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MAY 15th. On rising this morning I found a snow storm raging on the mountains;
in the valley it was raining, and the temperature 38, cold enough to make great coats
desirable. We left camp at 8 o'clock, and after travelling ten miles, crossed a fine
stream of water called Meadow Creek, banked with willows; two miles further we crossed
another rivulet, also fringed with willows and a few cottonwood trees.
The soil in Parvain Valley is rich and highly productive; the earth is covered with
parterres of beautiful wild flowers, which are quite refreshing to the eye, contrasted
with the snowy mountains all round us.
At 6 o'clock we camped on Corn Creek, 33 miles from Fillmore City; this is the only
water from Meadow Creek, a distance of twenty-one miles.
The whole country in this neighborhood is of volcanic origin. Black cinders abound on
the mountains, and a kind of grey pumice stone is found in the valleys. Sulphur in large
quantities lies on the open ground in the ravines.
Mountains of pure solid transparent rocksalt rear their majestic heads in Juab Valley,
a few miles south.
16th. Wakara, the Utah chief, one of the Indians who accompanied us, informed me
that a few miles from our present camp there was a most extraordinary vinegar lake, where
all bad spirits dwell; a place where a living animal never was seen, and near which there
was no vegetation. Our interpreter told me he had heard before of such a lake, but he
placed no faith in it. Wakara said he would go along and show us the place. Being anxious
and determined to explore, and make some discovery which might benefit science, if any was
to be made on this journey, I induced several Mormons to make up a party sufficiently
large to insure us against an Indian surprise. The next morning we left the main trail,
and proceeded about two miles in an easterly direction towards the base of the Warsatch
range. Our path was covered with large quantities of obsidian, and presented every
indication that the lake we were approaching was of volcanic origin. Before the lake was
in sight, the atmosphere gradually became unpleasant to inhale, leaving a sulphurous taste
on your palate. The approach to the lake was, for the last five hundred yards, over
limestone rock, carbonized evidently from great heat, at some remote period. The air was
greatly charged with sulphuric hydrogen gas, which caused me to feel an inclination to
vomit. It affected the rest of the party in a similar manner. Being determined to examine
further, we descended the lime formation for about one hundred feet; this brought us
immediately on the spot. Its appearance indicated from the character of the surrounding
country, that it evidently had been a lake; it now looked like the dry bed of what was
once a lake. The surface was covered with an efflorescence to the depth of a foot, more
solid, however, as you dig into it, composed of impure alum, and most probably formed by
the action of sulphuric acid on feldspathic rock.
Further towards the base of the mountain which bounded it on the east side, I found
large quantities of pure crystalized alum, and also pure sulphur. The efflorescence which
covers the lake, might be composed by the spontaneous evaporation of a mixture of sulphate
of iron, and tersulphate of alumina, excess of sulphuric acid being present.
We with great caution commenced to walk over this surface, and discovered that it
undulated with the weight of our bodies. I felt as if walking on thin ice, which bent,
without breaking beneath my weight. As we approached the centre, we heard a roaring, which
our Indian said was caused from "big fire below." I put my ear close to the
earth, and was almost sure it proceeded from the escape of either gas or the passage of
water. With a pickaxe, brought for exploring purposes, an orifice about a foot in diameter
was dug. The axe was suddenly driven through, when a yellow, muddy liquid gushed forth in
a continued stream. I tasted the liquid, when to my surprise, it was a strong acid, which
immediately set my teeth on edge. Sulphuric acid in large proportions was present; this
crust of over a mile in diameter, was resting on the surface of this immense body of
diluted sulphuric acid. Oxide of iron in large quantities is to be found cropping out of
the base of the mountains; sulphur in large quantities is also present. These materials,
acted upon by volcanic heat, will produce a white powder, which partakes of the character
of the substance, forming the covering to the lake. In the neighborhood of some volcanoes,
sulphuric acid is found impregnated with lime and baryta, both of which are abundant on
the margins of this wonderful lake. The roaring is evidently produced by the force of the
liquid through some subterranean cavern; over this vast field of efflorescent sulphate of
oxide of iron, there are no signs of vegetation.
On the mountains, and towards its southern boundary, some few Norway pines and cedars
grow. The sulphuretted hydrogen gas which impregnates the atmosphere, prevents birds or
animals from inhabiting or resorting near its neighborhood. This gas I judge to be
generated by the action of diluted sulphuric acid, on proto-sulphate of iron, all which
ingredients are to be found here. Feeling ill effects from inspiring this gas, I finished
my examinations quickly, and sought a purer atmosphere. I made a drawing of the lake, and
surrounding mountains. This extraordinary place had probably never before been examined by
a white man. None of the many Mormons who were present, and to whom I related the
particulars, ever explored it. It lies directly at the base of the Warsatch Mountains, in
about 38º 26' latitude, and the same longitude as Fillmore City, and nearly 35 miles
south of it. We rejoined our caravan at their noon camp.
About one o'clock we resumed our ride, and after a gentle ascent through a beautiful
pass in the mountains, we emerged into a large and fertile valley called "Beaver
Valley." We camped on Beaver River, thirty miles from Corn Creek. This stream is
twenty-five feet wide, and two feet deep at the crossing; it rises and sinks alternately
to the Seveir Lake, into which it empties. Only small willows grow on its banks. Beaver
River abounds in wild ducks, snipe, and other water-fowl.
17th.—This morning, at daylight, there was a severe frost—water froze in
camp half an inch thick. We left camp at half past seven, and after a drive of six hours,
the caravan camped on Little Creek cañon—the pass through which Lieut. Beale entered
Little Salt Lake Valley, a few months previously.
We harnessed up again, and in an hour crossed the trail which Col. Fremont and our
party made on entering this valley from the Warsatch mountains, on the 6th of February
preceding. Under what different circumstances I travelled the same road at that time! When
I turned to survey the snowy mountains among which we had suffered so much, and from the
dangers of which we had been so miraculously preserved, tears involuntarily flowed from my
eyes—I was completely overcome.
I made a drawing of this pass, and also of Lieut. Beale's.
On Red Creek cañon, six miles north of Parowan there are very massive, abrupt granite
rocks, which rise perpendicularly out of the valley to the height of many hundred feet. On
the surface of many of them, apparently engraved with some steel instrument, to the depth
of an inch, are numerous hieroglyphics, representing the human hand and foot, horses,
dogs, rabbits, birds, and also a sort of zodiac. These engravings present the same
time-worn appearance as the rest of the rocks; the most elaborately engraved figures were
thirty feet from the ground. I had to clamber up the rocks to make a drawing of them.
These engravings evidently display prolonged and continued labor, and I judge them to have
been executed by a different class of persons than the Indians, who now inhabit these
valleys and mountainsages seem to have passed since they were done.
When we take into consideration the compact nature of the blue granite and the depth of
the engravings, years must have been spent in their execution. For what purpose were they
made? and by whom, and at what period of time? It seems physically impossible that those I
have mentioned as being thirty feet from the valley, could have been worked in the present
position of the rocks. Some great convulsion of nature may have thrown them up as they now
are. Some of the figures are as large as life, many of them about one-fourth size.
On Red Creek cañon, a mile further down the valley, there are the remains of a town,
built of adobes; ancient articles of housekeeping have been found there. These remains
were remarked by the first "Mormons" who came in the valley. Indians never live
in adobe houses; their lodges are always of umbrageous foliage, or skins of animals.
As soon as our party were descried from the observatory at Parowan, the authorities of
the town, and numbers of other gentlemen, came out to welcome the arrival of his
excellency, Governor Young; and I never could have imagined the deep idolatry with which
he is almost worshipped. There is no aristocracy or presuming upon position about the
Governor; he is emphatically one of the people; the boys call him Brother Brigham, and the
elders also call him Brother Brigham They place implicit confidence in him, and if he were
to say he wanted a mountain cut through, instantly every man capable of bearing a pick-axe
would commence the work, without asking any questions, or entertaining expectation of
payment for services.
We entered Parowan about five o'clock. I was affectionately greeted by those persons
who administered to my sufferings some few weeks before. I had changed so much, and grown
so fat, that not one of them knew me.
Mrs. Heap, my old landlady, could not believe I was the ugly, emaciated person whose
face she washed only three months before.
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