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Show - de 1 , THE DESERET NEWS, SATURDAY, RIQHA 9, 1939. Church Deportment 0HUNG....,-,7..cié..--'..i;C:Old.rjiizb- from Page Four) (Continued DECEMBER , ' to where it joins the Santa Clara near the present city of Saint George, arriving there on the first day of MO, 'Two days earlier three Indians had joined them and were at. this time serving as guides.- On the ,Nrirgiq the explorers passed a small' farm where some stalks of corn, squashes, and In the morning we found ourselves .so corn pletely buried in snow that no one could, dis.tinguish the place where we lay. Someone ris'rig, began shóveling the others out. This being Exploring parties were to be sent out for ten of the camp days trips, but no more than ' Were to be gone at one time found too tedious a business' , I raised my voice --Under the personal direction of &Arley P. Pratt, like a trumpet, and commanded them to arise; s were gr6wing, but the Indians had dewhen atrat once there was a shaking among e twenty men on horseback with pack animals left - the camiiOn Rea Creek December 26 for serted the When reached the snow piles, the graves were opened, and all Indian the place. they the pur on the Santa Clara, they found good irrigatcame forth! We called this Resurrection Camp. village pose of continuing their exploration to the Rio Vir- January 27. Our provisions being nearly ed crops of corn, pumpkins and squash. The vil gill, Not many miles distant they passed Big lage was composed almost entirely of men, the ! exhausted, Chauncey 'West and myself volun- - Creek (Center Creek, the present site of Parowan.) en and children having been sold to the Spdhiards. teered to take some of the strongest animals ' ' ( I ' and try to penetrate to Provo,'which was still They were highIy pleased with the natural resourc- - (13a). some fifty miles distant, in order to send back 4 es of this particular part of the valley, notinl in Upon learning from the Indians the unpromis; d 'some detail the the provisions to the remainder, who were to folexplorers black soil, . . . ing character of the country beyond, 9 "iich meadows-anlow ;slowly. Clara 'r Santa the northward travel up to determined 1 the inexhaustible stores of lofty pine, of any desir- We started at daylight, breaking the way and return to the camp in the Little Salt Lake Val. . quarries of free sand and limestone .on foot, leading the mules in our track, and 4 ley- Four days later they ascended the rim of the a (which) abound in the neighborhood All these Basin and camped in a valley subsequently sometimes riding them. Traveted all ,day, i afford excellent nriltsites." Two or three Mountain Meadows. January 7 they entered the in snow. Camped at eraging about Par;. t miles eleven at night on Summit Creek, extremely beyond that, they came to the south outlet of southern extremityof Little Salt Ike Valley. .' hungry and feet badly frozen. We built a small Little Salt Lake Valley and entered into a more ley P. Pratt and Dan Jones proceeded ahead of the to Fullmer's camp, which had fire, it being the coldest night we had ever exthat company night extensive one, running to the southwest They , moved from Red Creek to Center Creek (Parowan.) perienced, (18) and after trying in vain to thaw Spent two days exploring it. Part of the detailed out our frozen shoes, stockings and the bottoms A celebration next dax welcomed the pack of our drawers and pants, we- rolled ourselves the dinner, Pratt offered the following At liescription which they wrote .appears here: train. -- in our blankets and lay trembling with cold a toast: "May this, the 8th of January be kept as Left the road and camped on Muddy Creek a city of the of I , few hours. of the founding the of banks On anniversary the Cedar of City.) (present site which will hereafter be ' Lake Salt Little Valley January 28. Arose long before.day; bit a considera is , which for several miles down, t few mouthfuls otf the last frozen biscuit rebuilt7-- (14) I able- quantity of scattering cottonwoods; some g . maining. Saddled tip our animals, and after While Pratt and his companions were expro-rin! on large ones. Traveled twelve miles, good feed. another laborious day, living on a piece of bisthe Dixie country, those left at Fullmer's camp Below is a handsome, expansive plain of very cuit not so large as our fist, we entered Provo Center Creek obtained a thorough knowledge of 4 at dark; raised a posse of men and naimals, with and the of Lake canyons overflowedwire rich Salt adjacent Little Valley consisting land, partly a e J Provisions,' and sent back same night (10) quantities mountains. large and was which all of it meadows, judged ' grass were so ore. iron rich and timber They of excellent The posse sent out by Pratt found one of the might be drained and cultivated, using the 1 pleased with the valley that they regretted to leave exploring party, a man named Taylor, who had water on the higher levels Other portions of it. Isaac C. Haight expressed himself as follows: wandered off ahead of the rest, about eight miles t this plain are dry and level, delightful for the tomorsouth of Provo. He was lying in the snow in a helpfor home start to are We preparing 1 iabas less it condition with his horse standing by him. He plough and clothed with rich meadow grass, with I this leave row. shall regret, place 1 lived, but lost the use of his limbs. The remainder bit weed, etc. The soil was mostly a rich blacl is one of the most lovely places in the Great of the company left behind Were found in the southI Basin. On the east there are high towering loam. These meadows are two or three miles ern end of Utah Valley about twenty miles south of and forests twento ten covered with mountains evergreen to extend from wide Provo. They were entirely without food. The ex from creeks ' most beautiful . . one of . the running in ! length. ty miles I- ploring party arrived at Fort Utah on January 31, them. On the west and north there is a large On the southwestern borders of this valley a at Salt Lake City February 2, 1850, without and and most beautiful land, beyond of the i valley are thousands of acres of cedar, constituting an ' all of loss of any life They had traveled seven hunthe eternal with snow; hills covered of which range 1 almost Inexhaustible supply of fuel, dred miles and all of the trip had been during sewhich contribute to beautify the scenery, and makes excellent coal. In the center of these for- vere winter weather. The members of the corn-- while the clouds hang heavily on the mountains ests rises a hill of the richest iron ore. The 4 Chalk Creek with the wagons the are and pany who were left-astorms and the raging, tempests of wealth and mineral I water, soil, fuel, timber oxen wintered themselves and cattle very well. and a beautiful (15) serenity. was enjoys valley it Lake Salt Little judged, and this valleys, I The following day the entire company began They arrived at Salt Lake safely the following were capable of sustaining and employing from March. t would which difficult of the all journey toward home, this time travel,50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants, The reports of the Southern Exploring Company have these resources more conveniently- situat- ing through the valleys parallel to those by which sur..under the direction of Parley P. Pratt were of the thd country ': ed than any other settlements the company had they had come. They pronounced most set4 vital a for excellent an Creek significance in helping to determine Beaver States. of (12) place the seen west rounding ' con-- I where colonies should be established. Within the and 15 to snow fall, tlement. began January the explorContinuing their journey southward, next ten years President Young had sent out coloers crossed a summit and then descended into a tinued falling for three or four days. At Meadow snow nists to practicallyeverysite recommended by the - Creek in Pauvan a foot of on the 1 lah, Valley country where the climate was distinctly changed. '. Latter-daof the expedition. on two feet report it one fell Saints were deep making Withnight, Basin. during of Great crossed the rim had the their to hdmes on able were several building of the best sites The level. following day they a distance of less than fifty miles,- from the-t- hen travel only ten miles to Chalk Creek (the present within the next two or three years. Only six Of the Basin to the junction of the Santa Clara , of Fillmore.) Because of the depth of the Snow, months had passed after the return of Pratt's cornsite over three elevation and the ; Virgin rivers, dropped pany before brother Brigham and his counselors was impossible to continue farther with the. wag.thousand feet. There was no snow, for the climate it had made definite arrangements to establish a colto winter into forced was go the iiTiw company ons, in what warm and springlike. They were in. Little Salt Lake Valley on Center Creek ony Pratt'e journal Apostle camp on Chalk Creek. was later named "Utah Dixie." The country ex; 4 A year later the place where Pratt's (ParowarL) states: ; hibited an extremely barren appearance, but where wintered on Chalk Creek in Pauvan wagon group . . . a We held council, was and six there was vegetation, the grass Snowing severely green o Valley was selected as the site upon which to build would our and only7susthat and Inches provisions cactus, pears, high. "Prickly finding mastqual, 1 Fillmore, the first capital city of the Territory of lain half of our company till spring, and tray, tamimump, a. wood used by the Indians as a sub- Utah. de-- we was the with for with 1 impossible, wagons tobacco," intermingled greasewood eling atitute 1. Latter-daSaint Journal History, MS., Novem- cided upon leaving half the company to winter and sage, were typical of tbe,vegetation. The scouts ber 23, 1849. , and '", were not very highly pleased with The appearance there with the wagons cattle, and the other 2. Isaac C. Haight, Journal. MS., November 9, 1349. ,c 3. Latter-daof this Dixie country.. The camp historian wrote: half, with some of the strongest mules and hors- Saint Journal History, Ma, November 27, 1849. southern es, should attempt to reach Provo-t- he December 30 , . . Passed througli scatter- 4. A few months later frontier-dista- nce Springville was established upwards of one hundred i ' ing cedars and over a rugged, stony, sandy, al- there. were The remained miles. that company in most indescribable thrown country; together 5. Ibid., November 28, 29, 1849. i ly young men without families. My counselor confusion and remindink one of the 6. Ibid., December 6, 1849. , 1 in command. David (16) 7. Fullmer, being placed Ibid., December 12, 1849. country near the South Pass and the Sandy, 8. Ibid., December 15, 1849. January 22, Pratt with a company of about It only a hundred times worse. The passes were 9. Jbid., December 16, 1849. twenty men and animals left the main camp on very bad; indeed it seemed impossible for a wagIt. Ibid., December 1849. -. . . Chalk Creek and started for Provo- That day they' on road to be the 1 11. Ibid., December 23 1849. made nine miles, camping at night on the spot 'A wide expanse of chaotic matter presented 1 12. Latter-daSaint Journal History, MS., Decem- ber 1849. Within less than a where Holden was subsequently built. The follow Itself, consisting of huge hills, sandy deserts, i year after the exforward through snow three ploration of this section of the country, President BrigcheerlesS, grassless plains, perpendicular rocks, day ing pushed they ham sent George A. Smith with a group of to four feet deep on the level. It was necessary for SaintsYoung loose barren clay, dissolving beds of sandstone to establish a colony there. The colonists left men to g9 ahead on foot and break the trail, while Provo on December and various other elements, lying in inconceiv- , 15, 1850, and arrived in Little Salt 1 disAs one in it followed track. a in the entire company. able confusion-- in short, country Lake Valley on January 13, 1851. This settlement was ruins, ' ; direct outgrowth of the previous year's exploring exsnowed all day , the travelers could see the course solved by the peltings of the storms of ages, or r turned inside out, upside down, - by terrible-,con- only at intervals so they sk their course by a gap pedition. 13. Ibid., December 30, 31, 1849. in the mountains which they took to be the pass. in some former age.- Eastward- the 13a. Within about four years the Mormon Colonizbounded by vast tables of mountains, (17) They made only nine or ten miles under these er to began pettl,ernerits:irt the, IT promising a, '''i leVkl ektiernelY"Illfrialt condons. They, camped at Dix te country:estab,lish above another and presentilik 'firs14 sending missionaries to the Inat the horizon, as if the whole country night on a mountain pass (Scipio Ridge) on almost dians on the Santa Clara in 18il years later. . had once occupied a certain level several thou- , the exact spot where Father Escalante.had camped large groups of colonists were ,kt..!,k.f:w to develop industries such as cotton. in MG. The next two days they traveled from sand feet higher than its present, and had been i 14. John' Brown, Journal, MS., to of about four miles the south January 8, 1850. or the Scipio Ridge sunk, leaving ridge washed away, dissolved, 15. Isaac Haight, Journal, MS., January 9 1850.the Sevier River. Several of the animals gave out monuments of its once exalted level, smooth 16. Parley p.ePratt Journal, MS.. January 31, 1850.and of feed were Round lack of in left as was the because 17. John Br.own, Journal, MS., surface. Poor and worthless fertile and 1850.. 22, January I. lg. Isaac C. Haight's Journal states that the weath- Valley (now Scipio.) Snow was still falling. On, , the country it seemed everywhere strewed with er was zero on the morning of below thirty degrees the morning of January 26,' while encamped four and striped with tin broken pottery, 28. January ' of P. in wrote the Pratt miles Sevier, south Parley fadinrcolors. (13) 19. Parley P. Pratt- Journal, Ma, January The company traveled clovvn the Virgin River his journal: ty, one-hal- f - - -- grape-vine- -- - - , wo-m- -- -- , 2 14 , ": able-size,- -. named--.strea- . knee-dee- p . , ,k 1 - . . . ',; , - - - ed They-discover- - - . - . ancl-iPpear- .- 14' , A t - - . . i' y iIn - Iwas - y . - most-dreadf- , -. ,g . - - 4.4 17-2- ry coil-II-t- made-throug- y -- 28-2- 9, : ! a- - , Ivulsions i . semi-tropic- - - . . well-glaze- - -- . 26-2- -- - |