INTRODUCTION TO KEPOKT AND JOUKNAL. L>}> 



range. By barometric measurement it was 8,140 feet above the sea. The passes arc 

 all, with but little difficult}-, surmountable by wagons ; but their grades, i,dven in 

 Appendix F, and also on the profiles of the routes, Appendix E, will show, I think, 

 that as railroad routes they are impracticable, except (in comparison with other proba- 

 bly attainable routes) at an inadmissible cost. 



The chief agricultural characteristic of the country traversed is desert, the ex- 

 ceptions being as follows : On my more northern route, in the case of the large valleys 

 between the mountain ranges, going westward from Camp Floyd: Hush Valley, 

 Pleasant Valley (the valley of Fish or Deep Creek, not on the route, but in vicinity 

 of Pleasant Valley), Ruby Valley, Walker's Valley, and Carson Valley— all these are 

 cultivable in limited portions ; and on my return route, going eastward from Genoa, 

 Carson Valley (common to outward routes), Steptoe Valley, Antelope Valley, and 

 Crosnian Valley. The elevation of all these valleys above the sea varies from 3,S40 

 feet, the lowest depression of Carson Valley, to (l,14t» feet, the altitude of Steptoe 

 Valley. For a particular description of these ami their capabilities, I refer to my 

 journal at the proper dates. Carson Valley has already shown its capacity to grow 

 'the small cereals and garden vegetables; and, I doubt not, the other vallevs named, 

 though higher in altitude, will be found sufficiently warm to mature the growth of the 

 more hardy cereals, plants, and roots. It will be noticed, by reference to the journal, 

 that my return or more southern route, though 27 miles longer than my outward, 

 with the cut-off made on my return, is much the best, in respect to cultivable valleys 

 and grass, and also timber. The other exceptions to the desert character of the Basin 

 are the small, narrow valleys and ravines of the mountain streams, which, taking then- 

 rise high up in the mountains, course down to the plains or main valleys and sink. 

 These valleys, though rich, are generally too high in altitude, and therefore too cold 

 for arable purposes, but are of great value in furnishing, in great abundance, the small 

 mountain bunch-grass, which has fattening qualities almost, if not quite, equal to oats. 



Another exception to the universal characteristic o^ desert is the abundance of the 

 dwarf cedar, which is to be seen on almost every one of the mountain ridges, and 

 which high up in the mountains is not unfrequently intermingled with the pine, pifion 

 balsam, quaking ash, and mountain mahogany. The abundance of this cedar, as well 

 as occasional supply of other kinds of timber, will make either of my routes, inde- 

 pendent of their being the shortest across the Great Basin, particularly in connection 

 with a direct route from Camp Floyd to Denver City by way of the Timpanogos River 

 and Duchesne's Fork, decidedly the most practicable for the overland telegraph. 



The portions of the country traversed which may be called unmitigatingly 

 desert are, on my more northern route: — the region between Simpson's Springs, in 

 the Champlin Mountains, and the Sulphur Springs, at the east base of the Tots-arr or 

 Goshoot range, a distance of 80 miles, (albeit the grass and water at Fish Springs and 

 water at Devil's Hole intervene to make the greatest distance between water and 

 grass 48 J miles and between water 43 miles) ; between the west base of the Se-day-e 

 Mountains and Carson Lake, a distance of 50 miles ; (this is also mitigated by the 

 grass and water got by digging at Middle Gate, and at Sulphur Spring,) and between 

 Carson Lake and Walker's Rivers, a distance of 21 miles. On my return, or more 



