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Show • [ 174 J 276 the Wah-satch and Bear River ~nountain s which en~lose the waters of the Jake on the cast, and constitute, 1n that quar~er, the nm of the Great Basin. Aft rwards along the eastern base of thP- S1erra Nevada, where we trav. e!Ied for fori~ ·l wo days, I saw the I ine_ of I akes and riv crs which lie. at the foot of that Sierra; and wluch Smrra ~s tl~e wes~crn n m of the Ba~m. ,In going down Lewis's fork and the Inatn Columbia, I cros~ed only mfenor streams comiug iu from the left, such as could d.ra w thetr. water from a h rt distance only· and I often saw tl1e mouut::uus at thctr heads, white ~ i~h snow; which,' all accounts said, di vi dcd the waters of the de.• crt from those of the Columbia, and which could . be no. other tiHlll ~he raugc of mountains which fonn the ritn o1 the Ba~m on. Hs northcn1 stde. And in returnino- fron1 California along tlte Spamsh tra1l, as far as the head ofthe anta CJ~ra fork of the Rio Virgen, I crossed only small streams making their way south to the Colorado, or lost in sand-as the Mo-hah.ve; while to the left, lofty mouutains, their summits white with snow, were often visi. ble, and wllich mu t have turned water to the uo~·th a~ well as t? the south, and thus constituteu, on this part, the sout1Jcr11 nm of the lbsm. At tho head of the Santa Clara fork, aud in the Vegas uc Santa Clara, we cross~d the ridge which parted the two sys.ten:s of wa~ers. W~ en.tcred the Basm at that point, and have travelled 1n It ever smcc, h~vmg 1ts sonthcast~rn rim (the Wah-satch rnouutain) on the right, at.Id ?rossmg the streams \~h!Ch flow down into it. The existence of the Basm Is therefore an established fact in 1ny mind ; its extent and contents arc yet to be better ascertaine?. It cannot be less than four or five hundred tuilcs each way, aud must he principally in the All a California; the dcma_rC<1.tio~ latituu~ o~ 42°. probably cutti11g a segme~H from the north part o_l tlic run. Of 1ts m.tenor,.~ut little is known. It 1s 411led a dese1·1, and, frotH what I ~aw of It, stenhty may be its prominent characteristic; but where there is so much water, there must be some oasis. The great river, and the great lake, reported, may not Le equal to the report; but where there i so much snow, there n1ust be streams· and where there is no outlet, there 1nust be lakes to hold the accumu1ated 'waters, or sands to swallow thc1n up. In this eastern part of the Basin, containing Sevier, Utah, and tho Grca~ Salt lake~, and the rivers and creeks falling into them, we know there IS good soil and good grass, adapted to civilized settlements. In tile western part, on Salmon Trout river, and some otl10r strcatns, tho san1e remark may be m~d~. The contents of this Great Basin are yet to be examined. That 1t IS peopled, we know; but miserably and sparsely. From all that I hearda~d saw, I should say that humanity here appeared in its low~st forrn, and 1~ its most elementary slate. Dispersed in single families; wtthout lire a~!' eating seeds and insects; digging roots, (and hence their. name)-st~c _IS the condition of the greater part. Others are a degree htgher, and hv~ ': communities upon some lake or river that supplies fish, and .from w IC they repulse the miserable Digger. The rabbit is the largest ~mmal k~ow.n in this desert; its flesh affords a little meat; and their bag-hke ~o~errng 18 made of its skins. The wild sage is their only wood, and hero tt ts of!~· traordinary size-sometimes a foot in diameter, and six or etgh~ feet ~lfo~ It serves for fuel, for building material, for she! ter to the rabbtts, an the ome sort of covering for the feet and legs in cold weather .. Such a~~· h accounts of the inhabitants and productions of the Great Basm; and "k 101~ ahough imperfect, must have some foundation, and excite our desue to 110 1the whole. 277 [ 174 ] The whole idea of sn~h ~ desert, and .such .a people, i · ~ novel~y in ~ur untry an<.J excites As1atte, not Amcncan tdcas. Intcnor basms, with ~l~cir 0 .; n systems of I a Ices and r i v crs, and o flen sterile'· are common enough 1· Asia. people still in the elementary state of fam1lws, ltvwg In deserts, ~ith 110' other occupation than the mere animal search for food, may still ~0 seen in tliat ancient <[ttarter ol' the globe; but in America such things arc new aud strange, nuknown and unsuspected, and discredited when ~elated. l!ut I flatter myself that what is discovered, though not enough to satisfy curiosity, is sufhctent to cxctte Jt, and that subsequent exploratiOns will complete what has been conuncnc<'d. This account of the Great Dasiu, it will he rcmembercu, belongs to the Alta California, and has no ap~lic~tion to Or?gon, whose capabilities m~y justify a separate remark. Rui~ rrmg to my JOUrnal for paru~ula.r descnptions, and for sectional bonn <lan es . between good ~nd bad dtstncts, I ca!l only say, in genera.l and com.pa r~ tlv c .tenn~, that, 111 that branch.of agncnllnre which implies tllC culttvation of grams and ~taplc c1.·ops, 1t would be inferior to the Atlautic States, tbongh many parts a rc supcnor for wheat; while in the rearing of ilocks and herds it would claim a high place. Its O'razirw capabilities are great; and even in the indigenous grass now there, ~n clct~ent of individual and national wealth may be found. In fact, the "·H'~'~lu\'4 lble 0O 'J'asses beob -in within one hundred aucl fifty rnil cs of the Misso• uri frontier and extend to the Pacific ocean. J:.ast of the Rocky mountams, it is the' short curly grass, on which the bn1fa1o delight to feed, (whence its name of buffalo,, and which is till good when dry aou apparently dead. West of those nwuntains it is a larger growth, in clusters, anti. hence called bunch o-rass and which has a second or fait growth. Plains and mountains both exoh ibit' them· and I ba ve seeu good pasturage at au e Ic vat1. 0n o f ten thousand feet. In' this sponraneous product, the ~radi·u·g or travcll~ng caravans can find subsistence for their anitnals; and 111 milttary operattons any number of cavalry may be n1oved, and any number of ca~t~e 1nay be drive~; and thus men and horses be snpportetl. on lot1g expcchtwns, and even In winter in the sheltered situatious. Commercially, the value of the Oregon country 1nnst b? great, washed as it is by the north Paci!Jc ocean-fronting Asia-prodnclllg many. of the elem~nts of commerce-mild and healthy in its climate-and bccommg, as it naturally will a thoron o-hfarc for the East India and China trade. ' i:> Turning our faces once more eastward, on the mortling of ~the ~7th we left the Utah lake, and continued for two days to ascend tlle Spamsh f~rk, which is dispersed in ntuncrous branches among very '.'ugged m~nnta1ns, which afford few passes, and rcnuer a familiar acqnal!lt~ncc wtth them necessary to the traveller. The stream can scarcely be said to have a valley? the .n~ountains rising often abrn ptly from the. water's edge; but a good tmtl facJhtated our tra veil in rr and there were irCtJ ueut bottmns, covered with excellent grass. The str~ams are prettily aucl variously wooded; and every where the mountain shows grass and timber. At our encampment on the evening of tl~c ~8th~ ncar tl.lC head of one ·of the branches we bad ascended strata of bttnmu1ous ltmestone were dis~layed in an escarpment on the t:ivcr blufls, in which wore contained a. vanety of fossil shells of nc w species. . It will be remembered, that in crossing this ridge about .120 m1les to ~he northward in August last, strata of fossiliferous rock were d1scovered, which |