124 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



upward. We left this village early the next day, our route 

 laying over a desolate, unproductive valley, the soil of which 

 was covered with alkaline efflorescences and supported nothing 

 but a stunted growth of artemisia. We came at noon to a 

 low ridge which stretches across between the two mountains 

 and formed the dividing line between the valleys of Utah and 

 Juab. Rolling down the latter valley, over a well beaten trail, 

 we came, before sunset, to the Spanish Fork settlement : one 

 of the best built and most flourishing towns in the Territory. 

 It is surrounded by a good adobe wall, pierced on two sides by 

 gateways about ten feet wide. The Indians around here were 

 troublesome, and the cattle of the adjoining farms were driven 

 inside the walls at night, when the gates were closed and barred, 

 and guard was mounted until morning. The mode of farmers 

 living in compact villages prevailed then in Utah, where it 

 had several advantages. Were the people to live in scattered 

 farms, as in the States, their lives and property would fall easy 

 prey to the prowling Indians, wdio are forever on the watch to 

 commit depredations ; but by thus living in walled villages^ 

 they were enabled to withstand the onsets of their enemies, 

 and besides have a secure place in which to store their grain 

 and keep their stock. Another thing which made it convenient 

 for the people of Utah to live in this manner, was that the 

 farm land all laid along the edges of streams, the strip being 

 only as wide as could be easily irrigated, so that the farms 

 were all close together ; in fact, this tillable land was some- 

 times made common property to all the villagers, and sur- 

 rounded with an enclosure whose erection was participated in 

 by the whole community. The fences w^ere generally made of 

 mud. They were formed by digging a ditch and throwing 

 the contents between board cases, which were set up on its 

 margin; the frames being two feet apart at the bottom and 

 inclining to within one foot of each other at the top, and 

 about three feet in height. The earth was moistened and 



