238 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



Then it was a desert covered with stunted sagebrush and grease- 

 wood, except in places where the mountain streams furnished a sup- 

 ply of water. 



The train runs along through the valley, with good farms on 



both sides and the bare walls of the mountains as a background, 



until it reaches the next station, Midvale, which is 



the junction point of branch lines running to 



Bingham, 14 miles to the west. At Midvale is a 



large mill and lead smelter built for the reduction 



of some of the ores of the Bingham district. This 



smelter is known as the smokeless smelter, for it was one of the 



first smelters to recover and utilize the substances contained in the 



Midvale. 



Elevation 4.365 feet 

 Population 2,209. 

 Denver 735 miles. 



tion canyons to the Salt Lake Valley. 

 Orson Pratt, Erastus Snow, and some 

 others were sent ahead and entered 

 the valley of the Great Salt Lake July 

 21. They explored some parts and on 

 the 23d staked off land and turned the 

 waters of City Creek onto the soil. 

 This was the beginning of irrigation 

 in the West. The main party, under 

 Brigham Young, arrived on July 24, 

 and it is out of respect for him and 

 the main company that this day is 

 taken as Utah's natal day. * * * 



" The pioneers settled on the present 

 site of Salt Lake City. The lirst 

 camp was made about where the 

 Knutsford building [Auerbach's de- 

 partment store] now stands at the 

 corner of Third South [Broadway] 

 and State streets, on the banks of City 

 Creek. * * * At a conference held 

 on August 22 it was decided to call the 

 town Great Salt Lake City. * * * 

 Wilford Woodruff says in his journal : 

 • We have laid out a city 2 miles 

 square and built a fort of hewn tim- 

 ber and of sun-dried bricks or adobe. 

 This fort incloses 10 acres of ground, 

 40 rods of which are covered with 

 blockhouses.' [This was called Old 

 Fort and stood on what is now known 

 as Sixth Ward Square, or the park 

 near the Denver & Rio Grande Western 

 R^lroad station, now called Pioneer 

 Square.] 



"After the first company, headed by 

 Brigham Young, left for the Rocky 

 Mountains, extensive preparations 



were made for others to follow. The 

 ' First Immigration,' so called, con- 

 sisted of 1.553 souls under the com- 

 mand of Parley P. Pratt. It left 

 winter quarters on July 4, 1847. 

 * * * There were 580 wagons, 2.213 

 oxen, 124 horses, 887 cows, 358 sheep, 

 35 hogs, and 716 chickens. This com- 

 pany arrived in Salt Lake City on 

 September 19. By the end of the year 

 some 4,000 people had settled in the 

 valley of the Great Salt Lake. 



" One of the saddest episodes in the 

 history of L'tah is the story of the 

 handcart companies. Every year 

 thousands of people from Europe and 

 America gathered at the Missouri 

 River points en route to L'^tah. * * * 

 How to bring them across the plains 

 was a problem. * * * There was 

 not enough money to provide trans- 

 portation by wagon for such a multi- 

 tude, so Governor Young hit upon a 

 unique plan. * * * [The plan was 

 to make handcarts and have the emi- 

 .grants push them across the plains, 

 with a cow or two for every ten 

 persons.] 



" The plan Avas put in operation in 

 the spring of 1856 and worked well for 

 those companies that started early 

 enough to reach Salt Lake City before 

 winter. In the early autumn of 1856 

 three large companies of nearly 500 

 people each arrived in the valley of 

 the Great Salt Lake. They had 

 tramped more than 1.300 miles from 

 Iowa City to Salt Lake City, drawing 



