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Show CHAP. III. MOUNTAIN POINT.-THE HAPPY VALLEY. 195 Advancing, we exchanged the rough cahues and the frequent fords of the ravine for a broad smooth highway, spanning the easternmost valley-bench--a terrace that drops like a Titanic step from the midst of the surrounding mountains to the level of the present valley-plain. From a distance-the mouth of Emigration Kanyon is about 4-30 miles from the city-Zion, which is not on a hill, but, on the contrary, lies almost in the lowest part of the river-plain, is completely hid from sight, as if no such thing existed. Mr. Macarthy, on application, pointed out the notabilia of the scene. Northward, curls of vapor ascending from a gleaming sheet- the Lake of the Hot Springs-set in a bezel of emerald green, and bordered by another lake-bench upon which the glooms of evening were rapidly gathering, hung like a veil of gauze around the waist of the mountains. Southward for twenty-five miles stretched the length of the valley, with the little river winding its way like a silver thread in a brocade of green and gold. The view in this direction was closed by " Mountain Point," another formation of terraced range, which forms the water-gate of Jordan, and which conceals and separates the fresh water that feeds the Salt Lake-the Sea of Tiberias from the Dead Sea. As we descend the Wasach Mountains, we could look back and enjoy the view of the eastern wall of the Happy Yalley. A little to the north of Emigration Kanyon, and about one mile nearer the settlement, is the Bed Butte, a deep ravine, whose quarried sides show mottlings of the light ferruginous sandstone which was chosen for building the Temple wall.* A little beyond it lies the single City of the Dead, decently removed three miles from the habitations of the living, and farther to the north is City-Creek Kanyon, which supplies the Saints with water for drinking and for irrigation. Southeast of Emigration Kanyon are other ravines, Parley's, Mill Creek, Great Cotton-wood, and Little Cottonwood, deep lines winding down the timbered flanks of the mountains, and thrown into relief by the darker and more misty shading of the farther flank-wall. The " Twin Peaks," the highest points of the Wasach Mountains, are the first to be powdered over with the autumnal snow. When a black nimbus throws out these piles, with their tilted-up rock strata, jagged edges, black flanks, rugged brows, and bald heads gilt by a gleam of sunset, the whole stands boldly out with that phase of sublimity of which the sense of immensity is the principal element. Even in the clearest of weather they are rarely free from a fleecy cloud, the condensation of cold and humid air rolling up the heights and vanishing only to be renewed. The bench-land then attracted our attention. The soil is poor, * At first a canal was dug through the bench to bring this material: the gray granite now used for the Temple is transported in carts from the southern part of the valley. |