218 PASS THROUGH THE WAHSATCH MOUNTAIKS. 



bj Big Kanyon Creek, and wMcli has lately been opened and 

 worked by the Mormons, who demand a small toll on each animal, 

 to be devoted to its improvement. The ascent is not so abrupt 

 as I had anticipated. The valley is very narrow, with bold escarp- 

 ments on either side, scarcely affording space between them for 

 the passage of the tm"bulent little mountain-stream, which, with 

 its bright, flashing waters, comes tumbling down the pass with a 

 cheerful, murmuring sound, producing, after the dead silence of 

 the barren plains and dreary sand-flats of the lake, a sensation 

 peculiarly pleasant and refreshing. 



The road, which is very crooked, and in many places even 

 dangerous, passes over a friable sandstone, underlying a heavy 

 stratum of limestone. Cedar, oak, maple, service-berry, aspen, 

 bitter cotton- wood, and willows are found in the pass ; and I ob- 

 served several fine vines of the wild hop, loaded with fruit. Much 

 heavy grading, expensive side-cutting and walling, besides inclined 

 planes, would be required to render this pass at all eligible for the 

 passage of a railway. A good wagon-road, however, can here be 

 made, and at a moderate expense. The great obstacle to the use 

 of all these mountain passes is the vast accumulation during the 

 winter of snow, which, drifting over from the bordering heights, 

 effectually blocks up the valleys, not unfrequently to the depth 

 of thirty feet ; thus rendering them impassable from five to six 

 months in the year. 



As the sun went down, the temperature became sensibly lower, 

 and at nine o'clock the thermometer stood at 46°. Observations of 

 Polaris gave for latitude 40° 45' 40''. 5. Day's march up the pass, 

 seven miles. 



Friday, August 30. — Morning clear and cool. Thermometer 

 at sunrise, 52°. Our road continued up the Big Kanyon Creek, 

 (crossing its south fork) for five miles, when we reached the summit 

 of the range, and struck upon Bauchmin's Creek, a branch of East 

 Kanyon Creek, which latter is a tributary of the Weber. Lati- 

 tude by meridian observation at summit, 40° 44' 48". The val- 

 ley is here from two to three miles broad, and near the summit 

 several large pines are growing, as yet undisturbed by the 

 emigration. Scrub-oak and aspen constitute the predominant 

 growth. 



The road continues up the valley of Bauchmin's Creek, crossing 

 several small affluents, until reaching a main fork coming in from 

 the right. This stream, which is six feet wide and two feet deep, 



