| Show CEDAR CITY IRON co march 1869 editor deseret news elders joseph F smith smiths thomas taylor amos neff and myself held mee meo meetings tings yesterday in pine valley vailey and pinto the change of climate in rising from st george to pine valley on monday is a remarkable feature in the county of washington the distance by the road being about thirty five miles but the actual distance in latitude is lotmore not more than twenty minutes the route leads through the midst of the cones of several extinct volcanoes some of which look as if they were but recently biown blown out these cones render diamond valley an interesting locality for the study of geology and the wonderful power of subterranean fires and give variety and additional interest to the journey pine fine valley was wag covered with snow which had recently fallen it is a romantic and fertile spot surrounded on all sides with loft lofty mountains beautifully ornamented with stately pines which form an agreeable contrast to the naked rocks intermingled this valley vailey has one hundred school children a considerable portion of whom also attend sunday bunday school the soil is rich producing wheat barley oats potatoes and other vegetables ir abundance the inhabitants keep cows but the feed is mostly consumed by the lumbering teams as much of the lumber used in rane kane washington and i rio klo virgen counties is made here though the labor of sliding the logs from the mountains is already considerable the inhabitants live upon a city site regularly surveyed and many of or the dwellings mills barns and out hou ses are highly creditable to a new settlement and remind me of the viila vilia villages of st laurence county new york in my youth the water is very pure any time in the summer a days ride will enable any person in the hottest regions of our dixie to luxuriate lux upon the cool springs and cooling breezes in a climate much resembling that of cache or rich counties our meeting was well attended the roads have been much improved although the recent storm made them muddy we met the saints in the little village of pinto this side the rim in a large stone school house which among other evidences of thrift has been erected since my last visit they have not succeeded in raising fruit the frost nipping down the apple trees and even the plum currants and goose berries seem to fail there is but buts little land that can be irrigated but this little produces good crops of wheat barley oats and potatoes the settlement was located under the direction of elder parley P pratt as an indian missionary station I 1 visited it in 1857 when it consisted of two dug outs or cellars covered with earth it now produces ibs lbs of excellent cheese for market the people have recently constructed a reservoir to receive the waste waters of pinto creek creel in the flood time and in this way they the ear expect act to reclaim a few hundred acres of desert which is 13 about eight miles below the village villager they have enclosed a large field with a substantial fence for the purpose of testing this is experiment abent which if successful will add greatly to the agricultural resources of the I 1 inhabitants today to day we visited the iron works of ebenezer hanks co on little litile pinto much labor and means have been expended by the company to prepare for the manufacture of iron and ind after much trouble and expense they have produced a fire brick which they are satisfied will stand the heat as it has been submitted to the most rigid tests the they y are constructing a turbine wheel for the purpose of propelling their machinery with thirty feet head of water on the creek which will be in operation in a few days there is abundance of iron ores af of different qualities to bt b obtained from numerous ledges in tle tiie vicinity the country round is densely covered with scrub cedar and pinion pine which W will lii be their resource for charcoal no other coal having been discovered in the vicinity that will answer the purpose I 1 heartily commend the efforts of these brethren who with their little means are exerting themselves to the utmost to supply the much needed article of iron to the inhabitants of the territory yours GEO A SMITH ST GEORGE washington co march eld ibn 10 editor deseret news pres Pros president ident george A smith and party on the dinst commenced to descend tho the pacific slope having camped upon the rim of the great basin over night since reaching paro pare wan there have been eight meetings of the people of summit creek crek cedar cit olty city kanara and harmony at which h m much g good 0 od instruction was imparted in our descent we found ourselves winding around at the base of the mountain east cast of north worth ash creek a dugway dug way made in a serpentine form amongst amonds t the black masses of volcanic rock from which the traveler in a very perilous position can wae gae aze upon ash creek as it winds its course southward through a deep chasm several hundred feet below bolow this dugway although miles in length is only ab about lit hait halt laak itak C com M plated notwithstanding th the 9 tho thousands thorand dand of dollars raised I 1 ly jy subscription by the people 0 of Washington and kane trl til the tho 1 appropriations of our territorial legislature 16 if persons who wonder what lo 10 becomes e of the tho appropriations made mada for roads in these counties would take a trip and andlee see the tho country that our brethren live and mako roads in they would not be baru bera dge them another ampro appropriation privation pria bria tion afta tr traveling avelin I 1 ilvo tivo miles south froin from w what h at I 1 is S kno knoon w n as the tho black eidge hidge wo we found a number of families located in a town they call bellview by the industry and perseverance of the people water has been brought from frob high up on south ash creek a distance of several miles and poured upon the heretofore parched des desert ert ent we beheld a beautiful wheat field that promises an early harvest as the crop is sev several eral inches high beautiful orchards and vineyards are growing and substantial houses and fences built from the rock bros joel E johnson james 0 snow and other veterans are amongst the settlers As we left ner BeR bellview view on our way to to kerville the rain began to descend and conti continued nue d at intervals during our visit at kerville To and with the saints up tho the river as far as rockville roc Koc kville and in fact until we returned to kerlie kerville To durin duning during which time our fellow traveler who WN rode rin cin in the tho open buggy was soaked and made to confess at the end of the third day there is virtue in having a cover to a carriage meetings were held atTo kerville virgen city and rockville at which instructions suited to the peoples condition were imparted light eight years ago when president alith smith visited these upper settlements he informed the people that they were in the bed of the river and in all probability they would be washed out inside of one year subsequently quent ly the citizens were seen ono one winter morning carrying beds and other fixtures to higher ground while they beheld with wonder earth rocks farms orchards gardens houses and other fixtures being washed by tho stream in the direction of the gulf of california tho the people of these settlements ments are anxious to have a line of settlements thrown out farther south and cast to afford them security against the incursions of hostile indians several lar iare large lare 0 e houses have been built within two f years ears eans past in To kerville of as good red mck brick as are to be found anywhere among the buildings is a magnificent meetinghouse I 1 noticed a beautiful grovo grove of small olive trees three years old that the frost has not effected demonstrating that olives can bo be raised in kerville To oran orange e trees also ero were ere gr green en a and nd fresh on bro 3 J 0 nailes news place bro B ro naile kaile informs me that two thirds of f tho the crop of grapes were destroyed last fall with the tho hail storm notwithstanding which a great number of barrels of wino wine were ero cro manufactured more anon |
