WEBER RIVER CA.NONES. 
11 
forming an immense oblong amphitheatre, the summits of the mountain peaks on opposite sides 
being separated by from 10 to 15 miles, while the river bottom, which is a plain, varies in width 
from half a mile to three miles. This is the finest grazing district we have seen in Utah, the 
bottom being covered with luxuriant grass which extends well up the mountain sides, to where 
they are at present covered with snow. The stream is skirted with poplar or cotton-wood trees 
and willow-bushes, and limited amounts of cedar, fir, and pine adorn the ravines and mountain 
sides, but are difficult of access. We encamped, after a march of 27 miles, at the junction of Ben 
Simons’ creek with the Weber, where we found our Delaware guide, (after whom the creek is 
named,) with his brother and their respective squaws and little Indians encamped, with a small 
band of horses and herd of cows grazing near their lodges. These cattle appear in fine condi¬ 
tion, having subsisted here through the entire winter by grazing alone. A much larger herd or 
cattle, on their way to the California market, which had been grazed in the vicinity of Fort 
Bridger during the early part of the winter, were subsequently driven here, where they remained 
for several weeks, having left but a day or two previous to our arrival. A considerable trade 
is carried on in cattle in and near the valley of Great Salt lake ; its main profit arising from 
the exchange of cattle in good condition for those of emigrants broken down on their arrival 
here, compelling an exchange or a ruinous delay in their journey to California. The stock 
obtained by this traffic is turned out to graze during the winter; and although a few of the 
weakest and most emaciated die of cold, the great body of them come out in fine condition in 
the spring, and are sent forward to the California market, or form a new stock in trade for the 
ensuing season. 
Our average ascent from the mouth of the canon to camp, 7.80 miles, has been 53.50 feet 
per mile. The rocks in the gorge partake largely of the character of gneiss; but in descending 
the river with a railroad, no unusual difficulty would be encountered at this point, as the walls 
of the pass are sufficiently retreating to admit of its being carried at a suitable height above 
the stream to escape the danger of floods, and extensive blasting of rocks would be required only 
at a few points. Snows have formed no obstruction to its passage at any time during the past 
winter, nor, so far as I have been able to learn after much inquiry, do they at any time. In 
the valley, at our guide’s camp, its greatest depth during the last winter was twelve inches, but 
seldom exceeded four, and for much of the winter was quite as free of it as the main valley of 
Salt lake. Our guide thinks a much more favorable emigrant road could be opened through 
this pass, ascending Ben Simons’ creek to the vicinity of Green river, than that now followed 
over the mountains, which is still impassable from snow. 
April 6.—We traversed the amphitheatre described yesterday, following the bottom lands 
along the Weber river to the foot of the second mountain and gorge of this stream, our ascent 
being 28.50 feet per mile for 12.20 miles, to Sheep Rock. The sides of this gorge are less pre¬ 
cipitous than those of the lower, and the bottom or passage in which the river winds is frequently 
much wider, while the mountains are of nearly the same altitudes with those, but much more 
broken by ravines. The bottom, too, is less firm, being frequently miry, and numerous small 
channels into which the river is divided are dammed by beaver—green trees of six inches in 
diameter having just been cut down by these animals for their damming purposes—making 
part of it a swamp, miles of which are covered with thick willows, where the soil is too soft 
for a good wagon road without carrying it on an artificial bed, which can be easily made along 
the base of the mountains. The river winds so much that we were forced to cross it sixteen 
times, the water being icy cold. We encamped on Dry creek, which enters the river at the 
head of the gorge, eight and a half miles from Sheep Rock, from which we ascended 27 feet to 
the mile. In constructing a railroad through this defile, it will be necessary to bridge the 
stream several times, which can be readily done; but for the most part the road would be carried 
immediately at the base of the mountains, where it can be constructed with facility by cutting 
along their sides and filling in at their bases. These bases are formed of earth and loose stones 
overlying strata of shale, limestone, conglomerate, and argillaceous sandstone, dipping at every 
