“come to the valley of Bear

114

CROFUTT’S NEW OVERLAND TOURIST

 

next sacked the office and destroyed the ma-
terial of the Frontier Index, which was sit-
uated in a building close to the railroad, on
the south side. Hlated with their success,
the mob, numbering about 300 well-armed
desperadoes, marched over to the north side,
up the main street, and made an attack on a
store belonging to one of the leading mer-
chants. Here they were met with a vol-
ley from Henry rifles, in the hands of
brave and determined citizens, who had
collected in the store. The mob was
thrown into confusion, and fled down the
street, pursued by the citizens, about thirty
in number. The first volley and the run-
ning fight left fifteen of the desperadoes
dead on the street. The number of
wounded was never ascertained, but sev-
eral bodies were afterwards found in the
gulches and among the rocks, where they
had crawled away and died. One citizen
was slain in the attack on the jail. From
this time the roughs abandoned the city.
The town declined as soon as the road
was built past it, and now there is nothing
left to mark the place, except a few ol
chimneys, broken bottles and scattered
oyster cans. Passing on, the bluffs are
high and broken, coming close to the road,
leaving buta narrow valley, until wereach
Millis—a side-track, four miles from
Hilliard. Soon after passing Millis, we
iver, down
which we run for two miles and cross that
river on a trestle bridge, 600 feet in length.
Bear RivER—This stream rises about

_ sixty miles to the south in the Uintah and

Wasatch Mountains. It has many tribu-
taries, which abound in very fine trout—
and quite a business is carried on in catch-
ing and salting them for the trade. The
river here runs almost due north, to Port
Neuf Gap. Before reaching the Gap, it
comes to Bear Lake, from which it takes
its name. The lake is about 15 miles
long by seven wide, and contains plenty of
trout and other fish. There are some
pretty Mormon settlements at different
points along the river and lake shore.

_ The Upper Bear Lake Valley is a point
of great interest on account of the fertility
of the soil, its romantic situation, the
beautiful and grand scenery of rock, lake
and mountain in that neighborhood. The
valley lies in Rich county, the most north-
ern county in Utah Territory, and is about
25 miles long, with a varying width.

At Port Neuf Gap, the river turns, and
thence its course is nearly due south; until

it empties into Great Salt Lake, near the
town of Corinne. The course of the
river can best be understood when we say
that it resembles the letter U in shape.
From where it rises it runs due north to
latitude 42 deg. 30 min., then suddenly
turning, it runs south to latitude 41 deg.
43 min., before it finds the lake. Within
this bend lies the Wasatch Mountains, a
spur of the Uintah, a rugged, rough, bold,
but narrow range.

The entire region is wild and pictur-
esque, and would well repay the tourist for
the time spent in visiting it. About sixty
miles distant, to the north, are the far-famed
Soda Springs, of Idaho, situated in Oneida
county, Idaho Territory.

The old route, by which this northern
country was reached, was from Ogden,
via Ogden Canyon and Ogden Valley;
now the best route is via Utah Northern
railroad to Franklin, and from thence
east; see further on.

We now return to the road, and pass
down the valley, cross Yellow Creek, one
of the tributaries of Bear River, and 9.5
miles from Millis, arrive at

Evanston—This is a regular eating
station, where trains from the East and
West stop 30 minutes for dinner; the wait-
ers are Chinese.

Evanston is the county seat of Uintah
county, Wyoming, 957 miles from either
Omaha or San Francisco—just half way
between the Missouri River and the Pa-
cific Ocean. The Railroad Company have
erected a 20-stall round-house, repair shops,
hotel, freight and passenger buildings,
and the place has improved otherwise
very much. It now contains about 1,200
white and about 150 Chinese inhabitants.
The town boasts of some good buildings—
including a fine courthouse. The Age, a
weekly newspaper, is published here.

' The citizens of Evanston are mostly en-
gaged in lumbering, coke-burning, coal-
mining and stock-raising. : :

The railroad was completed to this point
late in the fall of 1868, and a large amount
of freight was delivered here for Salt Lake
Valley and Montana. Saw-mills supply
lumber from the almost inexhaustible
pine forests on Bear River to the south-
ward.

About three miles east to the right of the
road, and of Bear River Valley, is located
the town of

Auma—Here are located some of the
most valuable coal mines on the road, and