The Oregon Trail, Through Mitchell Pass 64 Chimney Rock, One of the Old Landmarks of the '49 Trail 74 Grizzly Bear 96 Cougar 112 Buffalos 130 Jail Rock and Court House Rock 148 Scott's Bluff, Showing Dome Rock in the Distance 155 The Old Company Quarters at Fort Laramie 184 Sage Brush Growth 202 The Rockies 252 Fremont Peak and Island Lake on the West Slope of the Wind River Range 268 Red Sandstone Cliffs, on Wind River 280 Weber River, Mouth of Echo Canyon 294 Joseph Smith 304 The King of Beaver Island 308 Brigham Young 316 First House Built in Salt Lake City 330 Great Salt Lake 346 Through the Wasatch 360 Dead Man's Falls, Little Cottonwood, Utah 386 Sutter's Fort Before Restoration, Sacramento, Calif 406 First House in Denver 420 THE AWAKENING OF THE DESERT [Illustration: TRAIL THROUGH SALT LAKE DESERT] THE AWAKENING OF THE DESERT CHAPTER I A Call to the Wilderness "Will you join us in a camping trip to the Pacific Coast?" This alluring invitation was addressed to the writer one cold, drizzly night in the early spring of 1866 by Captain Hill Whitmore, one of a party of six men who by prearrangement had gathered round a cheerful wood fire in a village store in Whitewater, Wisconsin. The regular business of the establishment had ended for the day; the tight wooden shutters had been placed upon the doors and windows of the store as was the custom in those times; and the key was now turned in the lock to prevent intrusions. All the lights had been turned off, except that of a single kerosene lamp, suspended from the ceiling near the stove; the gentle glow revealed within a small arc on either side of the room the lines of shelving filled with bolts of dry goods, but toward the front and the rear of the long room it was lost in the darkness. The conditions were favorable for a quiet, undisturbed discussion of a proposed enterprise, for even Ray, the clerk, after ramming a maple log into the fire, had quietly stretched himself out upon one of the long counters near the stove, resting his head upon a bolt of blue denim.