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, 42£ feet per mile. 
October 1.—We 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 canon 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 canon, passing, itself in a canon, through the southern point of Lit¬ 
tle mountain, which lies chiefly between White and Green rivers, and forms the western side of 
the canon of the latter stream. But in reality Little mountain, which is united to the Wahsatch 
range on the west, is merely a continuation of the Roan, whose character and appearance at a 
distance I have described at Blue river. Here, however, we are but a mile or two from its base, 
and its stratified rocks, nearly horizontal, are distinctly visible, extending on each side of the 
river on the same level. The mountain itself, as we see it here, is but a few hundred feet high, 
generally level on its summit; yet .there are a few peaks and ridges rising above this common 
level, but their character is the same as the lower mountain, which has 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, however, is very irregular; 
deep ravines and gorges extend back into it, giving it, with its regular strata presented to us, 
where no sign of vegetation exists, the appearance of an unfinished fortification, on a scale which 
is pleasing to the imagination, and contrasts the works of men strongly with those of nature. 
These walls may be in height from 300 to 500 feet; and its strata, in color, are red, blue, gray, 
and white. Desolate as is the country over which we have just passed, and around us, the view 
is still one of the most beautiful and pleasing I remember to have seen. As we approached the 
river yesterday, the ridges on either of its banks to the west appeared broken into a thousand 
forms—columns, shafts, temples, buildings, and ruined cities could be seen, or imagined, from 
' the high points along our route. Fifty miles apparently below us on the river, the high snow-peaks 
of the Sierra Abajo are visible. 
Efforts were made to obtain a guide from among the Indians, but no one could be induced by a 
display of the trinkets, cloths, paints, and blankets they so much covet, to accompany us even to 
the Wahsatch Pass. 
October 2 .—Our course this morning, for two hours, was a little south of west, gradually leav¬ 
ing the river. It then gently changed to northwest—our march being 16.76 miles, following the 
Spanish trail, generally over the same friable soil so often noted; but towards the latter part of 
the day, along the borders of a creek, in which we found a little standing water, over sandstone 
