Bennett and Arcane assisted their wives down along the little narrow ledge which we used in getting up, keeping their faces toward the rocky wall, and feeling carefully for every footstep.  Thus they worked along and landed safely by the time we had the animals ready for a march.  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.  It seemed to have been, some day, a bed of mortar, but now baked hard, and the hoofs of the oxen dented into it no more than half an inch.  On our left hand was a perpendicular cliff, along which we traveled for quite a little way.  The range of mountains now before us to cross was black, nothing but rocks, and extremely barren, having no water in it that we knew of, so when we reached the summit we camped, tied all our animals to rocks, where they lay down and did not rise till morning.  The women were so tired they were over two hours late, and we had the fire built, the soup cooked and the beds made.  As we did not stop at noon all were very hungry, and ate with a relish.  The poor animals had to go without either grass or water.  When Old Crump and the party came in the men were carrying the babies, and their wives were clinging to their arms, scarcely able to stand.  When they reached the beds they fell at full length on them, saying their feet and limbs ached like the tooth ache.  It seemed to be best for them to rest a little before eating.  Mrs. Bennett said that the only consolation was that the road was getting shorter every day, but were it not for the children she would sooner die than follow the trail any farther.  Their soup was carried to them in the bed, and they were covered up as they lay, and slept till morning.  This day’s walk was the hardest one yet, and probably the longest one of the whole journey, but there was no other place where we could find a place large enough to make a camp and free enough of rocks so that a bed could be made.