SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 91 



extensive beds. In its present inaccessible position it gives little prospect of being sought or 

 applied to any useful purpose. 



Common salt, as before stated, is found along the edges of salt lakes on the Desert. In these 

 situations it is said to be jirocnred with ease by superficial digging, and of very pure quality. 



For more detailed information in reference to the mineralogical character of the prevaling 

 rocks and earthy deposits, reference may be had to the list of geological specimens, prepared by 

 Professor Hall, of Albany, New York, which will be found in his report. 



The geographical boundaries of the various formations, with their relative developments, are 

 indicated in the accompanying map and sections. 



NOTE BT W. H, E. 



Assistant Arthur Schott passed over the tract of country described in Chapter V. His 

 geological view of it is so similar that I do not consider it necessary to publish it ; but I give 

 an extract from his report, which contains some interesting facts in reference to the changes 

 which have taken place in the Great Desert within the historical period, and some general views, 

 which I think are sound, and are applicable not only to the Desert where it is crossed by the 

 Mexican boundary line, but that vast region of desert country which lies to the north of the line, 

 and which spreads out and probably attains its greatest breadth in the region of the Salt Lake. 



Whatever may be the opinions of persons interested in the more northern lines of travel and 

 projected railway routes to the Pacific, we cannot shut our eyes to the existence of this Desert 

 on any line of travel south of the South Pass, in north latitude 42°. I am also of the opinion 

 that this Desert, within the limits of the United States, is narrower and more easily passed over 

 by a railway immediately north of the Mexican boundary than on any parallel to the north of it. 

 An attentive perusal of the report of Governor Stevens will show that even north of the South Pass 

 vast tracts of arid and desert regions were encountered in the same longitudinal zone, which, 

 added to the rigors of the climate, form an almost insurmountable barrier to the project of 

 opening through those regions any great highway of travel, either by railway or wagon road, 

 between the Atlantic and Pacific States. 



The full power of the government has been directed towards establishing posts and opening 

 these northern lines of travel ; yet we have, within the last few months, seen Fort Laramie, 

 Fort Pierre, and, I believe, even Fort Kearny abandoned by the government, owing to the 

 absolute sterility of the soil, and the impossibility of inducing settlements, or raising even 

 vegetables necessary for the use of the troops. 



The records of the Quartermaster General's office show the long continued efforts which the 

 government have made to establish these posts as nuclei for settlers, and the utter failure to 

 induce settlement, and make the surrounding country at all conducive to the support of the 

 troops. The idea of carving out States from that portion of the American continent between 

 parallels 35° and 47° and the 100th meridian of longitude and the crest of the Sierra Madre is 

 a chimera. The example of the Mormons is often cited to prove the capacity of the country to 

 sustain population. They occupy an oasis in this great Desert, and their power to sustain even 

 the population they have is by no means established beyond a doubt. On two occasions the 

 grasshoppers were very nearly eating them out and producing a famine ; and I am very sure, if 

 it were not for their peculiar institutions, which cannot bear the light of civilization, they could 

 not be induced to remain in their isolated and desert home. 



