VI 



THE CITY OF THE SAINTS 1 



THE mountains rise grandly round about 

 this curious city, the Zion of the new Saints, so 

 grandly that the city itself is hardly visible. 

 The Wahsatch Range, snow-laden and adorned 

 with glacier-sculptured peaks, stretches con 

 tinuously along the eastern horizon, forming 

 the boundary of the Great Salt Lake Basin; 

 while across the valley of the Jordan south- 

 westward from here, you behold the Oquirrh 

 Range, about as snowy and lofty as the 

 Wahsatch. To the northwest your eye skims 

 the blue levels of the great lake, out of the 

 midst of which rise island mountains, and be 

 yond, at a distance of fifty miles, is seen the 

 picturesque wall of the lakeside mountains 

 blending with the lake and the sky. 



The glacial developments of these superb 

 ranges are sharply sculptured peaks and crests, 

 with ample wombs between them where the 

 ancient snows of the glacial period were col 

 lected and transformed into ice, and ranks of 



1 Letter dated &quot;Salt Lake City, Utah, May 15, 1877.&quot; 

 [Editor.] 



105 



