Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: Vol. 2, Pt. 2

FROM GREAT SALT LAKE TO HUMBOLDT RIVER.
object, when it was not storming, was distorted by mirage, rendering it impossibleto form
correct estimates.of objects seen at a little distance-trees dwindling to mere twigs, and extensive
lakes to glistening surfaces of mud, as they were approached. Very irregular detached mountain masses lay a few miles to the south, and a single one to the north, conforming in their
course to no general theory of parallel lines of crests. The passage to the south of Pilot
Peak, and another south of it, looked open and level, and it is by one of -these that a railroad
should pass west from this desert; the plain of which sweeps entirely around Goshoot mountains, preserving the same level, or nearly so, of our path and of the Great Salt Lake shore,
where a road is already graded, or nearly so, but upon which it will be expensive, however,
to construct a firm foundation for the road; for which extensive piling will be necessary in
crossing all'the miry beds. Approaching the Goshoot mountains, we came to a more firm and
dry soil, covered with artemisia, for 2.34 miles to the foot of the outlying hills, where we
found fine large springs of fresh water, sending out considerable streams to the plain. They
were surrounded by large meadows of excellent grass. These springs are filled with small
fish, and the Indians, therefore, give them the name of Pangwich or Fish springs. In anticipation of meeting their friends there, our guides dismounted before leaving the desert and
prepared their toilet, for which they removed the dark surface-muld of the desert for two or
three inches in depth, when they came to a white-clay mud stratum, with which they painted
(bedaubed) themselves, in stripes, to hideous ugliness, remounted their mules, and appeared
before their friends in holyday costume. We were soon visited by a number of the expected
guests, extremely filthy and very naked, and emaciated by starvation during the long winter,
during which their supply of rats and bugs fail, and they are reduced to the greatest extreme
of want, if their appearance truly indicates it; and they are doubtless among the lowest of the
human race in intelligence and humanity. We fed them and made them happy with small
presents. There is a little scattered salt grass without the oasis spoken of; but it only extends
a short distance, and is succeeded in the hills by artemisia, and in the desert by utter, desolate barrenness.
The teams arrived at camp between 6 o'clock and dark, very much exhausted by a march of
25.32 miles, in thirteen hours of incessant labor after a night of fasting. This desert, by the
line by which we have crossed it, is forty miles wide, but less than thirty miles of it particularly deserves the description given of it where it is 7O miles in width further to the north, and
the fine water in Granite mountain greatly relieves the hardship of crossing it by the southern
line. Altitude of camp, 4,659 feet.
STay 14.-It rained heavily during last night, and showers continued to fall in the mountains throughout the day, during which Captain Morris and Mr. Egloffstein made a reconnoissance of the mountains, and found them very practical for the passage of wagons. Camp
was not moved.
May 15.-A heavy fall of rain at camp during last night, covered the mountains well down
towards the desert with snow. Accompanied by Lieutenant Baker, Messrs. Egloffstein and
Snyder, and a few men, I ascended to the summit of the mountain, and proceeded northeast
along it, seeking for tshe best pass, and to determine with more certainty the practicability of
turning its northern base. It is covered with fine grass and a low growth of cedar. The
rocks were metamorphic, shale, and limestone. At 3 o'clock p. m. we descended to a fine
creek six feet in width, descending from high snow-peaks to the south, and running along the
western base of the first range of the Goshoot mountains, and breaking through it by a broad
passage into the desert, where it disappears. The accompanying profile of the country explored crosses the desert from Granite mountain to the mouth of this creek, which it ascends
to our evening camp. But it is still to the north of this line that the railroad should be carried
by the line already indicated, and to which I should have immediately proceeded, had I not
been led to suppose, by the Senate map of 1848, that the material from which it was constructed was in the possession of the government, and that the re-examination of the country
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