| Show TRAVELING THROUGH SOUTHERN UTAH INTO ARIZONA THIRD LETTER after leaving tile the colorado our road narrow darrow ravine or wash as ae followed a 8 for several miles here they call them on each slue gatia rose perpendicular walls or of lake deposit COna ing tag of succeed suc cees ve silt and salt in 10 layers of gypsum under the overhanging road runs rune the walls and in other aarts i arts there to it hardly room for or the wagon to pass between them in I 1 other places we seemed to be engulfed difed in a great chasm all by immense surrounded ur rounded on with only a narrow darrow clifio of earth and strip of sky for t above us the road is fairly good but through gil the wash out ol of it in come a hilly after a while you volcanic country parched and bryand the desert of Sahara where an barren as rough and rocky the road becomes the first ev evening elling out we made about ton ten miles and at dark camped on the bill we fed the horses top of 1 a high brought along from the bay we hall had the ferry and gave them a portion of et the water in the barrel in the morn ing we were out early and giving the remaining water in the horses the barrelle barr eLwe resumed our journey hoping to reach the spring before the heat beat became oppressive the road was wac very ery heavy and our progress very slow blow none hoar after hour we toiled on and it was wae ut not until after 11 that we reached the place where we were to leave the road for the spring we un hitched hurriedly for we as well as the horses horns were sadly in need of water and taking the barrel on the back or 01 oneff one of the horses we a tor intha deep gorge that fell ell on oft towards the colorado we think it no exaggeration cioll to say buy that we traveled fully mae three miles before reaching the spring and were glad enough to I 1 find nd it even at that d istance distance bu but t the good cod feed lee dalae alas there was none there there were a few bunches of salt grass on the steep aidee of the mountain that the horses would lot eat alter after resting several hours we filled our barrel and placing it on the backof back of one of the hoes we commenced the toilsome ascent to tile the wagon fagoo how we 0 accomplished it those only know who have undertaken to do the same thing but we did accomplish it and after in an hours hard work we reached the wagon we immediately resumed our jour ney the heat beat was intense alter after traveling some distance we descended into a deep ravine ine up which the rod road ran for several miles the road was wag very heavy on account of the fine gravel that covered cohered the bottom of the wash our horses now dow began to show allow signs of exhaustion and before we had bad gone tar far 0 6 of them gave out entirely aud we fully twenty miles from water or feed we rested them for some time and then pushed on hur after hour we rested and toiled alternately averaging about a mile an hour abfalt aa it grew dark we reached the top of a divide and commenced to descend into another wash the now new road was nut not so heavy we whipped up the horses on to a slow trot it was a cruel thing to do but we realized that our only hope lay in reaching water before another day and then the u we did not know but we would have to travel another night before reaching a place where we could obtain feed for the horses altogether our situation appeared berl aeri ous at 9 pm our horses stopped and refused to go any further we unhitched them and gave them some water and a small teed feed of oats and then lay downto get an hour or twos rest at 2 am we arose arese and giving the horses the last of the onto oats and al ah of the water but a little we reserved bior ourselves we resumed our journey the road became gra gravelly lelly again we wade made but little progress at 4 am we saw plainly that we must abandon the wagon we saved the horses we pulled up under some 1 ime equit bushes bushee and removed the harness from the horses placing a saddle on one of them etwas it was decided that oo 00 0 e of us should shoula go with the horses while the other remained with the wa on we drew outa cuts and it fell to my lot jot to remain B mounted one hone and leading the other was soon eoon lost in the dark ness avee it t the most pleasant thing in the world worlin to be left in the desert alone especially so eo ched you expect to have to remain there two or three days I 1 thought though that I 1 might as aa well make the basi of it I 1 tried too to sleep leep but my mind was too worried I 1 got epand up and cooked some borne breakfasts breakfast then took an inventory of the water and found two or three quarto quarte so that there was no occasion to worry for the present on that score I 1 could live on it even it if it was warm then I 1 went up on an adjoining hill and out open a nail nai daileg leg eg cactus thinking I 1 would dem one on strate the story atory 1 had heard of their containing water I 1 found water slim in the spongy interior I 1 pressed out some of it and tasted it it was wet VID pm like the fellow that said raid he could eat crow I 1 can drauk cactus water but dont hanker after it one oae can hardly realize how still it to is in these desert solitudes there are no animals no birds to sing no sound of any kind of life except the rustle of the leaves made by the lizard or horned toad as they chase about from bush to bush I 1 returned to the wagon and tried to read I 1 could not how long the hours seemed at length I 1 fell asleep and dreamed I 1 was beside a large spring of crystal cold water near which stood one of the highest hay stacks I 1 ever saw in the midst of this I 1 was awakened by some thing walking on the gravelly road I 1 sprang up and saw B coming around a bend in the road with two strange horses I 1 never was as a pleased in my life after all there was no occasion for any anxiety on my part B had found water and a camp of wood haulers about ten miles from where we separated ed he had bad easily procured a team to bring our wagon in and had turned our horses out to graze upon the dry grass that grew in abundance not far from the camp now I 1 could go over that same road again and could be left just as 1 I 1 was there and I 1 would enjoy it the trouble was that I 1 did not know how it would end I 1 suffered from the un certainty more than from anything else but I 1 can be excused for that thai of aiala a 00 it ws was my first experience alone in the desert by noon we reached the camp sa safely ely we learned that a short abort time before we arrived an family bad come over the same road the ferry man maa at the colorado had made representations to them that he did to us ue and got goc them to take the cutoff cut off oft road they the run out of feed and water and losing the road wandered about in the be desert for two or three days day they finally reached gold bantu just in time to prevent their perishing the men at the miji were so BO enraged at the old ferryman fer rymon that they were near organizing a party and going back and hang ing him I 1 oan can see no reason for hi his misrepresentations unless it to ia that he wants to got get the road broken acro to gold basin so that he can market his hie grain there and he thinks that hat every team he be mends bends that way y makes make the road that much better we e would advise travelers to take the road via white the road is if better though a little longer and then the mall mail goes that way so BO that if happened there would be some chance ot of receiving help while the other way a person could be on the road for a week and never see a living soul while on this subject of roads it might be well to state for the benefit of future travelers that there is an other ether road running south from st george to a ferry kept by a man named scanlan Soan lan toe the distance from st george is about one hundred miles there are but two waterlog places but I 1 understand it is not difficult to get over the road if care is in exercised tua ferry ta is not as good as that at toe the virgin 0 o but is said to be sate saja fram the th ferry ry to gold basin a distance ot of wen miles the road is gravelly grav efly but from there on it is good and food feed abundant I 1 consider this the best beat and ad most direct road gold basin basi ii is so named from the large number of gold mines in the vicinity we were old that there were as high as sixty and all of them contained paying ore the great drawback to mining in this region is the scarcity ot of water and wood the water at the basin is brought in pipes 14 distance of nine or ten miles from a spring high up in the mountains the pipes are laid in a shallow trench and are airs protected so slightly from the nuns beat that when the water reaches the tack task inthe in abe camp it approaches very nearly the boiling point cold cola water is au an unknown quantity in all arizona unless sinless it is cooled artificially the huapapi valley in which gold basin is situated is in one of the finest that I 1 ever saw it is about six miles wide at the north end and fifteen n at the south end and fifty miles long notwithstanding the dryness ot of tile the season eabon anti and the long continuous drou drouth droual tl the entire valley la is covered with graye we were told old that there bad not aten lut but one good rain in the valley in two years the climate is delightful we were there in the hottest season ano the ithe thermometer only registered degrees in the shade in the winter it hardly ever sinks below zero every afternoon about two a breeze blows from the southwest which renders the atmosphere pleasant and agreeable tue nights are cool we are told that an underground river awo through the entire length of the viley valley at a depth of from 25 to 60 50 feet all ail that is necessary to tras trai sloam that desert valley into a garden to is a hep power to raise the water to the surf eurlace eur face vice at hackberry at the extreme smith end of the valley they raise the water they use by means of wind millo but fw for farming purposes we do not think this method would be from gold basin to serape a distance of tf more than three hundred miles we never mover saw but one little spring anu ano not a single stream of lilii alvi g water the water neater we used in all that distance was wae taken from well was raised rained sometimes by windmills sometimes by team steam and sometimes by hand baud I 1 do not inot think we saw a well anywhere any where that was vas over forty feet deep JOEL OEL RICKS bloks |
