CHAPTER II. 
From Great Salt Lake City to the valley of Humboldt river—May 1 to 23, 1854. 
Receipt of orders.—Explorations performed in anticipation of the receipt of these orders, and extract therefrom.—Leaving 
Salt Lake City.—Valley of the Jordan.—Grass and springs.—Railroad line by the south end of Great Salt Lake.—Snow¬ 
storm.—Scenery in entering Tuilla valley.—Mormon settlements.—Old shore-line.—Formidable pass —Goshoot Indians.— 
Indian guides—Salt and warm springs.—Character of rocks.—Water driven over marshes of the lake.—Birds.—Springs in 
conglomerate rocks.—Fish.—Spring or Lone Rock valley.—Fremont’s route of 1845, and Stansbury’s of 1849.—Railroad 
route.—Gophers and grass-seed as Indian food.—Passage of Cedar mountains.—Scarcity of water.—Pass not suitable for a 
railway.—The Desert to Granite mountains and Fish springs.—Storms.—Mirage.—Railroad route to the south and west of 
Pilot Peak.—Miserable condition of Goshoot Indians.—Examination of first range of Goshoot mountains.—Rock ; grass; 
timber.—Fish creek.—Railroad route.—Shoshonee Indians.—Striking contrast between the Shoshonees and Diggers, (Go- 
shoots).—Passage of successive ranges of Goshoot mountains.—Vegetation and rocks.—Gate of Narrow Pass.—Rain; hail; 
springs.—Wretched condition of Indians.—Frost.—Goshoot lake.—Digger wick-ey-up and its occupants.—Digger language.— 
Topographical sketches of railroad line via Pilot Peak.—Franklin River valley; its lakes, rivers, and vegetation.—Old lake- 
shore.—Hastings’s road.—Route for packing-parties.—Pilot Peak railroad line.—Remarkable formation of the basin.—Hum¬ 
boldt Mountain railroad pass.—Country as seen to the west of this pass.—Snow in the pass.—Rocks in the pass.—Valley of 
the Humboldt, by Colonel Fremont. 
May 1.—I received on the first of May, at Great Salt Lake City, your orders of the 21st of 
February preceding, directing me to make the explorations and surveys of the passes eastward 
from the Great Basin embraced in the preceding part of this report—these surveys having been 
made in anticipation of the reoeipt of the instructions referred to, or, in case of their non¬ 
arrival, to facilitate the completion of the explorations already ordered—and then to retrace my 
steps and survey the route which I had proposed, “passing to the south of Great Salt lake in 
the direction of the ‘Sink’ of Humboldt or Mary’s river, thence towards Mud lake and across to 
the tributaries of Feather river, and thence by the most practicable route to tbe valley of tbe 
Sacramento river.” 
May 5.—Leaving Great Salt Lake City, we encamped on the west side of tbe Jordan, which 
is now flowing with a muddy, turbid current, considerably swelled by melting snow. 
May 6.—The wind blew heavily during the latter part of last night, and a slight fall 
of rain renewed with vigorous freshness our previous realizations of camp life; and slight showers 
rapidly succeeded each other, crossing the valley of the Jordan from southwest to northeast du¬ 
ring the day. At this season this valley is supplied with a growth of green grass which occa¬ 
sionally forms a sward, but is generally thinly scattered over tbe surface among tbe varieties of 
artemisia known as sage and greasewood. In crossing tbe level valley from tbe Jordan, tbe 
road is now very good; hut during the rainy seasons there are a few miry alkaline beds, which 
are for the most part, however, easily avoided by making a short circuit to the right or left. 
We ascended slightly the base of the Oquirrh mountain, and encamped in abundant fields of 
grass. Large springs hurst out along the northern base of this mountain near the Great Salt 
lake, but are generally more or less brackish ; yet tbe water is used by the few Mormon 
families settled about them. Day’s march, 12.98 miles; altitude, 306 feet above Great Salt Lake 
City. In constructing a railroad, however, this altitude is entirely unnecessary, as tbe road can 
be carried nearly on a level with tbe water of the lake, without a material change of grade 
while in its vicinity. It is at this point that a road descending the Timpanogos river, and 
passing by tbe north end of Lake Utah, should intersect one descending by the Weber, and 
passing to the south of Great Salt lake, unless it shall he found practicable by the former line 
to pass the Oquirrh mountain through Cedar valley. 
