Whenever the cry of a rich find is raised, it goes like wild-fire through the mountain-towns, and often far out, and people rush like maniacs to the scene—some to mine, some to haul, etc. Whether the alarm is true or false, numbers arrive at the scene. There are persons having good teams watching these breaks, and as soon as the first cry is raised they load their wagons with tobaccos, liquors, flour, feed, shoes, blankets, etc., etc., and hastening to the ground they cut down some pines and stake off a claim, and build a little store-house. They get their own prices for goods; and should the cry be false, he can easily sell out to persons who come to see; but should the find be rich, he has his store-house where he can make his fortune. Besides, the vein might run under his very claim. Persons are making fortunes at this to-day; and Leadville is an example. Persons who staked off their little claims among the trees on the mountain-side when the discovery was first made, can to-day count their wealth in large pieces of silver and gold.
Park City is forty miles from Salt Lake; and anxious to see the great historical valley, as well as the home of a people who are the world’s curiosity, we pulled out in that direction.
CHAPTER III.
View of Salt Lake Valley and City—Tabernacle—History of the Mormons—Joe Smith—Came to Kirtland, Ohio—Brigham Young Converted—Located at Independence, Missouri—Located at Nauvoo, Illinois—Joe and Hiram Smith Killed—Emigrated to Council Bluffs—Came to Salt Lake—Trouble with the Government—Mormon Theology.
Winding down a deep gulch, through which runs a mountain-stream, we came out upon the plateau that overlooks the great Salt Lake Valley from the south. It is a scene of rare natural beauty. Beyond and across, the plain spreads out from five to ten miles, with pretty farm-houses and herds of cattle. To the north it was lost in the dim distance,—the whole flat almost as a floor and sparkling with irrigating canals, and walled upon either side by hills that mount to the snow-line, and out from which flow the cool, sparkling waters that make this once-desert valley blossom under the hand of industry.
The city, but a short way to the north, is regularly and handsomely laid out, with many fine buildings, and is filled with thick gardens of trees and flowers that give it a fairy-land aspect. No internal city of the continent lies in such a field of beauty.
Water is conveyed from a mountain-stream down to the city by a canal; and bright, sparkling pools course freely and constantly down its paved gutters upon either side of every street, keeping the shade-trees alive and growing, supplying drink for animals and water for household purposes, and delightfully cooling the summer-air.
The trees, at the proper season, are almost always loaded with the finest fruit; and the soil is favorable to the small grains. Forty and fifty bushels of wheat to the acre is an ordinary crop; and it is said that over ninety bushels have been raised.
No one seems poor. No beggar is seen in the streets. No prostitute lives here; and there are but few saloons in town. When a drunken man is seen, he is almost invariably a miner or a soldier. The people are far more civil and quiet than is usual in these western parts.
Great Salt Lake is a very great curiosity. It is about one hundred and forty miles long and from seventy to eighty wide, and is a vast collection of brine. The water seems to be saturated with salt to its utmost capacity of holding it in solution, indicating the neighborhood of great deposits of mineral salt. Where the wind dashes the water upon the beach the salt collects in such quantities as to be conveniently shoveled into carts for domestic use. It is also procured by evaporation—five bucketfuls of water leaving one of salt.