| Show TO SAN JUANA JUAN-A Hard Road and a Hard Country A Land of Sand Sandstone Big Rivers Deep Canyons Little Water and Wild In tile Extreme On the 2J of May last we three of us left Salt Lake on R business trip to the new County of San Juan Arrived Ar-rived at Juab we experienced BOrne difficulty in getting transportation for ourselves and luggage to Richfield where our horses ana pack animals were Wo finally procured the services ser-vices of Mr Bertelseu of Monroe and reached Rocky Ford without accident ac-cident but all having partaken pretty freely of Jas Robbins liquid grub we became careless and the tehm was left with nose tacks on without being unhitched from the wagon They ran away and tipped the wagon over broke the wagon tongue and doubletrees and scattered our outfit over the prairie Then the fun began The professor with a chunk of bread and cheese in either hand slowly arose to his feet and ftirinc after the running horses with a most lugubrious countenance said Im dd if 1 dont believe theyre running away We finally got oar luggage together to-gether lashed the tongue etc and reached the ranch without further accident But wo did not stop laughing at the ludicrous remark of the professor that day After one weeks delay we started I again and took a trail near Gunnison leading directly across the hills for the head of Salinas Cation inteading tj strike Gooseberry Valley and Green River route but finding there was no feed nor water before reaching reach-ing Grand River we retraced our steps to Lost Creek and thence up and over to tha head of Grass Valley from there we next reached the ranch of Major Anderson where we were hospitably received From this place on the cast foik of the Sevier we worked hard to reach Eicalante Iron County where the real trouble commences We now enter a country called the Potato Valley Desert sixty miles from the Colorado River The wagon road runs through heavy sand and over deep washes and ravines the greater part ol the way and only leaves the sand to take to eolia sandstone mountains moun-tains Tne first watering place after leading lead-ing Edcalanto is called Tenmile Spring and it is necessary to dig into the sand to get enough water for camp use and that is strongly alkaline alka-line The next is Twentymile Spring and no bettor than the former in fact there ia no running stream until the Colorado River is reached sixty miles from Escalante the springs are simply the seepage from alkali beds and the water is bitter Travelers should be well supplied sup-plied with Jamaica ginger who intend traveling over tia route On coming in sight of the Colorado River we find ovrselves situated on tne summit of a precipice some 1500 or 2000 feet above the water The road enters the top of a crevasse or I split in tho lock extending to the river below which baa been hewn wide enouctl at the bottom to admit of the passage of a common wagon yet the hubs almost touch on either tide This is called Hole in the Rocks and is eo steep that it take an average horse team 180 pulls to haul an empty wagon from the river to the topa distance of but three quarters of a mile Yet the ferryman ferry-man told us very nonchalantly that a right good team cculd do it in i eighty pulls So much for Hole in t e Rock The ferry is very good yet tner being but one man m charge travelers ers are required to aseist in towing the beat to the starting point and in rowing across the river Mr iIlI the proprietor is a very painstaking and accommodating gentleman and has done and is still doing everything in his power to assist and advance the interests of travelers In crossing the river we had just about reached I the middle of the stream when a gust of wind came down Powells Canon and added the swilt I to current carried car-ried us away below the landing place J and caused us to think we would have an unwelcome opportunity of explor ing the Grand Carlos of the Colorado Fortunately in rounding a bend in the river one of the party caught an overhanging willow and wrapping it quickly around an oarlock and eflec tually snubbed her to the bank Alter effecting a landing of the horses and trape we helped to tow the boat up stream and row back to the north side when the ferryman returned us to our horses in a skiff Leaving the river we ascend more gradually bat much higher than the north side Then comes tho longest ride without water thirty miles and over the roughest country on the entire route passing over tbe top of mountains of solid baro rock on which the road can only ba trace1 by the light blue marks male by the wagon tires then into gulches filed with sand where horsea sink almost to their knees and bills to steep that animals are either slipping and scratching to get up or sliding on their haunches down We finally came to an encampment of wagon en routs for Texas They were eght miles from the ferry and had been three days and a half in making that distance and had to send back tbe animaL to the river every eight for water The Lake an oasis in the desert thirty miles out ia the next water I It is about COO yards long by 400 yarda wide depth unknown and situated between precipices of bare rocks which extend downward into the char water as far as the eye cane can-e There is no visible inltt or outlet out-let We saw a fish which appeared Ito I-to be aa large as a man in the lake A beautiful view of tbo San Juan River on the south and tho Canon of the Colorado on tbe north is had about fifteen miles out from the ferry Riding along a level plateau we came suddenly to the brink of a precipice and far below running tnrough a reeky gorge was the San Juan in plain sight We were almost choking with thirst and yet that water might have been hundreds of rnilea array for all the good we ould derive from itit was utterly impossible to descend to it Someone Some-one Enid a bird could not fly down to it Eighteen miea from tbo Ipko l is i Willow Spring Good water but not much of IL Heavy sand all the way but not such steep climbing From Willow Springs water is to be found in tanks in the rocks every few miles but one must be on the lookout I to find them and in some a long rope is needed to draw the fluid out We are now entering tbo Cedars the best part of the road on the route For thirty miles with the exception of a few fine clearings one cannot see fifty yards from tho road in any direction on account cf the density ol the forest of pitch pine and cedar About eightyfive miles from the Colorado in a southeasterly direction from tho ferry is Grand Gulch with water tank and now after having crossed we travel in a soutbesterly directon anout forty miles to the San Juan River When we first seethe see-the river the view is beautiful It is i about 50 yarda wide and comes rushing down around a rocky point th n takes a gradual curve to the left and pours into a chasm with I perpendicular rocks hundreds and I hundreds of feet high on either side There aro a few cottonwood trees along the banks above this point We now have to pass over a very high point called Comb Mountain and travel northeast again to get around a deep gulch called I believe be-lieve Butlers Gulch and then turning turn-ing southeast reach the San Juan River again about two miles from Smith Silas S lower oamp or Bluff City aa some call it From here east aa far as tbe state 1 no of Colorado the river runs through what may be called a box canon high clifla of rock on each side The valley will average about threequarters of a mile in width There is no timber but cottonwood and the toil ia nothing but sand Such wheat and corn as had been put in was poor and backward the people peo-ple were out of provisions boots and shoes etc but we saw a train with four tons at flour on the road to them It is really a forsaken piece oi country not fit for white men to live in QLd a number of men and womet who had gone there told us they stopped there because they could not get back It was their intention togo to-go farther but they could not not hiving tbe means The nearest timber to tbe settlement settle-ment is about seventy miles distant and that is dangerous to get et on account of Indians On June Slat we saw a few Nave sat s-at tho lower camp trading they eeerrcd friendly enough The settlers live in wagon boxes tents and brush boweries We saw but four houses m course of erection on the river Ants and scorpions abound It is a hard road worse than the loner routeand should only be attempted in the early spring or late fall month when it ia tbo rainy season At the fail of Juno tho grass had dried up aud there was scarcely water enough for five animals ani-mals M D |
