FROM GRAND TO GREEN RIYER. 
61 
per mile, encamped, just at sundown, on the remnants of a rain-water creek, and a thin supply 
of grass on the hills. Deep narrow gullies cut in the clay soil, with perpendicular sides, 
obstructed our progress more than usual to-day, as they were from four to sixteen feet deep, and 
from one to twelve feet wide. 
The mountain on Grand river is very broken, and during the day presented many beautiful 
rocks standing high above the adjacent ledges and ridges. From one position a majestic shaft 
stood out clear against the sky; and chimney rocks were almost hourly presented as we rode 
along, with piles occasionally resembling ruins of immense churches and dwellings, and one or 
two on eminences, resembling the ruins of mighty cities of adobe buildings. 
September 29.—For a mile, in the morning, we continued our course of yesterday, W. S. W., 
and then changed to S. W. for seven miles, when we came upon the noted Spanish trail which 
passes the foot of Salt mountain. We then turned W. N. W., following this trail, and encamped, 
after a march of 14.07 miles, in which we descended 12 feet 3 inches per mile, at a rain-water 
pool, a neighboring ravine furnishing a limited supply of grass; but, for once, sage was even more 
scarce than grass, the country being entirely destitute of wood, and presenting only a picture of 
aridity and barrenness. 
From an elevated bluff near camp, Captain Gunnison describes the view as desolate and disheart¬ 
ening in the extreme. “ Except three or four small cotton-wood trees in the ravine near us, there is 
not a tree to be seen by the unassisted eye on any part of the horizon. The plain lying between 
us and the Wahsatch range, a hundred miles to the west, is a series of rocky, parallel chasms, 
and fantastic sandstone ridges. On the north, Roan mountain, ten miles from us, presents bare 
masses of sandstone, and on the higher ridges, twenty miles back, a few scattering cedars may 
be distinguished with the glass; Salt mountain, to the east, is covered half down its sides with 
snow; and to the south, mass after mass of coarse conglomerate is broken in fragments, or piled 
in turret-shaped heaps, colored by ferruginous cement from a deep black to a brilliant red, whilst 
in some rocks there are argillaceous layers, varying to gray or glistening with white. The sur¬ 
face around us is whitened with fields of alkali, precisely resembling fields of snow. The soft 
clayey earth in many places glistens with selenite, and gypsum appears in masses along the 
sharp sides of the bluffs, while fragments of obsidian are scattered over the ground.” 
September 30.—Our course for six miles this morning was the same as that of last evening, fol¬ 
lowing the direction of the hills and dry beds of creeks. We then passed through the range of 
hills on our right, and again resumed our course along the base of Roan mountain; these hills 
presenting precisely the appearance of immense beds and fields of ashes, being more saline and 
friable even than those of previous days, and even more destitute of vegetation, the undulating 
descent being relieved near the Akanaquint or Green river by scattered tufts of grass. Groves 
of cotton-wood lined the stream, and a narrow bottom afforded grass for our animals for the 
night, after a march of 14 miles. The distance from Grand river to this ford, by a very direct 
course, is 70 miles, and from Bitter creek, 67 miles by our route, which, except during rains, is 
entirely without water. By following Grand river, however, some miles below Bitter creek, 
until the Spanish trail is reached, and, following it, crossing a more broken and gullied country, 
a spring is said, to be passed; but its locality is not known to me. This entire section is, how¬ 
ever, not only crossed with great labor and difficulty, but is utterly valueless for occupation and 
settlement by civilized man. 
The greatest difficulty to be overcome in the construction of a railroad on this part of the route, 
would be in obtaining a firm bed for the superstructure in wet weather; and for this purpose it 
would be necessary to Macadamize the road very extensively. Average descent, 12^ feet 
per mile. 
Many Akanaquint or Green river Utahs were on the opposite bank as we encamped, and soon 
crossed it to beg tobacco, and, if possible, to trade; dressed deer-skins being the only article 
they offer for this purpose. 
