Page:California Historical Society Quarterly vol 22.djvu/149

 tables etc at the Salt Lake this was good news to us our road ran along near the "Rain Bow" bluffs they derive their name from the different col- ours of clay and sand mixed up the sides we noticed one prominent Bluff whose sides presented with a little strech of imagination every variety of forms groups of men heads of animals &c looked like egiptian archi- tecture we halted at noon on Blacks Fork good grass this after- noon we saw several antelope shot some sage hens and one hare which furnish us good material for a soup we camped on a creek of rapid run- ing water cold and clear comeing from the Utaw Mountains whose peaks are ever covered with snow making the nights cold and needing over coats in the morning

Wednesday August ist/49 Mr Noyse is quite sick this morning of an at- tack of Mountain fever we moved on at 7 oclock thinking to stop at "fort Bridger"^^ eight miles from our last camp the road was good some de- cending arrived at the fort at 10 Oclock near the fort we passed three rapid runing streams within a half mile of the Fort on the Banks of these streams was a large number of Indian wigwams most of them Sosone or Snake quite a number came to us and by signes asked for bread we gave them and they still beged it seamed as though there was no sattisfying their hunger poorly clad the men lazeing about and the Squas at home working hard dressing skins here we found several traders who had most of them Indian wives and you could see in the little pappoose crawling about the blood of the white man The Indians were remarkably civel no one of them showed any disposition to steal we paid a visit to the Fort it is built of logs and quite a comfortable place to stay after our halt we moved on and our road was over high hills and part of the Utaw Mts after 1 2 miles traveling over hills a splendid valley appears below some two miles we found a fine stream and pretty good grass, some wood we camped well sattisfied our sick man some better distance 22 miles

Thursday Aug 2d 49 Our road this morning lay over high hills after traveling up three or four miles we had a tedious decent road rocky nothing of note except mountain scenery which is grand the snow cov- ered peaks on one hand and the thousand streams runing from them with an occasional raviene with a grove of pople[r] to releive the mind we find the mornings verry cold here ice quite often is found in our watter buckets we made our noon halt on the side of one of the highest peaks we have passed after passing this ridge our road decended into a most beautiful valley after winding about the hill we struck across another ridge and had a fine view of Bear river and valley from the hill our road was verry steep and stoney for a mile which brought us to the river a fine stream of three rods wide rapid current we did not find grass here suflicient to stop haveing been well grazed bv party and Indians here we found two lodges of the Snake Indians these fellows beat all for begging we passed on