68 EIvDORADO 



CHAPTER VI. 



SALT I.AKE. 



It is not m\- purpose to write a detailed account of 

 my second overland trip in 1853. The same route was 

 followed as in 1850 as far as Salt Lake. I will men- 

 tion some of the most memorable events of that trip 

 farther on. 



Prior to 1843 the existence of the great Salt Lake 

 was practically unknown. Vague rumors of a large 

 inland sea on the confines of the great American des- 

 ert had reached the frontier settlements from reports 

 of French voyagers and trappers, but not until Gen- 

 eral (then Captain) Fremont visited this remote and 

 unknown region was the question of its existence set 

 at rest. 



I quote from Fremont's journal the interesting and 

 instructive account of his discovery and approach tc 

 the lake, in the year above mentioned, contained ir 

 the official report he subsequently made to the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior. Fremont and his party had fol- 

 lowed the course of Bear river from near its source 

 in the Wind River mountains, a distance of 400 miles. 

 "The night previous to reaching its outlet we camped 

 near several families of 'root diggers,' living among 

 the rushes, who appeared very busy with weirs or nets 



