out disaster, the obstacle we most feared, and started
down the rough canon, hope revived, and we felt we should get through.
After winding around among the great boulders for a little while we came
to the two horses we had left behind, both dead and near together. We
pointed to the carcasses, and told them those were the horses we brought
for the women to ride, and that is the way they were cheated out of
their passage. The bodies of the animals had not been touched by bird or
beast. The canon was too deep and dark for either wolves or buzzards to
enter, and nothing alive had been seen by us in the shape of wild game
of any sort. Firearms were useless here except for defence against
Indians, and we expected no real trouble from them.

From what we could see, it was my opinion that no general rain ever fell
in that region. There was some evidence that water had at times flowed
down them freely after cloud bursts, or some sudden tempest, but the
gravel was so little worn that it gave no evidence of much of a stream.

We hurried on as rapidly as possible so as to get into the Jayhawker's
beaten trail which would be a little easier to follow. When we reached
the lowest part of the valley we had to turn south to get around a
little, slow running stream of salt water, that moved north and emptied
into a Salt Lake. No source of the stream could be seen from this point,
but when we reached a point where we could cross, we had a smooth, hard
clay bed to march over. It seemed to have been, some day, a bed of
mortar, but now baked hard, and the hoofs of the oxen dented into it no
more than half an inch. On our left hand was a perpendicular cliff,
along which we traveled for quite a little way. The range of mountains
now before us to cross was black, nothing but rocks, and extremely
barren, having no water in it that we knew of, so when we reached the
summit we camped, tied all our animals to rocks, where they lay down and
did not rise till morning. The women were so tired they were over two
hours late, and we had the fire built, the soup cooked and the beds
made. As we did not stop at noon all were very hungry, and ate with a
relish. The poor animals had to go without either grass or water. When
Old Crump and the party came in the men were carrying the babies, and
their wives were clinging to their arms, scarcely able to stand. When
they reached the beds they fell at full length on them, saying their
feet and limbs ached like the