OCR Text |
Show THE GREAT BASIN OF UTAH. 33 west to Genoa, near the head of Carson Kiver at the east foot of the Sierra Nevada, and returned to Camp Floyd on the 5th of August following; thus accom-plishing the reconnoissance in three months and three days, the provisions lasting " to a notch," and without the loss of a single man or horse. The result of the expedition was the opening of two new, practicable wagon routes across the Great Basin; the shorter of which lessened the distance be-tween Great Salt Lake City and San Francisco a trifle over two hundred miles; and the other about one hundred and eighty miles. Immediately the first- mentioned became the postal route; the " Pony Express" commenced its trips over it, and emigrants to California have used it ever since. Also by the recommendation of Captain Simpson, and the efforts of Colonel Bee, the then President of the Overland Telegraph Company, which at that date had ex-tended its wires only from San Francisco a distance of two hundred arid fifty miles to Genoa, Congress was induced to pass the bill incorporating the Over-land Telegraph Company and authorizing it to construct a telegraph across the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It was the fortunate cir-cumstance of Captain Simpson finding so feasible a telegraph route and reporting it to Colonel Bee, that induced the latter to go on to Washington from Cali-fornia and press the matter of the Overland Tele-graph through Congress to a successful result. The report of this expedition of Captain Simpson cost him no inconsiderable labor; and, illustrated as it is by a complete map, meteorological profiles, and 3 |