Page:Columbus and other heroes of American discovery; (IA columbusotherher00bell).pdf/274

 The Missouri was safely forded, and the great wilderness beyond was traversed without any great loss of life. Then came the ascent of the Rocky Mountains, already associated with the memory of so much heroism, and, early in the year 1847, the western slopes resounded to the clang of trumpets and the tramp of thousands going down at last to take possession of their desolate inheritance on the shores of the "still innocent Dead Sea."

Without a day's, with scarcely an hour's delay, work was commenced, and, as if by magic, the dreary wilderness began to blossom as a rose. The rivers of the hills were diverted from their courses to irrigate the fields; homestead after homestead rose from the salt-encumbered plains; patches of orchards broke the dull monotony of the sands; the Utahs and Shoshones were won over by gifts and kindness to act as hunters and trappers for the new-comers, and before a year was over, Salt Lake City rose from the banks of a river aptly named Jordan, between Lake Utah and the Great Salt Lake. A tabernacle—not so imposing as the last marble temple, but still a grand edifice to rise from such a spot—soon enabled the Mormons to worship once more according to their peculiar rites; emigrants poured in from every side, and in less than twenty years from the founding of Salt Lake City its population numbered 8,218.

As a matter of course, this great movement was attended by the opening up of the surrounding country. Numerous expeditions were sent out from the United States to inquire into the position of the infant community, and to explore new routes from the Great Basin to the Pacific. In the years 1849 and 1850 an exhaustive survey of the river systems, mountain ranges, etc., of the whole district was made by Captain Stansbury of the American army; and in his report the student will find much valuable information supplementary to that won by our heroes of actual discovery. But his work sinks into insignificance before the thrilling interest of the second great migration of our own day, that which succeeded the close of the war with Mexico in 1848 by a treaty consigning California to the United States, and the discovery, one month later, of gold on the lands of that Captain Sutter, who has already figured twice in our narrative.

From end to end of the earth spread the news of the existence of vast seams of ore on the hitherto deserted shores of the Bay of San Francisco. The name of Sacramento, the infant settlement founded by Sutter, was in every mouth; and from the north and from the south, from the east and from the west, a stream of adventurers began to struggle toward it. In 1849