions of which our people had been the explorers. It was probably na1ned after some American trap· per ~r hunler, and was the first American name we had mr.t with since lea vwg the Colu~nbia river. From the Dulles to the point \\'l1ere we tnrn· cd across the Sierra Nevad~, noa 1,000 miles, we heard Indian names, ;tnd the greater part of the d1stanc none; from Nueva Helvetia (Sa?ra· Ji'1ento) to lr!s _V~ga~ de Santa ~'tara, about 1,000 more, all were Sp:tmsh; ~rol'\1 tl!o l\1lSSISst p p1 to the Pac1fic, French and American or English w·ere Intcn."llftxed; and this prevalence of nat:ncs indicates the national character of the 1lrst explorers. We hac~ here t~e misf?rtnne to lose one of our people, Frangois Badeau, who had be~,.~n With me m both expeditions· durinrr which he had always been one ?f m·y most faithful and efficient ru~n. II~ was kil1ed in drawing towards lu~ _a b·n;1 by the muzzle;_ the hamn1er being ca~1ght, discharged the gnu? dtlvwg t,l.e ball through h1s head. We bnrried hnn on the banks !>f the nver. 273 [ 174- Crossing the next day a slight ~·idge along the rive~, we entered a handme mountain valley covered With fine grass, and directed our course tosoards a hio-h snowy peak, at the foot of which lay the Utah lake. OL ~vur rio-ht ,~as a bed of high mountains, their sunnuits covered with snow, consti?ntino- the dividing ridge between the Basin waters and those of Llt€ Colorado. 5 At uoon ~e fell in with a party of Utah Jn_dialls corniug on• of the mountaiu, and m the afternoon e11rampcd on a tnbutary to tlte lake, which is separatctl from the waters of the Sevier by very slight diviuiu~: grounds. Early the next <lay \Ve came in sight of the lake; und, as we de::-.ceuded to the broad bottoms of the panisb fork, three horsemen were seen galloping towards us, \Vho proved to be Utah Ittdians-scouts from a village which was encamped near tile 1nouth of the river. They were ~utued with rifles, anu their horses \vore in n·ood condition. We encamped ue;tr them on the Spanish fork, which is oue of tile principal tribnt aries to th~.~ lake.' Finding the Indians troublesome, aud desirous to remain hert~ a d~ty , we removed the next morning farlbcr down the lake, auu cncampeu on a fertile boltom ncar the foot of the sarnc uwuutainon~ ridge which border~. t!Je Great Salt lake, and along which we had journeyed the previous September. llcre the principal plants in bloom were two, which wt:•ro re markable as affording to the Snake I n<liaus-the o11e an abuttd<tllt sn ppl ~ of foou, and the other the tnost useful amo11g the applications wlliclt tlH') use for wonnds. These were tbe kooyah planl, gro\ving in fielus of ex-. traordinary luxuriauce, and convot!aria stellata, which, fi·ont lite experience of Mr. Walker, is the best retttedial plaut known amot1o· tlw"e In dians. A few miles below us was auother villao·e of Indians: from whieh we obtained some fish-an1ong them a few salmon trout, which were very much inferior in size to those along the Californian mountains. The sea son for taking them had not yet arrived; but the Indians were daily ex pecting them to come up out of tlle ~al<e. . . . We hau now accomplished au oLJcct we hnd m vtew whe11 leavlllg the Dalles of the Columbia in Novcn1ber last: we hacl rcacheu the Utal1 lake but by a route very dift'erent frotu what we had intended, aud witl.lOlll sufficient time remaining to make the examinations which were de!)tred. I· is a lake of note in this conutry, under tile domiuion of tile lJ Lain.) wilL resort to it for fish. Its greatest breadth ts about 15 miles, strctchillt,{ fa ~ to the north, narrowiug as it goes, and conuecting wilh the G real Salt lak ' This is the rup01 t, and which I believe to be correct ; but it is fresh w ate\",. ~vhile the other is not only salt, btll a saturated sohHion o_f salt; an<l here IS a problem which requires to be solved. It is almost entirely snrrounde{i by ~ountaius, wa lied on the north ancl cast by a high and snowy _rm~ge, '~htcl~ supplies to it a fan of tributary streams. Among these, .the pnucJpa· nver ts the Timpan-ogo-siguifyiug Rock river-a name wh1ch the rock~ gr~ndcur of its ~cencry, remarkable even in this conn try of rugged n1o\:1.. . tams, has obtaiuod for it from the India11s. In the Utah language og-wnh ... be,_the ~erm for river, when coupled with otltc~· w_or:ls in comm~n conve•- atwu, _1s ~sually abbreviated to ogo j t imp an s1gtufymg rock. It 1s pro bald~ that tlus nver furnished the name whieh on the older 1naps has been generally applied to the Great Salt lake; bnt for this I have prcfe1red ~ 11n m' Whlc~l \~ill be regarded as hi-ghly charncteri. tic 1 rcstrict~n~ to t~w r~ vcf tht descnphve term Timpan-ogo, alH11eavJllu, fo ·the luke mto wb1ch tl Ho~Y~ 18 |
