120

feet; on, around a jotting point—and again
we emerge into a lengthened widening of
the canyon, and we pause for a moment at

Weber—seven miles from Quarry.
This station lies between two Mormon
settlements, which, taken in connection,
are called Morgan City. The villages are
separated by the river which flows through
bottom lands, most of which are under
cultivation ; population about 1,000. There
are some good buildings of brick and
stone, but the greater number are of logs
and adobe—sun-dried bricks. At this sta-
tion, opposite the depot, the first Z. C. M.
I, appears, which, in Mormon rendering,
means “ Zion’s Co-operative Mercantile In-
stitution ’—a retail branch of the great
co-operative house in Salt Lake City.

This valley shows the effects of irriga-
tion insUtah. Wherever theland is below
the irrigating canals, and is cultivated, it
yields immense crops. Grass grows all
the way to the summit—and on the sum-
mit—of nearly all these mountains, afford-
ing the best of pasturage all the year
round,. as the fall of snow is light,
and enough of what does fall is blown off
by the wind, so that cattle and sheep can
find sufficient for their needs at all seasons.
The same may be said of the whole
slope of the mountains of Utah at the
same altitude.

Game of all kinds is numerous through-
out the same section, and trout exceedingly
plenty, even in the tinyest little streams.
The road follows down the right-hand
bank through this valley until just below

Peterson—a small, unimportant sta-
tion, 9.7 miles from Weber, when it
crosses to the left-hand side, which it fol-
lows for four miles further, between tow-
ering mountains, the valley now lost in the
narrow, gloomy gorge, when suddenly the
whistle shrieks the pass-word as we ap-
proach the

Devil’s Gate—a mere side-track,
soon after leaving which, the brink of the
torrent is neared, and the wild scenery of
the Devil’s Gate is before us. Onward
toils the long train through a deep cut and
across the bridge—50 feet above the seeth-
ing cauldron of waters, where massive.
frowning rocks rear their crests far up
toward the black and threatening clouds
which hover over this witches’ cauldron.
With bated breath we gaze on this wild
scene, and vainly try to analyze our feel-
ings, in which awe, wonder, and admira-
tion are blended. We: have no time for

CROFUTT’S NEW OVERLAND TOURIST

thought, as to how or when this mighty
work was accomplished, no time nor in-
clination to compare the work of nature
with the puny work beneath us, but on-
ward, with quickened speed, down the
right-hand bank of the stream ; on between
these massive piles, worn and seamed in
their ceaseless struggles against the de-
stroying hand of time; on to where yon
opening of light marks the open country;
on, past towering mountain and toppling
rock, until we catch a view of the broad,
sunlit plains, and from the last and
blackest of the buttresses which guard the
entrance into Weber, we emerge to light
and beauty, to catch the first view of the
Great Salt Lake, to behold broad plains
and well-cultivated fields which stretch
their lines of waving green and golden
shades beyond

Uintah Statiom—We have now
passed through the Wasatch Mountains,
and are fairly in the Great Salt Lake Val-
ley. The elevation at this point is 4,560
feet, 2,819 feet lower than Wasatch, 58
miles to the eastward. Uintah is 4.5
miles from the Devil’s Gate.

Near the station, on this broad bottom,
in 1862, was the scene of the Morrisite
massacre.

Here 500 men of Brigham Young’s
Mormon Legion, and 500 men who volun-
teered for the occasion, with five pieces of
artillery, commanded by Robert T. Bur-
ton, attacked the “ Morrisites,” and after
three days’ skirmishing, and after a score
or more had been killed, the “ Morrisites ”
surrendered. The noble Burton, after the
surrender, took possession of everything
he could find in the name of the Church;
shot down their leader, Joseph Morris—
an apostate Mormon—whose only fault
was that he claimed to be the true Prophet
of God, instead of Brigham Young. This
man Burton, at the same time shot and
killed too women who dared to beg him to
save the life of their Prophet.

The followers of Morris consisted of

1 | about 90 able-bodied men, mostly unarmed,

and over 300 old men, women and chil-
dren. The prisoners were all taken to
Salt Lake City, and condemned, and those
who were able to work had their legs or-
namented with a ball and chain, and were
put to picking stone to build the Mormon
temple. On the 9th of March, 1868, these
parties were all pardoned by Hon. &. 8.
Harding, who had that spring arrived in
Utah as Governor of the Territory.