One day from here would bring them to the edge of the snow, and they debated as to the best course to pursue.  Some of them were fearful they could not cross the snow with the oxen, for it seemed to be quite deep.  The best place to cross seemed directly west of them.  South was a higher peak, and to the north it was surely impassible.  There seemed to be a faint sign of a trail from this point towards the lowest point in the snow mountains.  There were some bones of cattle around the springs which they thought was an indication that in years gone by there had been some traveling on this trail.  There surely would be water in the snow which could be got by melting it, and on the whole it seemed best to make the attempt to cross at the lowest place.  There were no signs of travel except the trail which had not been used in years, not signs of civilization except the bones.

Starting from the water holes which showed no signs of having been used for several years, their next camp was, as they had calculated, on the edge of the snow where they found plenty of dry juniper trees for fire. and of course plenty of water.  Here they killed an ox and fed the hungry so that they were pretty well refreshed.  This was an elevated place and they could look back over the trail across the desert for, what seemed to them, a hundred miles, and the great dangers of their journey were discussed.  Said one of them to Tom Shannon:—­“Tom, you killed the first game we have come across in two months.  Even the buzzards and coyotes knew better than to go out in into the country where the cursed Mormon saint sent us numbskulls.”  Another said that while they had been seeking a heaven on earth they had passed through purgatory, or perhaps a worse place still nearer the one from which sulphurous fumes arise, and now they hoped that there might be a somewhat more heavenly place beyond the snow.  One who had been silent seemed awakened by inspiration and spoke in impromptu lines somewhat as follows, as he pointed out to the dim distance:—­

  “Yonder in mountains’ gray beauty,
      Wealth and fame decay. 
  Yonder, the sands of the desert,
  Yonder, the salt of the sea,
  Yonder, a fiery furnace,
  Yonder, the bones of our friends,
  Yonder the old and the young
     Lie scattered along the way.”

Some even confessed the desperate thoughts that had come to their minds when they were choking and starving.  We have mentioned four of the train who had perished beside the trail and it will be remembered that one party of eleven started out on foot before the wagons were abandoned by the rest of the party.  Nothing was heard of these for seven years, but long afterward nine skeletons were found at the remains of a camp, and the other two were afterward seen in the gold fields.  When spoken to about this party, they burst into tears and could not talk of it.  So it is known that at least thirteen men perished in the country which has well been named Death Valley.