82 FROM FORT BRIDGER TO GREAT SALT LAKE CITY. 



dance, rendering this the most interesting and delightful spot we 

 had seen during our long and monotonous journey. 



Rather more than half-way between the canon of Ogden's Creek 

 and the north end of the valley, a pass is found by which a cross- 

 ing of the mountain into the Salt Lake Valley can be effected. 

 The ascent of the western side is, for the first four or five hundred 

 yards, very abrupt and rocky, and would require a good deal of 

 grading to render a road practicable ; but after this, little or no 

 labour would be necessary, except to cut away the brush, which, in 

 places, is quite thick. The length of the pass is about three miles, 

 and the height of the range through which it makes the cut, from 

 eight hundred to a thousand feet above the valleys on each side. 

 The valley of Ogden's Creek, or Ogden's Hole, (as places of this kind, 

 in the nomenclature of this country, are called,) has long been the 

 rendezvous of the North-west Company, on account of its fine range 

 for stock in the winter, and has been the scene of many a merry 

 reunion of the hardy trappers and traders of the mountains. Its 

 streams were formerly full of beaver, but these have, I believe, entirely 

 disappeared. Some few antelope were bounding over the green, but 

 the appearance of fresh "Indian sign" accounted for their scarcity. 



During our ride through the valley we came suddenly on a 

 party of eight or ten Indian women and girls, each with a 

 basket on her back, gathering grass-seeds for their winter's pro- 

 vision. They were of the class of "root-diggers," or, as the 

 guide called them, "snake-diggers." The instant they discovered 

 us, an immediate and precipitate flight took place, nor could all the 

 remonstrances of the guide, who called loudly after them in their 

 own language, induce them to halt for a single moment. Those 

 who were too close to escape by running, hid themselves in the 

 bushes and grass so effectually, that in less time than it has taken 

 to narrate the circumstance, only two of them were to be seen. 

 These were a couple of girls of twelve or thirteen years of age, 

 who, with their baskets dangling at their backs, set off at their 

 utmost speed for the mountains, and continued to run as long as 

 we could see them, without stopping, or so much as turning their 

 heads to look behind them. The whole party was entirely naked. 

 After they had disappeared, we came near riding over two girls of 

 sixteen or seventeen, who had "cached" behind a large fallen tree. 

 They started up, gazed upon us for a moment, waved to us to con- 

 tinue our journey, and then fled with a rapidity that soon carried 

 them beyond our sight. 



