At length, we had so far cleaned up the area where we had been 

 working that we decided to move camp to a spring not far from the 

 overland emigrant trail to the Pacific Coast. One evening we saw a 

 very large "outfit," of many wagons and a great tent, like that of a 

 circus, which was encamped near us. Like all people who have long 

 been isolated, we were intensely curious and strolled over to inquire who 

 and what these newcomers might be. We found a very nice-looking lot 

 of people, intelligent and prosperous, with their stock well fed and 

 cared for. In those days, in the West, it was highly indiscreet and some- 

 times dangerous to ask personal questions of chance-met strangers, 

 but those people had nothing to hide and told us all about themselves. 

 They were the entire population of a Wisconsin village, on the move 

 to Oregon. When we asked why they were doing that, they said it was 

 because they were desperately tired of the long, cold winters and were 

 in search of a milder climate. 



Concluding that we had done as much as we could in the Bitter Creek 

 country, we moved in to the railroad at Black Butte and then kept 

 parallel to the line as far as Rock Springs. We were much interested 

 in the Chinese labour question, then beginning its violent agitation in 

 California, as it was presented by the railroad. At intervals of six miles 

 there were section houses, in which were lodged the section gangs, at 

 that time all Chinese. The foreman, who was generally an Irishman and 

 had a house of his own, was responsible for the upkeep of the track in 

 his section, the Chinese doing the work under his orders. We ques- 

 tioned several of these foremen regarding the efficiency of their men and 

 received substantially the same answer from all of them, to the effect 

 that the Chinese were steady and faithful, but lacked physical strength; 

 it took two of them to do a white man's work. The section hands were 

 eager to supplement their pay by doing laundry work, and often solicited 

 custom from us with the stereotyped question: "Catch'um shirt.'*" 



At Rock Springs, where the railroad had large and active coal mines, 

 we found water so scarce, that we had to pay twenty-five cents a head 

 for our horses. There we left the railroad and struck off to the north- 

 west on a three-days march to the Green River. Our first camp was in 

 a grove of fine cottonwoods, which looked very beautiful in our eyes, 

 so long deprived of the sight of a tree. The broad, swift river, the great 

 trees and verdant thickets and green grass seemed marvellous in their 

 contrast to the desert landscape which we had been looking at so long. 



The desert has its own beauties and fascinations, chief of which are 

 the wonderful atmospheric effects of changing lights, as the sun runs 



C79] 



