162 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



onies in Utah and California, where the emigrants might for 

 a while refresh themselves and their jaded animals, after their 

 long and w^eary desert journey. The existence of valuable lead 

 mines in the vicinity, together with the expectation of deriv- 

 ing great profit by furnishing travelers with supplies, induced 

 five or six families to locate themselves in this wild and dan- 

 gerous locality, near two hundred miles from any settlement, 

 and surrounded on all sides by fearful deserts, tenanted by 

 hordes of thieving savages. The first business of the colony 

 was to build a fort for its protection, the remains of which 

 were still standing. It consisted of an area of 50 by 100 feet, 

 surrounded by an adobe wall twelve feet high, w^hich was flanked 

 at the corners by square bastions for commanding the face of 

 the wall in case of attack. Around the inner side of this well- 

 planned fortress was an offset in the wall, whereon the besieged 

 might stand while firing on the enemy. The gateway which 

 perforated the western wall was in a dilapidated condition, as 

 w^ere also the dwellings arranged on one side of the hollow 

 square. In one corner was a furnace for smelting lead ore, 

 and pieces of the metal strewn over the floor showed that the 

 attempts of the workmen had been successful. After the erec- 

 tion of the establishment, farming operations were gone into 

 extensively, and a considerable tract was fenced, irrigated and 

 brought under cultivation. The enterprising colonists were in 

 high expectation of reaping a rich reward for their labor, when 

 the Vegas Indians, who were in considerable numbers in this 

 valley, began to give them serious trouble by their thieving 

 propensities, and at last it was as much as the isolated settlers 

 could do to preserve their lives. Matters kept getting worse 

 and worse, and finally the Mormons found themselves obliged 

 to vacate their hard-earned homes and leave them in possession 

 of their savage annoyers ; but with a Christian spirit, which 

 hardly seems credible, they bequeathed their houses and lands 

 to their enemies, whom they taught the art of tilling the soil. 



