156 MY LIFE , [Chap. 



near Gray's Peak, was a fine spot, and I decided to visit it on 

 my return from California. 



At 1.30 p.m. I continued my journey to Cheyenne, across 

 open plains of thin grass partly irrigated. Near me in the train 

 was a lady chewing gum ; I saw her at intervals for an hour, 

 her jaws going regularly all the time, just like those of a 

 cow when ruminating. Not a pleasant sight, or conducive 

 to beauty of expression. It must be tiring to beginners. We 

 had supper at Cheyenne, good, but a crush ; and then turned 

 west up the slope towards a pass in the Rocky Mountains. 

 The valley we ascended was among rounded hills, more like 

 our downs than mountains. Though the country was quite 

 wild, there were here and there lines of high posts and rails of 

 strong, rough timber, sometimes on one side sometimes on 

 the other, sometimes below and sometimes above the level of 

 the railway. These, I was told, were snow-guards, and were 

 placed just where experience showed they would check the 

 drifts and keep the line clear. In a few places there were 

 snow-sheds with one or two short tunnels, and we reached the 

 summit level at 8 p.m., only 8240 feet above the sea. The 

 next morning we were going through similar rolling, half- 

 desert scenery, with greasewood bushes and bare sand or 

 mud flats white with alkali. At Green river, one of the upper 

 tributaries of the great Colorado river, we got into more 

 picturesque scenery, with rocks standing up like castles, and 

 further on rocky valleys, with wind-worn rocks in strange 

 detached pinnacles. Fine precipices occur at Echo Canon 

 and Weber's Canon. The Devil's Slide is formed by two 

 vertical dykes descending a steep mountain-side only two 

 or three feet apart, leaving a narrow passage or " slide '* 

 between them. 



Reaching Ogden in the afternoon, I took the train to Salt 

 Lake City, passing the fine highly cultivated plain on the 

 shores of Salt Lake, the fields being all irrigated. Some of 

 the meadows were blue with the beautiful Camassia esculenta^ 

 an easily grown garden plant with us. I spent next morning 

 roaming about the city and suburbs. The tabernacle is a 

 wonderful hall that will seat six thousand persons, and is so 



