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Show PROGRESS tQ* THB SURVEY IK 1849. 121 ti< ja$ e, bringing with them a drove of twenty- five horses. They had met with very. r, ongh usage from. the Indians; having been rbbbed of a number of. their horses, beside the whole of what remained of their goods> and narrowly escaped with their lives. . From the report by Lieutenant Gunnison of hid operations during my absence, I mpke the following synopsis. A thorough exploration Was made, with the view of ascertaining the points for such a base line as would best develop a system of ' triangles embracing both the Salt Lake and Utah valleys. A line was selected, and carefully measured by rods constructed for. the purpose, and' tripod* stations erected over the termini, . > which, were marked by metal points set in wooden posts sunk flush with the surface of the ground. The length of the base is thirty- one thousand six hundred and eighty feet. Fourteen principal triangulation stations were erected, consisting of large pyramidal timber tripods, strongly framed, to be covered when required for use, by cotton clotlj of different colours, according to th6 background. The triangles extended to the south shore of Utah Lake, and embraced & n area of about eighty by twenty- five miles.' • . , A survey and sounding had been made of theUtah Lake, and also of the river connecting it with Salt Lake: this operation requiring a line to be run of one hundred and tlrenty- aix miles, principally by the T> ack angle, with the theodolite. Although such a result, from less than two months' labour, • would- be entirely satisfactory tmde* ordinary circumstances any-' where, abd would reflect credit pn the energy and capacity of the officer in charge of the work, yet it may be remarked that it would be very unfair to judge of it by a comparison with similar results obtained in the Eastern States. There, all the accessories to such- ' a work, especially water and timber, are abundant, and generally at a1 convenient distance: here* on the contrary, both, are very scarce and hard to be obtained. All the water, for instance,- used both for co& king aid drinking, that was consumed on the base line, ( requiring seven days of incessant labour in its meastoremenfc) , had to be transported upon mules from the river; which lay a mile east of its eastern terminus; and the force employed in the erectioh of. most of the triangoktiop stations had to be supplied in a like manner. But- the principal difficulty wqs tfcie scarcity of timber. Wood grows nowhere cfn the plains; all the wood used- lbr cooking in o* mp>. and ill tie timber, both for posts on the base line and' |