Winding down a deep gulch, through which runs a mountain-stream, we came out upon the plateau that overlooks the great Salt Lake Valley from the south. It is a scene of rare natural beauty. Beyond and across, the plain spreads out from five to ten miles, with pretty farm-houses and herds of cattle. To the north it was lost in the dim distance,--the whole flat almost as a floor and sparkling with irrigating canals, and walled upon either side by hills that mount to the snow-line, and out from which flow the cool, sparkling waters that make this once-desert valley blossom under the hand of industry. The city, but a short way to the north, is regularly and handsomely laid out, with many fine buildings, and is filled with thick gardens of trees and flowers that give it a fairy-land aspect. No internal city of the continent lies in such a field of beauty. Water is conveyed from a mountain-stream down to the city by a canal; and bright, sparkling pools course freely and constantly down its paved gutters upon either side of every street, keeping the shade-trees alive and growing, supplying drink for animals and water for household purposes, and delightfully cooling the summer-air. The trees, at the proper season, are almost always loaded with the finest fruit; and the soil is favorable to the small grains. Forty and fifty bushels of wheat to the acre is an ordinary crop; and it is said that over _ninety_ bushels have been raised. No one seems poor. No beggar is seen in the streets. No prostitute lives here; and there are but few saloons in town. When a drunken man is seen, he is almost invariably a miner or a soldier. The people are far more civil and quiet than is usual in these western parts. Great Salt Lake is a very great curiosity. It is about one hundred and forty miles long and from seventy to eighty wide, and is a vast collection of brine. The water seems to be saturated with salt to its utmost capacity of holding it in solution, indicating the neighborhood of great deposits of mineral salt. Where the wind dashes the water upon the beach the salt collects in such quantities as to be conveniently shoveled into carts for domestic use. It is also procured by evaporation--five bucketfuls of water leaving one of salt. The lake encompasses several islands, with high, mountainous peaks, among the largest of which is Church Island, situated so near the eastern shore as to be accessible for grazing purposes, for which it is extensively used. The air is wonderfully pure and bright. Rain seldom falls in the valley, though storms occur in the mountains almost daily. A cloud comes up in the western hills, rolls along the crest and threatens the city with a deluge, but then breaks into wind and showers, and seems to run along the hill-tops and sail away eastward into the snowy range.