30 EXrLOEATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN OF UTAH. 



southern route, between Carson River and Carson Lake, a distance of 23 miles, and 

 between the Perry range and the Champlin Mountains, a distance of 103 miles, 

 though Chapin's Springs and Tyler Spring, with their limited pasture-grounds and 

 the good Indian Spring, with its small supply of water but abundance of grass and 

 cedar, within this interval, alleviate, in a very material degree, this last stretch, and 

 take it out of the category of continuous unmitigated desert. (See itineraries, Appen- 

 dixes A and B, for particulars and directions.) 



The most abundant paint in the Oreat Basin is the mlrmis'ht, or wild sage, and as 

 it is seen almost everywhere in the valleys and on the mountains, it gives its peculiar 

 bronze color to the general face of nature. Sometimes this all-prevailing color is 

 modified by the more vivid green of the SarcGb&fas \mimeykaim, or greasewood; some- 

 times by the yellowish light-given of the Lyuoynx, or rabbit-bush, both of which are 



infrequently by the dark color of the scrub cedar, and occasionally of tke pine' and 

 balsam. This plant, the artemisia, I have seen covering probably as much as nine- 

 tenths of the whole country intervening the east base of the Rocky Mountains (longi- 

 tude 104°) and the east base of the Sierra Nevada (longitude 119° 40'), or over a 

 breadth of more than 800 miles, beyond which, east or west, it does not grow. In 

 the aggregate it constitutes no inconsiderable hinderance to the progress of teams 

 over untracked virgin regions. In height it is ordinarily about 2J feet, though I 

 have seen it in one locality as high as 8 feet. Near the ground its trunk usually 

 ranges in diameter from 3 to 6 inches, though I have seen it, when very luxuriant, 

 nearlv a foot. It is quite brash in fiber, and therefore easily trampled down, and the 

 light soil admits of. its being readily plucked up by the roots: On this account, and 

 because of its rich resinous properties, it makes a verv (prick and acceptable fuel, and, 

 indeed, in the main valleys and plains, where there" is scarcely ever any timber, it 

 constitutes the chief resource in this particular. It also constitutes an easy and ever 

 available means to the Digger Indians of making .for themselves circular inclosures or 

 barriers of about four feet in height against the wind, and which, summer and winter, 

 are their only habitations. It is also used by them to make their long line of fences, 

 on which they hang, vertically, their nets across the paths of the rabbits, and in this 

 way catch them. It emits, particularly when brushed by your person or trampled 

 upon, a very strong, pungent odor, resembling both camphor and turpentine, and the 

 atmosphere is almost constantly charged with its aroma. Indeed, the idea is ever 

 uppermost that on account of this property it will eventually be found of value in the 

 materia mediva and mechanic arts. It seems to thrive best in an arid, dry climate, and 

 its presence is a sure indication of the desert character of the soil and of its utter 

 worthlessness for purposes of agriculture. 1 



The Sarcobatus vermhularls, or greasewood, is the next most abundant plant, and, 

 like the artemma, is found co-extensive with the country lying between the Rocky 

 Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. It is sometimes found alone, but more frequently 

 scattered among the artwhift, and, like it, on account of its rich carbonaceous quali- 

 ties, is a very common fuel on the pla jns 1 ^jtsjheigl^rdinai%, is 3 to 4 feet If 



(0 See scientific description of this shrub, by Dr. Geo. Engelmann, Appendix M. 



