STEEP TRAILS 



ness in this weird, subdued, cloud-sifted light. 

 The mountains, in particular, with the forests 

 on their flanks, their mazy lacelike canons, the 

 wombs of the ancient glaciers, and then* mar- 

 velous profusion of ornate sculpture, were most 

 impressively manifest. One would fancy that 

 a man might be clearly seen walking on the 

 snow at a distance of twenty or thirty miles. 

 While we were reveling in this rare, ungarish 

 grandeur, turning from range to range, study- 

 ing the darkening sky and listening to the still 

 small voices of the flowers at our feet, some of 

 the denser clouds came down, crowning and 

 wreathing the highest peaks and dropping long 

 gray fringes whose smooth linear structure 

 showed that snow was beginning to fall. Of 

 these partial storms there were soon ten or 

 twelve, arranged in two rows, while the main 

 Jordan Valley between them lay as yet in pro- 

 found calm. At 4.30 P.M. a dark brownish 

 cloud appeared close down on the plain to- 

 wards the lake, extending from the northern 

 extremity of the Oquirrh Range in a north- 

 easterly direction as far as the eye could reach. 

 Its peculiar color and structure excited our 

 attention without enabling us to decide cer- 

 tainly as to its character, but we were not left 

 long in doubt, for in a few minutes it came 

 sweeping over the valley in wild uproar, a 



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