62 NEAR VIEW OF BOOK MOUNTAIN. 
Our latitude at this camp was 38? 57' 26", and our elevation above the sea 3,873 feet ; aver- 
age descent from camp to camp, 423 feet per mile. 
October 1.—W e crossed the river by an excellent ford, which we had observed the Indians 
crossing, from a few yards below our camp (on the Spanish trail) to an island opposite, and from 
its upper end to the shore. The river is 300 yards wide, with a pebbly bottom, as we forded it, 
but with quicksands on either side of our path. "The water, rising just above the axletrees of 
our common wagons, flows with a strong current, and is colored by the red sandstone of the 
country through which it passes, having here the same red muddy character which the Colorado 
has far below, where it enters the Gulf of California. A fine field of blue-grass, in a grove of 
cotton-wood just above the ford, and the lateness of the hour, determined us to encamp for the 
benefit of our animals; but a recent overflow had left a fine deposit of sand on the grass, which 
made it unpalatable to them. 
Indians thronged our camp for several hours. They are the merriest of their race I have ever 
seen, except the Yumas—constantly laughing and talking, and appearing grateful for the trifling 
presents they receive. A wrinkled, hard-faced old savage, with whom I shared my luncheon of 
bread and bacon, quite laughed aloud with joy at his good fortune. They confirmed the report 
we had before heard, of a war between the Mormons and Wah-ka-ra's (Walker's) band of Utahs, 
and his absence in New Mexico to dispose of a herd of cattle which he had stolen from them. 
The Roan mountain, along which we have travelled for more than a week, extends quite to 
Green river, and forms one side of the cañon through which it descends a few miles to the north 
of our present camp. Three miles to the north, if our recent guide is not mistaken, White river 
cuts the opposite side of this cañon, passing, itself in a cañon, through the southern point of Lit- 
tle mountain, which lies chiefly between White and Green rivers, and forms the western side of 
the cafion of the latter stream. But in reality Little mountain, which 1 is united to the Wahsatch 
range on the west, is merely a continuation of C: er and ; Bbporsnce at a 
distance I have described at Blue river. H 3 . ort om its base, 
and its stratified rocks, nearly horizontal, are distinctly visible, ex n ee side of the 
river on the same level. The mountain itself, as we see it here, is bi hundred feet high, 
generally level on its summit; yet there are a few peaks and ridges rising 
level, but their character is the same as the lower. mountain, which | the appearance on the 
side towards us of recently-broken earth, as. though. the valley had just been sunken or the 
mountain thrust up, leaving its sides almost vertical—indeed, quite so with the higher strata, the 
talus having only accumulated at the base. This mountain wall, bapa: 
er, is UE ^ ; 
where no sign of vegetation exists, the api rance of an unfinished for ri 
is pleasing to the AOE] and contrasts the — of men st 
. the high points along our route. Fify mies s'apparenily below us on EG I 
of the Sierra Prong are visible. 
Efforts were made to obtain a guide fi ton among the Indians, but no one 
display of the trinkets, cloths, paints, and lankets they so much covet, t Y ' 
the Wahsatch Pass. ` a 
October 2.—Our course this mornitigs for two hours, was a » little south west, à 
ing the river. It then gently changed to northwest—our march being 16.76 j 
Spanish trail, generally over the same friable soil so often noted; but towards 
the day, m. the borders of a creek, in which we found a little standing wate 
ver C uillibtone 
