MORMON SETTLEMENTS. 
77 
that place, one of which sends out a fine bold stream of cold water. Just below these springs 
Salt creek finds a passage through the small ridge to the west, and the road ascends a low divide, 
from which we had the first view of Utah lake; and a little distance from the divide we came upon 
Summit creek, nineteen miles from Nephi, where a small settlement has been broken up by the 
Indian difficulties. Three miles from this we passed another fine creek, with cultivated fields 
to the left of the road, and encamped at Payson, a fine little village on a stream called Peteet- 
nete, 25.IS miles from our morning camp. 
November 4.—Five miles and a half from Payson we crossed the Spanish fork, where it was 
twenty feet wide and two feet deep; a mile and a quarter from which we passed through Palmyra, 
a fine settlement irrigated by the waiers of this stream. The road was very tortuous, winding 
around fields, irrigating ditches, and spring places in the level valley of Utah lake, which was 
just on our left. Thirteen miles from Payson we passed through Springville, on Hobble creek— 
an older and finer settlement than we had before seen, with some good adobe houses, a few of 
which were of two stories. The road then followed close along the base of the mountains for 
6.37 miles, to the settlement of Provo, on the Timpanogos river. This river, at the present low 
stage of water, runs in several small stony channels, so divided that it is not easy to give its 
dimensions; but its current is deep and rapid, with at least double the volume of the Spanish 
fork. The canon of this stream is two or three miles northeast of this settlement. It is narrow 
at the bottom, but appears favorable for the construction of a road hence to Kamas prairie. 
The western range of the Wahsatch mountains, (at the western base of which we have been 
travelling for several days,) standing on the eastern border of the Great Basin, is continuous, 
extending north and south over five degrees of latitude, from the vicinity of Little Salt lake to 
north of Bear river, broken only by the passage of the Sevier, Timpanogos, Weber, and Bear 
rivers. Their altitude, at 3,000 feet above the general level of the country, is quite uniform ; but it 
occasionally falls down to 2,000, and at a few points rises to 4,000 and 4,500 feet. Their western 
slope is very steep—often inaccessible—presenting generally a formidable barrier to the entrance 
of a railroad into the Basin from the east. Many small streams descend from them; and as far as 
their disintegrations have been deposited at their base upon the alkaline plains of the Basin, it forms 
a rich soil. This line of deposit is narrow, and not continuous, but varying in width, where 
it is found, from two or three miles to ten or tw r elve at a few points, as opposite Utah and 
Great Salt lakes, where it occupies the entire space from the mountains to the lake shores. It is 
to this narrow belt of land that the Mormon settlements are almost exclusively confined, the 
isolated settlements being upon similar deposits in small valleys at the bases of other mountains, 
the small mountain streams upon which, of course, these deposits are the richest, and chiefly 
exist, being used for irrigation. Respectable crops of wheat and oats are produced, and barley 
has been cultivated to some extent; but corn does not flourish well. The grass of this district 
and of the higher mountain valleys is excellent; and potatoes and other roots are produced in 
abundance, and of a superior quality. 
Supplies were freely furnished to us by the authorities of the settlements through which we 
passed, at reasonable rates. 
November 5.—Leaving the Timpanogos river, we ascended a high bluff to a table extending 
along the base of the mountains. The road for eight miles was very fine, and the view of Utah 
lake the best we bad had, reminding us of those of western New York. It is twenty-five miles 
in length, north and south, by twelve in width, with fine, irrigable lands on the east, and pasture 
lands on the west; the whole enclosed by high mountains, with low passages to the south and 
north, through the latter of which its outlet, the river Jordan of the Mormons, descends to Great 
Salt lake. 
Coming opposite the ravine from which Battle creek descends, we again passed to the lower 
level, passing through the village of Pleasant Grove to that of Lake City, on the American fork, 
whic h is a few miles nearly east from the foot of the lake. Altitude, 4,596 feet above the sea. 
