VII 



A GREAT STORM IN UTAH l 



UTAH has just been blessed with one of the 

 grandest storms I have ever beheld this side 

 of the Sierra. The mountains are laden with 

 fresh snow; wild streams are swelling and 

 booming adown the canons, and out in the 

 valley of the Jordan a thousand rain-pools are 

 gleaming in the sun. 



With reference to the development of fertile 

 storms bearing snow and rain, the greater 

 portion of the calendar springtime of Utah has 

 been winter. In all the upper canons of the 

 mountains the snow is now from five to ten 

 feet deep or more, and most of it has fallen 

 since March. Almost every other day during 

 the last three weeks small local storms have 

 been falling on the Wahsatch and Oquirrh 

 Mountains, while the Jordan Valley remained 

 dry and sun-filled. But on the afternoon of 

 Thursday, the 17th ultimo, wind, ram, and 

 snow filled the whole basin, driving wildly 

 over valley and plain from range to range, be- 

 stowing their benefactions in most cordial and 



1 Letter dated "Salt Lake City, Utah, May 19, 1877." 

 [Editor.] 



114 



