To this desert region, after being driven from Nauvoo on the Mississippi, Brigham Young brought his first Mormon colony by a long journey across the plains and mountains, a band of one hundred and forty-three persons, arriving in July, 1847, Utah then being Mexican territory. They organized the State of Deseret, and it afterwards became a Territory of the United States. By prodigious labors, constructing irrigation canals to bring in the mountain streams, they made the soil productive, and now it is one of the most fertile valleys in the country. Almost the whole flow of the Jordan River is thus used for irrigation. Colonies and proselytes were brought in from various parts of the world, until two hundred thousand Mormons came to Utah, and after protracted conflicts with the Government, polygamy was declared illegal, and its discontinuance was ordered by proclamation of the Mormon President. Twelve miles from the Great Salt Lake is the Utah capital and Mormon Zion, Salt Lake City, where the Latter-Day Saints and Gentiles together exceed fifty thousand. Its prosperity is largely due to the extensive mining interests of the surrounding country. The lofty Wahsatch Mountains are close to the city on the northern and eastern sides, while to the south, seen over a hundred miles of almost level plain, is a magnificent range of snow-covered mountains, this being the perpetual and awe-inspiring view from all parts of the city. The streets are wide and lined with shade trees, the residences surrounded by gardens, and irrigation canals border all the thoroughfares, so that the whole place is embosomed in foliage, and the delicious green adds to its scenic attractiveness. The Temple Block of ten acres, the sacred square of the Mormons, is the centre from which the streets are laid towards the four cardinal points of the compass. A high adobé wall surrounds it, and here is the great Mormon Temple of granite, which was forty years building, and cost over $4,000,000, having three pointed towers at each end, the loftiest being surmounted by a gilded figure of the Mormon angel Moroni. Here is also the Mormon Tabernacle, a huge oval-shaped structure, surmounted by a roof rounded like a turtle-back, the interior accommodating twelve thousand people. This is their great meeting-place, and they also have a smaller Assembly Hall for religious services. These are the chief buildings of Salt Lake City. To the eastward in the suburbs is the military post of Fort Douglas, where the troops are barracked that guard the Mormon capital. In the earlier period, when there were fears of trouble, a large garrison was kept at this extensive fortification to maintain government control. OGDEN TO SACRAMENTO.