s the principal stream that empties into
GREAT SALT LAKE. Thence they returned to Green River, where they found
some Trappers under the command of Mr. Sinclair, who left New Mexico
soon after Mr. Fitzpatrick's party and had wintered on the Bear River.
Among many other facts, they learned from this party that Captain
Gaunt, who was an old mountaineer well known to most of the whites
present, had passed the winter on the Laramie River, and that he
was then with his men in the New Park. Kit Carson and four of his
companions determined to join him. For this purpose they started, and,
after ten days of steady travel, found his party.

There are two of these natural Parks in the Rocky Mountains. To
distinguish them they are called the Old Park and the New Park. As
their names imply, they are fair natural examples of the manufactured
parks of civilization. In some things nature has lavished upon them
charms and beauties which no human skill can imitate. These parks are
favorite haunts of the deer, antelope and elk, while the streams which
run through them are well stocked with otter and beaver. Kit and
his companions were graciously received by Gaunt; and, with him they
trapped the streams in the vicinity of the New Park and the plains of
Laramie to the South fork of the Platte. Having finished here, they
left for the Arkansas, remaining there while their captain went to
Taos to dispose of their stock of furs and to make such purchases of
necessaries as the men required. Gaunt returned after an absence of
two months; when, trapping operations were resumed on the Arkansas
River, which they trapped until it froze over. The party then went
into Winter Quarters.

The business of trapping for beaver is no child's play. A person
unaccustomed to it may possibly look upon it as no very difficult
task. A single trial is usually sufficient to satisfy the uninitiated
on this point; for, the beaver, above all other wild animals of
America is endowed with an extraordinary amount of instinct. His
handiwork and habits sufficiently attest this.

There are bands of Indians living in the Northwestern part of America
who really believe that the beaver has almost as much intelligence as
an Indian, holding and maintaining that all the difference that exists
between a beaver and an Indian, is, that the latter has been endowed
by the Great Spirit with power and capabilities to catch the former.
Some of the stories which old mountaineers occasiona