We
had passed without disaster, the obstacle we most feared, and started
down the rough canon, hope revived, and we felt we should get through.
After winding around among the great boulders for a little while we came
to the two horses we had left behind, both dead and near together. We
pointed to the carcasses, and told them those were the horses we brought
for the women to ride, and that is the way they were cheated out of
their passage. The bodies of the animals had not been touched by bird or
beast. The canon was too deep and dark for either wolves or buzzards to
enter, and nothing alive had been seen by us in the shape of wild game
of any sort. Firearms were useless here except for defence against
Indians, and we expected no real trouble from them.
From what we could see, it was my opinion that no general rain ever fell
in that region. There was some evidence that water had at times flowed
down them freely after cloud bursts, or some sudden tempest, but the
gravel was so little worn that it gave no evidence of much of a stream.
We hurried on as rapidly as possible so as to get into the Jayhawker's
beaten trail which would be a little easier to follow. When we reached
the lowest part of the valley we had to turn south to get around a
little, slow running stream of salt water, that moved north and emptied
into a Salt Lake. No source of the stream could be seen from this point,
but when we reached a point where we could cross, we had a smooth, hard
clay bed to march over.
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