Chapter 38

38.

Plan of the Salt Lake expedition Great sandy deserts Sufferings

from thirst Ogden's River Trails and smoke of lurking

savages Thefts at night A trapper's revenge Alarms of a guilty

conscience A murderous victory Californian mountains Plains

along the Pacific Arrival at Monterey Account of the place and

neighborhood Lower California Its extent The

Peninsula Soil Climate Production Its settlements by the

Jesuits Their sway over the Indians Their expulsion Ruins of a

missionary establishment Sublime scenery Upper

California Missions Their power and policy Resources of the

country Designs of foreign nations

IT WAS ON THE 24TH of July, in the preceding year (1833), that

the brigade of forty men set out from Green River valley, to

explore the Great Salt Lake. They were to make the complete

circuit of it, trapping on all the streams which should fall in

their way, and to keep journals and make charts, calculated to

impart a knowledge of the lake and the surrounding country. All

the resources of Captain Bonneville had been tasked to fit out

this favorite expedition. The country lying to the southwest of

the mountains, and ranging down to California, was as yet almost

unknown; being out of the buffalo range, it was untraversed by

the trapper, who preferred those parts of the wilderness where

the roaming herds of that species of animal gave him

comparatively an abundant and luxurious life. Still it was said

the deer, the elk, and the bighorn were to be found there, so

that, with a little diligence and economy, there was no danger of

lacking food. As a precaution, however, the party halted on Bear

River and hunted for a few days, until they had laid in a supply

of dried buffalo meat and venison; they then passed by the head

waters of the Cassie River, and soon found themselves launched on

an immense sandy desert. Southwardly, on their left, they beheld

the Great Salt Lake, spread out like a sea, but they found no

stream running into it. A desert extended around them, and

stretched to the southwest, as far as the eye could reach,

rivalling the deserts of Asia and Africa in sterility. There was

neither tree, nor herbage, nor spring, nor pool, nor running

stream, nothing but parched wastes of sand, where horse and rider

were in danger of perishing.

Their sufferings, at length, became so great that they abandoned

their intended course, and made towards a range of snowy

mountains, brightening in the north, where they hoped to find

water. After a time, they came upon a small stream leading