Show THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT having crossed the great american desert as often as any other man ever has in the last forty years I 1 thought a few lines would not come amiss to the readers of the news A man traveling from salt lake to california would pronounce it all a desert from the wasatch to the sierra nevada mountains the great desert commences on the north at the idaho lid 0 line and extends to old mexico this expanse of sterility is at least miles wide this great space is dotted with mountains moun tans that must have been island in the great water age these mountains and ranges of mountains contain mineral of all kinds it is here that the mining camps are located these mountains are all surrounded by valleys from ten to sixty miles wide the water is situated in the mountains consequently it is just that distance to water there is once in a great while an oasis the water is not of the best at any time and it grows poorer the father south one goes I 1 and others that have traveled this sterile country almost doubt that little geography story about this mundane sphere of ours containing one third land and two thirds water it is all land here the desert and much to be dreaded 8 spot pot lying west of the great salt lake is what I 1 want to speak of just now the greatest length is about miles the width varies from 60 to miles except excepting ng the fish spring flats on the extreme south end these are only about four miles this desert is 16 as level as a floor excepting a few sand hills here and there and two mountains newfoundland and granite with wildcat just running into it like a promontory all three of these places contain minerals the granite will make a great camp with its lead copper gold and some silver there is no vegetation on the desert except a small salt weed that grows here and there the islands or mountains as they are now called have several springs of pure water that were unknown in emigration days granite having seven newfoundland has nineteen the first account we have of any one traveling across this never to be fo gotten desert was in 1846 by the ill III fated donner party they passed to the south of the salt lake and through where grantsville Grants ville now stands into skull valley where they camped for a f few ew days at what is known as the kanaka ranch it was here that a messenger overtook them from jim bridger begging them not to attempt to go across the desert but go around to the north this message they heeded not but started across to the round mountain known as pilots peak the atmosphere is so clear and deceptive that it looked to them as it does now only a few miles to the other side I 1 am not certain but they may have seen one of those beautiful mirage lakes that are so often seen on clear bright days at all events they had mostly ox teams and it being ninety miles they were on the road many 4 days and nights the teams were unhitched 1 about twenty five miles f from rom pilots pea peak k and driven into water the people that went with them were so exhausted that they lay down to sleep and the indians indiana stole their stock other men came to see what had bei be i come of their comrades awoke them and they went wen in search of the stock some of them they got back but enough were lost to retard their travels the rest of the history of the ill fated donner party is given in their being belated and perishing in the sierra 4 nevada mountains ever since 1846 people going to california have crossed this desert more or less many years ago there was the northern route explored known as the goose creek and humbolt road about on the line of the central pacific railroad but the indians being so bad many of the small parties have from time to time hazarded their lives going across at various points of this valley I 1 of death the most noted was the i hastings party of which there Is no history left to tell the tale of their suffering it seems that in the early a mountaineer by the name of hastings was the guide of an emigrant train that went south of the great salt lake they camped about the kanaka ranch some time recruiting their stock this anop adno they started across the desert to pilots peak to the same point as the donner party and so close to the donner road it is a wonder that they could not have hava seen it the only reason that could be given is that both started across in the night in places the roads are re still visible the stock giving out for or the want of water had to be unhitched and driven to pilots peak here alere the indians fired on them killing many but the emigrants having good suns guns drove above the indians away of the emigrants went back after some of their wagons others left theirs they still stand where they were left still in good preservation except the spokes near the ground have been worn nearly off by the sand blowing ground around them continually the iron is all rusted off by the salt action th the e y yokes okes and chains still lay where they were dropped I 1 have tried the indians on several occasions to tell me all about the fight but none of the older ones that could tell will do so believing that they would be punished yet A younger one 4 told me the indians held the emigrants for many days when the feed was all gone gon and some of the stock was stolen all and the rest suffering the emigrants moved to the mountains about twenty miles from pilots peak to a little spring in a pass now known 7 48 hasting pass on the deep creek I 1 and toano boano road here they built a tone stone wall or tort fort against the granite made a desperate fight but the indians had them surrounded and in the night stampeded and stole sll all their stock prom from day to day the indians had nothing to do but to kill any one that showed himself in sight some were left to bury the rest how long they did live no one now living il does wes know what these people sut suffered no one can even imagine much less legs tell and it was was all for gold fred barth told me when he crossed many years ago many of these trains perished for the want of water he and rj some ome others saving themselves by killing an ox of and drinking his blood there is a road now by granite Moun fountain in this mountain is water the drive forty miles on one fr side and thirty seven on the other V without water nothing but light rigs or horse backs can travel that with safety and that only in the summer there is no place on earth where man and beast want so much as they do here the air ls Is full fuh of salt and alkali these hese and the heat make travel ous and almost intolerable we are often asked why people do not go around howard egan ball roberts the Hunting tons myself and a few others in the interest of the overland mail company did explore s S and make a road around the south of 1 the desert but in wet times it is hard 1 ta 22 travel 7 in one place the road is fifteen een miles around and only four lea across on the round road in wet weather the ground has the appearance Pe arance of bread before it is baked he spring sloughs as the through road is called is the best beuse cause it Is shorter to water by fifteen antles lea and about as good as the other this his is a case when a man that takes one e will wish he had taken the other t the he mud will take the paint off your wagon the color out of your clothing aan and it will make a solid wheel so you leannor annot see the spokes I 1 crossed it once with a light wagon and four mules no load except my wife child aad d a sick man tt hd r rainor 0 0 pd P d when I 1 got across the sloughs the awes stuck in the mud the wagon ettlel down to the bed and I 1 had to unhitch the mules to save their lives there was but little on the road then february 1859 we ate what luncheon we had and went to bed to keep from freezing in the morning I 1 started back to the mail station four miles and when I 1 rea reach clied ed the sloughs i I 1 found the ice not strong enough to hold me they were too wide to jump so I 1 took my clothing off and put it on my head crossed dressed went to the station got my coffee bread and bacon got a little wood and went back by the same ferry that I 1 had come with the wood I 1 warmed up the scanty meal fed my people and went to bed to keep from freezing on that day a friendly indian saw our wagon stationary and came to us we knew each other and we were so glad to see him that we could not express it we gave him our meager fare and he took a note to simpson springs forty five miles for help during the three days that 1 I was stuck three times I 1 had to repeat my trip to the station with the same modus ope operand randt to get back before succor came with that experience on my mind I 1 have no use for klondike what people I 1 have suffered on that barren and bleak spot no one can ever know or ever attempt to write how many have perished and been lost on that desert will never be known when the time comes that the bible s speaks peaks of when the sea shall give up it its s dead I 1 hope it will include those that have been left on that wicked desert H J FAUST |