VIII. 



©Ifie (i)aint'A^ ^^^^* 



REAT SALT LAKE CITY— the Jerusalem, the 

 ^ Mecca, the Holy of Holies of the Latter Day Saints 

 and the grand centre around which the wheel of 

 Mormonisni then revolved ; the spot from whence issued all 

 the mandates of the Church and where all the villanies laid 

 to the charge of Brigham Young and his satellites were con- 

 cocted — is located near the foot-hills of the Wahsatch Mountains 

 and on the eastern edge of the Great Valley. From the base 

 of this range, the tall peaks of which were then white with 

 snow, the town extends towards the lake, which is some twenty 

 miles to the westward; its scattered buildings covering several 

 square miles. Speaking of the place as it was in 1858, each 

 square contained ten acres and was divided into eight lots of 

 one acre and a quarter each, so that it presented quite a sub- 

 urban and rural appearance. The streets, which were eight 

 rods wide, and from the nature of the soil as hard as an 

 asphaltum pavement, crossed each other at right angles and 

 were shaded by rows of young cotton-woods and locusts ; the 

 town in its eleven years of existence not having had time to 

 develop a very large growth of trees. Along the sides of the 

 streets flowed clear and sparkling streams of water, which 

 answered the double purpose of supplying the people with 

 drink and irrigation for their gardens. This water was pre- 



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