OCR Text |
Show 142 PRQGRfcSS OF NEW SETTLEMENTS. s •/ , Near the pastern shores of Lake Utah, a, site for a city has Been selected on the left bank of the Provaux or Timpanogas River/ an affluent of the lake, which is to be called Provaux ( My: From • Ogden City oft the north, all the way to this latter* " Stake of . Zion>" the base of- the Wahsatch range ip studded with flourishing farms, wherever a little stream flows down the mountain- side with water sufficient for ' irrigating purposes; while in the gorges and cafions of the mountain are erected the saw and grist mills. Of the former, sixteen, and of the latter, elevfen have been completed) and others are in the process of erection. To the south of Lake Utah, on one of its tributaries, another city hap been founded, callect Paysan, and a hundred and thirty miles farther, oj} the road to California, another, named Manti, m • what is. called San Pete Valley. Still . farther south, near Little Salt Lake, two hundred and- fifty miles sobth of the city, a fourth, • called Cedar City, has been laid out, in a spot possessing the advantages of excellent soil and water, plenty of wood, iron ore, and alum, with some prospect of coal. It is the ultimate object of the Mormons, by means of stations, wherever the nature t> f the country1 will admit of their settling in numbers sufficient for self- * defence^ to establish a line of communication with the Pacific, so 4s to afford, aid to their brethren coming from abroad, while On'their pilgrimage to the land of promise. - These stations will gradually become connected by farms . and smaller settlements wherever . practicable, until the greater part of the way will exhibit one long line 01* cultivated fields from the Mormon capital to San Diego. ' The mode adopted for the founding of a . new town is peculiar and highly characteristic. An expedition is first sent out to explore the country, with a view to the selection of such points. as, from their natural advantages,, offer facilities for a settlement. These being duly reported to the authorities, an elder of the • church is appointed to preside over the little band designated to make the first improvement. Thi? company is composed partly pf volunteers and partly 6f such as - are selected by the presidency, due regard being had to a prbper intermixture of taechanical Artisans, to render the expedition independent of. all aid from" . without. In this way ] Ehe settlement at Sail Pete Was begun, sixty faimlies leaving in a body, under one of the high Officers of . the church, and that . in the month of. October/ Undergoing all the rigours of cfrld and siiow, to establish another " stake" in thfe wilderness. In December of the following year, another expedition |