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Show CHAPTER XII. SALT LAKE VALLEY AND THE CITY. WINDING around the side of the mountain from the lager beer brewery, we were soon upon a bench beyond the range, with the rich valley of the Great Salt Lake stretched out before us. It was a clear, pleasant morning not a cloud in the sky, and everything conspiring to make the prospect enjoyable. The interests of our command all centred in Camp Douglas, and the eyes of officers and soldiers in stinctively turned to the north, and gazed upon their new home with a delight almost equal to that of the Mormon proselyte, when, after the same journey, and from the same stand- point, he beholds for the first time his new Zion. Camp Douglas is situated upon the tallest of a series of benches which rise pne above another from the valley to the base of the mountains on the east. Its white buildings, surrounding a tall staff, from which the stars and stripes floated to the breeze, was a pretty sight ; but tit ere was too much to be seen for this to occupy my attention more than a few moments. Immediately below the post, to the west, lay the renown ed Salt Lake City. In t& e distance it appeared like a large nursery ; its fruit- trees almost obscuring the smaller houses, which they everywhere surrounded. Here and there a larger building rose above the green foliage, and the immense arch of the unfinished tabernacle was conspicuous beyond the rest. North of the city was the lake formed by the wa ters of the hot springs, and west, the Great Salt Lake, with its mountain islands rising from the water. Near its south eastern border commenced the West Mountains, which |