some few neat adobe houses outside; about fifty in all.  The settlement was growing strong enough to scatter itself somewhat about the site marked off for the future town.  One of the first things the Mormons always did in establishing a new settlement was to plant fruit and shade trees, and vines, and the like, so that in a very few years there was a condition of comfort only attained by a non-Mormon settlement after the lapse of a quarter of a century.

In the valley below Kanab a base line was measured nine miles long, and from this starting-point our work of triangulating the country was carried on.  Trips with pack-trains to establish geodetic stations and examine the lay of the land were made in all directions.  Of course the reader understands that up to this time no map had been made of this vast region north of the Colorado, and that many parts of it were entirely unknown.  The Mormons had traversed certain districts, but they only knew their own trails and roads and had as yet not had time to carry on any unnecessary examinations away from the lines they travelled.  Some of our experiences were interesting, but I have not the space here for recording many of them.  It was my first winter out of doors, and sleeping in snow-storms and all kinds of weather was a novelty, though the climate is fine and dry.  It was only in the higher regions that we encountered much snow, yet the temperature in the valleys was quite cold enough.  In leading the open-air life from summer to winter and to summer again, the system becomes adjusted, and one does not suffer as much as at first glance would seem probable; in fact, one suffers very little if any, provided there are plenty of good food and warm clothing.

On one occasion, when we were coming away from a snowy experience in the Uinkaret Mountains, we were enveloped in a severe flurry one morning soon after starting.  When we had gone about a mile and a half, the whole world seemed to terminate.  The air was dense with the fast-falling, snowflakes, and all beyond a certain line was white fog, up, down, and sideways.  A halt was imperative, as we knew not which way to turn except back, and that was not our direction.  Descending from our horses we stepped out in the direction of the illimitable whiteness, only to find that there was nothing there to travel on.  The only thing to do was to camp, which we did forthwith.  By our holding up a blanket at the four corners, and chopping some dry wood out of the side of a dead tree, Andy was able to a start a fire, and we waited for atmospheric developments.  Presently there were rifts in the white, and as we looked we could discern, far, far below our position, another land.  As the storm broke away more and more, it was seen that we had arrived at the edge of a cliff with a sheer drop of one thousand feet.  At last we were able to go on and hunted for a way to descend, which we did not find.  Consequently we continued northwards and finally, on the second day, met with a waggon-track