Show nois NOTES AND INCIDENTS OF AN ext EXCURSION IN washington COUNTY BY lly AN alf occasional correspondent DEAR EASY CHAIR 1 I dont mean harpers Easy Chair nor do I 1 see why there may not bihl bini binmore e more ore easy chairs than his hig do I 1 not notre re denber 11 you as one of the we oldest of old oid fashioned comfortable easy chairs not new ardd arid polished and be till one seems ditting sitting bitting on pins to sit down upon their fine cushions but a real old leather covered com fordable made to bemused chair w th here and there the varnish of youth knocked of ou by thee the of time and the world but sound bounri and strong of joint as when first wheeled up to the desk editorial years ago to mike make amends amenda for a long silence iet jet me otake take you out for tor a short nide ride tarbush wash I 1 ington county before you yon start from this place santa y nt clara C tara lara you may as well be told the cot coi country we bhan shan visit lies as nearly east from ua us as may be the course of the virgen river being due west and nd the settlements sett lemens being baing heing be ing on or near its ita banks binks suppose youself you self seated in a lumber ang ai old carriage with your most obedient with a andry adry wd adjuncts J uncas of travel in black shrouds to keep beep up an equilibrium cf ef temperature inside and arid out for fellow inside passenger igar outside for the top comes only half way over is james philetus P jones who laa has agreed for a certain consideration to carry us through and back and two patriae chal chai mules cropped in the ears and minus the bush of the caudle appendage 0 not gron groan swifter by kase of years yeara but we console ourselves wi h the sage reflection that safety is more than speed and time gives opportunity ity for observation leaving the pleasant little swiss town of santa clara we turn to the left and east passing the st george farms on the clara on our ri g lit ill A mile travel over a good road brings bings ui us to lava islava ridge this ridge which is about a quarter of a mile wide is formed most lyof lava which has at some day come boiling boll I 1 down from the crater of a now ex I 1 volcano roi cano some six miles to the north of as us thence up a iong long slope with occasion band sand two miles thence on a good road with down grade over which james P with the wagon assisting as asting manages to get considerable motion into crop pys legs to ST sr GEORGE st george is situated in a little valley farmed by the projecting ridges of two spurs of thie the pine valley mountain open to the south bouth and sloping do doan n to the river two miles from the site of the city and Js is watered from numerous springs that rise in the base of the low sand rock ock hlila Is on the north this is intended to be the local headquarters tersa la is neatly laid out in squares with streets crossing at richt night right angle and following the course of the best eat a reak of land takes an L shape a miniature salt lake city J the state house block being in st george the public square tithing office and tabernacle respectively E snows and 0 pratts residence etc etc standing at the public square and looking north a block that foundation and pile of rocks you see are intended for st georges hall the first building that is to be erected in the city for as yet although the city la Is laid off incorporated mayor and city council market places and provisions in the charter for lighting the streets with gas there are no houses all living in tents and wagons or under willow shades giving at once the idea of comfort in th tirs s hot climate combined with a very prudent economy gardens are generally well fenced with willows st george poles of which there is is a great supply on the CIara clara bottoms bt b toms four or five miles milea away abany many ot of the gardens look remarkably weilo wello well weil while numbers more are arc entirely destroyed by the mineral which covers covern them with a white mantl elike snow ID in winter oae one comin coming here in the night and look looking I 1 ng about next morning would almost be induced to believe that nature was playing prank pranks and sending a snow in summer to see th the ground about here the city is weli well supplied with building stone the hills to the north being one single sand stone for an area of two mires miles by three how much f urther further we say not which we traversed with james P in bearc search of 0 the mules and hence happen to know the water is of very indifferent not to say actually bad quality several wells have been dug 11 without bettering 0 the tho quality except ce in a slight coolness vinge vange range aa as george A says is extensive that is a long way off and a great distance between bunches of when the city waa was arai located here it was ex pecked there was land enough which could be irrigated irrig atal atel to sustain a large population atlon but in thit th it we have met with disappointment the river from which the water is to be taken being not swifter here than the jordan but little fall could be obtained for the irrigating ditch which though over four miles long will not when finished and it is now abandoned or this season surround more than three hundred acres of tolerably good land with perhaps half the amount of white sand more this with th some swamp land on the clara is all that can be depended on in ord nary seasons solinas sont sons as the clara does not commonly furnish more than enough water to irrigate the lands formerly occupied there Alea measures are being taken to sink an artesian well weil the machinery machine ry and part of theina thema the ina ma tenial is now here heie lt it is hoped may cay prave successful as it will it if successful I 1 bring into cultivation some come very good land landy which pow lies abote above the canal LeaVI leaving Dg st george over ovir in bummer summer time a good road in the wirter goin underground in two miles travel we ascend a steep hill to the summit of the ridge forming the eastern boundary of the valley to our right ia is the virgen ditch or canal cabaj beto before 1 re J spoken of and not far from under us st georges tunnel this ditch has bas been dug at an expense of u about but proved to be useless cpr api this t h is beas beason season on and until the outlet is i lowered then and up hill bill four miles to washington the county seat this place is situated on a low marshy piece of 0 ground about half a mile from the river is watered by springs one shade better than those at S george there is here the largest farming land in the county there being near two thousand acres that may be irrigated and much of it surrounded by a canal in successful working order As it lies from three to six bix miles milea away and on the opposite side of the river we wil wll not take the trouble to visit it but be content with wilh hearing that the crops are looking well I 1 the he town hab hag a sickly a auy aguy uy look and in the character of what tene ments there are shows that public patronage has been rather j I 1 niggardly in bestowing best owin its favors it Iti is to be I 1 hoped that a more enterprising spirit will prevail with the influx of new liew settlers and the county seat be what it should oa on over a hi high t h bench good road el eight ellit 0 lit miles to cottonwood a small settlement of soma some fifteen cami families e A clear stream of good water at which you slake your thirst which has been gro growing win 1 9 hotter and fiercer since leaving the clara and was only aggravated by the water at st george and washington citizens hayhow ever that it does not affect them so when they get used to it U up hill again over rocky road that neels nees meang mending six miles to GRAPE VINE sr SPRINGS RINGS he here e some ventures me boone has pitched his camp and commenced an opening but from scarcity of land water and grass or cause unknown has abandoned it about about here cove covering the sand hills of this region is abundance of scrubby cedar furnishing supplies of firewood etc for boquer ville three miles distant to ling over one of these sand ridges philetus ph cletus P suggests that humanity to the mules would indicate that we stretch our limbs going up ahulii hill 1 aba ana d points ints out a cut or off which wi w iu take us an pd i in more re directly to the summit while he goeb goes i I 1 round the tha sun son being but little past meridian and a cloudless sky we of florid complexion and abd obese abit habit ot of body and not naturally given t to 0 p des I 1 trian exercises would have demurred but the pointed manner of james arid and the obstinacy of who astl sturdily refused to go until his load was lighter left no alternative taking a little cometh ng we took the cut oin off but that walk over the scorching sands under a burning sun why need rehearse it the memory of it is burned ito i to our boots and told tola by oui oni oar blistered feet for james mi syed saed us at the junction sip s bip ip posed we were ahead a head and ani we were forced to take that three miles of sand on foot nothing a shall all ali ever convince us that it was not a conspiracy between james and to punish us for sundry disparaging remarks made about the fine points and speed of said patriarch however arriving here we are refreshed with a good cool bath go d water and something to comfort the inner man and having rested begin to feel more at peace with the world and especially philetus s who has in th mos most t a admirable d in man manner ner made mad e ample apol ogles for missing ua us and ana as we are half halt way having made mad esome some twenty miles or more today to day which is no small days travel in this couitt coultry cou atry ry let us rest here heie over night is a pleasant little lutle village of one street lined on either side with a fine growth of cottonwood shade trees situated on a bench plateau I 1 suppose of ash creek a tributary of or th the e virgen and about two miles from the latter li is watered by a never failing spring of good cold water capable of irrigating two bundred acres of land the ile soil is gravelly and of only medium qua lity but farm ianda landa to the village which compensates in part for the poverty of the soil as it t can more easily and cheaply be improved the soil I 1 is comparatively free florn mineral which abounds to such an extent in some other parts odthe of the county and molasses ses made here finds a readi er at pr arces ces of any lothe other othen P place 1 a e e arfa grapes p e s d do better here alsop aiso also standing well all winter without freezing after resting we were shown over the best garden in the place and saw a number of vines among other things literally borne down with fruit one now before us looks as though there might be a bushel basket full of fruit on it is only three years old from the cutting fact tact there is the voucher in the person of that little old gentleman who planted it with his own bands and do you yoa not see in every line oe of his bis face the most undoubted veracity noticeable here too in the same garden is a half acre of 0 inverne In cerne which yields this year at the rate of siw siz sisty aly aty tons ton of green feed per acre acte per ati ail annum nuin I 1 insert this lest you think I 1 am reckoning back bacic to the days of the deluge dont stare there is the rouche ani and ii 1 ia 16 determined by the anos most t accurate I 1 weight t and measurement hear again how pow this thu field yields dollars and cents part of this crop of grass is sold and counted cheap at that price for fifty cents per square rod each cutting now now arithmetic do your duty 1 rod at one acre rods ene one cutting 80 7 cuttings per annum voucher as above 1 come one gome tome all leave the barren valleys of the frigid north come to the fertile south for if toquerville admittedly the poorest soil cultivated in the county produces like that what may not the richer portions be made to yield cotton crop here is about an average of the county leaving toquerville you pass the farms of the catir citizens ens and discover a great diversity dl of amount in the product and are told when you ask whose is this piece of land this looks well oh so and bob soa aoa hes always in it 32 A standing comment on the slothful owner of the piece next to it which is not more than half as good A mile and you descend a steep rocky hill bearing testimony that the supervisor of roads is not a resident of these parts to a small stream oe of poor water thence up johnsons twist two miles here again we take to the road this time going goin first to make sure we shall abaft not be bi mib ed at the te summit thence over a high piece of table land full of bf ruts and ravines giving one an up and down motion like being in a small boat on a chop sea bea which A aich I 1 believe is the nautical term for it r to poc roc pocket rOCKET VILLE OR VIRGEN CITY this town has rather a poverty stricken ap bearance pe arance the principal ditch which was to have irrigated the upper town proved when too late to remedy rem edy it this season seabon to have been laid up hill an and d iva was consequently abandoned this seems to have infected the whole place with a sort of stagnation the mountains which have been gradually nearing here close down and we enter the kanyon of the virgen river and proc proceed easome sometimes on one side of the stream sometimes on the other the lands of this settlement lie on either side of the river those on the north or here on the road side are grown to weeds and thre is a prospect of but little crop on the other side they seem a little better three and ana a halt half miles of mi berame miserable rough road brings us to I 1 UN CANS RETREAT a little settlement of 0 six or eight families the wim fie U show good cultivation are abundantly covered noticing good piece of cotton which we at afterward t erward learned belonged to our ur friend F B woolley Woo iley llcy we were tempted to get over the fence and measure we found the green seed er or tennessee cotton four feet tall good measure the prize for the nest deat dest neat acre will be closely competed for by this settlement men mem t I 1 it not gained three miles more and across ther the rh herto er to the south side and we are at GR Arroy the principal settlement of the upper valley of 0 the virgen expected by the citizens to be a very thriving place abundance of range conveniently near plenty of wood bu building illing stone and other conven conveniences lenies with good land and plenty of water for mils mila etc as they will tell teil eil eli ell you tae the crops of corn here are unsurpassed in the country reminding one 0 of f the ich rich wabash bottoms cotton acles does we well weil ll 11 and the he bishop F IV young expects to carry off at least the second prize at the county fair or would if that institution had not postponed itself until another year inquiring for many to 40 be located here I 1 was somewhat amused by the answers iven given to ny my inquiries by a rilend friend who still remains where wheres A says we gone to the city B gone to th the c city ity for an loutfi C gone to the city to t rade trade with the f emigrants migrants D apostatized gone to the city E begged ot off gone to the city F gone to the city and so on through the list not more than half being here now who were at last spring C Cr raping 08 in 9 the river again a milea travel brings us to a town of one ink inh inhibit an the rest gone rone obe one to 0 o the city or elsewhere three miles more and we are at NORTHOP a settlement of four or five families their crops look as well and as forward as a any we have passed from this place carriage driving becomes not only vexatious I 1 buc bue unprofitable and dangerous we will leave it here and make the next four miles on foot to CREEK the end of our trip for to gohe yond this 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