| Show 5 r i ihl the 1 F t june jane ah 1863 editor deseret e t aws jueus dear bro having j from the muddy vh whither ither ithen J I 1 venton a visiting and preaching prea plea ehing ching to tour ur in ift c company Y w with ith elders eiders hacob jacob gates and richard homei homel I 1 ro pose giving a description of the coubry cou nry with ltd its advantages and rind disadvantages as I 1 view it ii i i THE T this thia is stream has its name from the fact of there being a low alkali swamp on th elst ehst east side of the creek where the california road crosses which is bad to cross weather but the creek is clear and very good water with the exception of being too warm for pleasant drinking the stream has its source in a number of springs that rise in a b beautiful valley of someone some one thousand aclei aeres acres and I 1 lows flows to the bio blo rio elo virgin a distance of about thirty miles in a southeast south bouth east ear by east course there ar are ethree three valleys on the Muddy the first or upper one being almost circular and perhaps two miles long by about one and a half ahall miles wide the upper end of this valley is full of springs which come together towards the lower end and make the muddy some of these springs send out beautiful cold water while others are warm war enough for dishwashing this upper valley is not well adapted for farming purposes unless berh perhaps 9 for raising hay for which it would do 0 very well but for dairy purposes it is not surpassed by any thing I 1 have seen in the mountains the many little brooks running through it keep the grass green all the year round there are no indian farms in it except a small patch in the narrows at thu thi foot of the valley and forty rods of fence fenee will keep all stock from passing below bro henry keeps keepe a herd here and takes care of the surplus stock of oi st thomas and st joseph the upper valley is separated from front the next one acieh nf of rocks on either side of the creek making a narrow pass of some thirty or jorty rods between the two valleys but both are spoken of as the upper muddy the second valley is the one to which some same of the missionaries want last fall and were counseled to return again to the lower settlements this valley is is some three miles long by one mile mil e broad and most of the land is good for farming purposes the indians have raised considerable wheat here most of which was very good they were harvesting when we were there and I 1 must say to their credit that I 1 never saw finer grain in my life they plant in hills from one to twp feet apart and irrigate often but do not allow the water to stand and arid saak the land I 1 attribute the large heads and full berries to this way of farming there are five famil families lesof of our people living in this valley they are some of those who were washed lutat out at the beaver dams las last december they are loth to leave this ulue place because they think there is no ot other her spot in all the south that is so good but I 1 hope they will be content to go into edme home pome stronger settlement when they have shave gathered th d their cotton this fall fail pai fai unless it lai lat ahll bhail shil ert erb be deem deemed wisdom to then en them with a few more families the 1 I othere were no foolish wh white it e men but unfortunately there chere are two many of that kind some three miles below this thia valley the creek runs into a deep and narrow canon carlon which is passable only to those good at ai climbing cubing and is about fire five miles in length when the creek puts but of this rugged canon canlon it breaks over all restraint and spreads a tule swamp some two or three miles wide and five or six sis long from the mouth of the tho canon cablon to the junction of the muddy with the rio virgin a distance of some eighteen miles is a continuous v valley alley ranging from one to two miles wide SAINT JOSEPH at present the inhabitants of this place are living in a fort built on a high bluff about abouo mid way between the upper an and lower dlower ends of the lower muddy the town is laid out on a level sandy bench laying west and north from the fort and we it is to be hoped that most of the pe people ol 01 le will get out on their lots jots this f fall fail a 11 j in n consequence of the people having to fort up but very little has been done in setting out trees and vines yet there is ie ao flo doubt bub but this place will egut equal ta any settlement in the in the production of the grape This settlement is greatly blessed with an abundance of excellent hay lana land I 1 suppose that one oge hundred an and fifty nitty tons have been cut and stacked this season a and d this is but bulb a small portion of what could be had if there was sufficient la bor to get it the wheat cr crop at st joseph is generally good Some pieces being very i ery fine while some 01 af the later sowing so w ing is very light wheat in in this country must be sown in the fall to do i anything there is a mill althis place plad 9 0 ened J sned sped b by Y bishop leathean Lea theah of st thomas thamm which does doeg very grod work and is capable of supplying the present demand demaud f the country A large amount of cotta cottar has im been planted here and at st thomas but it t is somei somewhat hat backward owing to the late rains and cold weather r that prevailed during april and caybut may but at it is now growing growling finely ind anu ana the farmers farind irs its ahre are confident off olf havinga good crop F SAINT THOMAS this place is 19 situated on the south ar or west bank of the muddy nea rits junction with the rio virgin it has abood situation both for farming and for fruit raising though thought the e facil facilities facility iti asfor for fon either elther it er are aie nut not so abundant as at st doseph 1 ph however ho ever this place is ahead now in the matter of gardens an and dother other merove ments the cause being boing that st joseph has changed locations two or three times which has broken up and destroy ed the gardens but both places haye have good facilities for hard working mento men to improve upon and through toil toll and perseverance to make pleasant homes THE salt SATT MOUNTAINS wp ve visited one of these lse curiosities there are three of them between st thomas and the colorado and found it well worth nin notice tice the salt sait it crops out along the foot of a high bluff of brown clay therein the vein we visited visite gis ois is about so 80 feet high from the base of the hill how deep it runs below the surface is not known I 1 sa that thab it is impossible to tell how thick the vein may be it is exposed e for about one ofte hundred and fifty yards along the bluff and ek extend tends tendA to the pacific ocean for aught I 1 know the salt is obtained by blasting a as it is too hard to di out with dieks dicks an ordinary blast will sometimes throw down several tons A considerable quantity of this salt is taken to gahran agat to be used in the mines and a little has been taken down tho colorado Colo coio radd in barges dofort to eort fort mohave and other places THE muddy INDIANS in the early history of our uth utah set clements tle ments these indians were considered about the worst specimens of the race tace they lived ved almost in a state of nudity and were iacong tamon gAlib the worst thieves thley eg orr orf tha continent but through the kind klud though determined wards them by our brethren who have been among them themo they are greatly changed forthe for the he better and I 1 believe greatt I 1 may safely sax say that they are the best workers ot of all the tribes they are nevertheless erth eless Indi indians ains dins and much wisdom is 19 required to get along with them pleasantly brother andrew gibbone is lq worthy of honorable mention because of the tb e good influence that he maintains maintain ti over oyer these reido rudo men mem I 1 T will relate what I 1 saw of one of their thein performances perhaps I 1 should call cali calet it a divorce ease case i 1 0 I 1 one of their squaws squads had attracted the attention ofa of a young brave who whey wanted her but her husband would not givel her up in order to damo b h M hio Alf a ncr ner dought fought for fon forthe the woman the fight is thus conducted C on ducted all hands strip for the night fight and lay away all ali thein their weapons so as not to hurt ve very y badly then the brave or some friend nd who offers to be his champion goes to the others camp campo and an d takes the squaw bytho hand and leads her to his own wicki wick up the friends of the robbed man follow up till they come to a good smooth place when ono one of them rushes in before the t he retreating pair und and a fight night instantly commences the friends on ob both sides go in and a general fisticuff takes place but fortu fortunately abely they do not strike very hard ha rd when they get out of wind they rest and after they take breath some one on an the husbands side takes the squaw and starts back with her when all hands pitch in again and so they have it until one side whips when tile the victor takes the prize 1 ze to his willow shade in triumph eli ell the e strangest thing of all is that the woman has no voice in the fight and her wishes are not considered however I 1 believe that when a h squaw takes taked a notion to be divorced and get another man manthe the mode of procedure is the same when our brethren first came here these fights were much mora more frequent anti antl far more brutal than they are now then they would fight until they were tired of knocking noses and pulling hair and and would get hold of the squaw by the we arms airing and pull ull uil for possession sometimes two fo to a dozen en men inen at each armi arm and would almost kill the ourore our brethren try to soften down these barbarities as much asmuth possible as byl by their words and influence but their kind offices are misunderstood one instance is worth relating one man who is le by the way a pretty hard mant mart to hail hall handle handie dle die got his sympathies excited by seeing some twenty indians pulling ata at ava a little squaw and he went up to try and them desist when they thought that he wanted a hand han hau d in the fight light and they all turned on him but he soon edthe who whole leof of them they gave him peaceable possession and all hands cheece for the wyno wynn mormon he Hd turned the tho prize over to the bri brave jive tive who he thought had the best claim still the young lady claims to be hi his ss squaw an and da says ys she is ig just living out on permission I 1 trust the danwill day will come when en these rude sons of the desert will learn leftin better things and be friend friends g to tieh each other A 1 THE advantages this muddy country has somei some abt aft addan afiz ages oyer over anhof any of the settlements on virgen or santa banta clara the great pst is this the tho waters of the muddy 1 are easily controlled oled and there is not sot bot so much danger of floods in fact the only floody floods whatever that ever even come are those that are made by showers wera on tue the hills and come comi down some side ravine but these theredo the sedo do no damage only near where they empty into the valley as their currents soon spread out put and lose their force the soil is very good and produces almost everything planted in it in great abundance when it is free from tm fainer iner al al another great advantage is As the climate while the summers hird are but little if any hotter botter here than ati atilt ste george geprge the winters are area arez much nuch milder mildor in fact the winter Js Is the pleasant est season not too cold for foz working nor non too hot to sleep and IS I believe thata lemons biamon oranges and the olive olivi can cari ba be raised on anthe the 31 doldy x r TILE THE I 1 nut nat many of your readers doubtless mar r 1 I vel at so manyi of the boys getting e atin I 1 homesick home sick 1 and either begging 0 off bort or dodging lodging their their missions if the u jf has so much to recommend it the fae fact is they geb get the horror horrors 9 before t they he go get there the roads are bad eno enough fig be tween st george and the M ibets north of the rim eim but ther they a are re good when compared with the one south sauth to the muddy and call cail calls calis landing wel used to think the big mountain east ehst df ofa 1 salt lake city was a tough alabe place but 1 if that was a fibak neap of loose sand withie now and then a loose rock thrown iff and abd that having as ha many sharp points as 10 there are quills on a porcupine it might do to represent some of the mhd hills between here and the muddy ong one thousand noi nol pounds is ig a bi gload for fod agold apan span of mules and then if it is necessary to double in several places and rand heretofore the virgen river biver has had to td be crossed a number of times which chiai is always bad and dangerous several lives have already been lost by wagons upsetting in the stream and property but thanks to the energy of bro snow and a little help fro mAlleL from the 1 legislature a road has his been opened x that avoids crossing the river at tall all nil 1 ad atad though the new ro road i doa not hot iia II 1 t odla odus aw wm miles to the tha california riale travel trakel and to 1 the upper muddy should that ever verbe be s settled A good well of water has hag beon been dug at the beaver dam wash which secures water on the route these thede bad roads make the bo boys aall discouraged 1 I 1 and the coni complaint plaInt grows oh oil them another great drawback is the lacko lack of f timber umber and one that has retarded these settlements in their development more than anything else all the lumber that has been used on the muddy has been hauled from pine valley a dis tance of one hundred and thirty miles milas and at a cost of at least twenty five 31 cents per foot but this difficulty will 11 t be measurably overcome by and nna anday by there is good pine timber about sixty tl miles from st joseph and a very fair K rodolto roa road oito olto to haul it towards home somebody 1 will take a steam mill there some time and do well with it the only great difficulty remaining lw is the mineral that rises in the soil A al piece of land will be good one ofie year yearl and ind ja the next be full of mineral and perhaps ab I 1 half the crop lost abut this will bei ba rio rip t ilo overcome with experience in irrigating h r draining e ete etc tc s ill ili lil the timber and the mineral may be L partially overcome but the bad roads pt never at least not till the mount mountains aind are brought down and the valleys ex ext exi i A 31 tey alfed and the sand hills and sand band beds t cover covered edwith with brusha brushy I 1 i 1 L 61 1 5 1 we spent two sabbaths Sab bab baths with the t people and had excellent meetings I 1 we held four even evening ingae meetings etin get which it 44 were ere well weil attended I 1 I 1 3 h u vve we also visited the brethren at their tin houses nud and went with them into their f fields ae id 8 everywhere a meeting with that 11 1 k kindly in dl greetin g and audet sweet fellowship t which none but the saints know tiow liOW liu ou jo to give or how to enjoy A good rt r seemed to pre prevail vall lall in every heart hearty and w the dhe brethren were confident aa to the t 1 I 1 I 1 result of their thein labors boneman one minn nian said sald fot fo fok t us we dont want you to talk syma 0 anad li pathy to us for we are better situated i than we were yvere in the nor thili thill this thi stell alvil I 1 man owns a good farm in utah county lal ill i w with ith aline afine a line fine house annd arid barn hut but hut sald said he 1 could live easier easler anthe on the muddy than thad at att 3 hasold his hi hia sold oid old placed places I 1 I 1 10 14 othis bithis is the kind |
