NEWS FROM THE PLAINS.
Arrival from the Salt Lake—News from the
California Emigrants—Their Progress—
Territorial Government in the Great
Basin.
In the Frontier Guardian, the paper published at Kanesville, Iowa, by Mr. O. Hyde, we find some later and quite interesting news from the Salt Lake Valley and the California emigrants. The Guardian is the organ of the Mormons, and of course devotes a good deal of its space, on this occasion, to Mormon affairs. We extract so much of the intelligence as is of general interest. This news was brought by A. W. Babbitt, who arrived at Kanesville on the 3d inst. in thirty-six days from the Valley of the Salt Lake. He was water-bound on the route eight days. He performed the trip with one man and seven horses, and a light wagon in which he brought the mail. The Guar-dian says:
News from the Valley is quite encouraging. The crickets entirely disappear where fowls and swine are permitted to ran ge. They have suffered comparative-ly none this year by those insects. Their wheat crops are good, corn looks prosperous—beets, carrots, squashes, pumpkins and other vegetables are excellent. The health of the citizens there was good, and great ac-tivity in business prevailed. About 12,000 or 15,000 California emigrants passed though the Valley, and about 3,000 calculated to Winter there. Many of the Californians had been baptized and intend to make that place their home—some of the first-class of them for wealth, character, and influence. No difficulty occurred between our people and the California emigrants, and the Indians are all friendly and seem anxious to learn and to become civilized. They wish to learn to culti-vate the soil, so that they can have plenty of bread, &c.
Our people celebrated the 24th of July instead of the 4th, for two reasons : one was, because that was the day on which Br. Young and the Pioneers first entered the Valley ; and the other was, they had little or no bread or flour to make cakes, &c. that early, and not wishing to celebrate on empty stomachs, they post-poned it till their harvest came in. We are only able to sketch the heads of the news this week for want of time and space, but we intend to pour out the whole flood in our next number. The Valley has been a place of general deposit for property, goods, &c. by Californians. When they saw a few bags and kegs of gold dust that had been gathered and brought in by our boys, it made them completely enthusiastic. Pack mules and horses that were worth $25 or $30 in ordi-narv times, would readily bring $200 in the most valua-ble property at the lowest price. Goods and other property ware daily offered at auction in all parts of the city. For a light Yankee wagon, sometimes three or four great heavy ones would be offered in exchange, and a yoke of oxen thrown in at that.
Common domestic sheetings sold from five to ten cents per yard by the bolt. The best of spades and shovels for fifty cents each. Vests, that cost in St. Louis one dollar and fifty cents each, were sold at Salt Lake for thirty-seven and a half cents. Full chests of joiners' tools, that would cost one hundred and fifty dollars in the East, were sold in that place tor twenty-five dollars. Indeed, almost every article, except su-gar and coffee, is selling, on an average, fifty per cent, below wholesale prices in the Eastern cities. Would it not be a grand speculation for Kanesvilie and St. Jo-seph merchants to go to the Salt Lake to lay in their Fall stock of goods? They can buy plenty of wagons there for less than one half what the iron costs in St. Louis, and any number of cattle to haul them back.—This kind of operation has put the people on their legs in the Valley, but when the alcohol was brought for-ward and sold, it threw some of them off their legs, not having had any for a couple of years or so, and being rather exhausted by digging gold all the time, they were not wise to hazard a contest with so potent an enemy, more to be dreaded than the mobs of Illinois.
The people there think more of their wheat crop than of the gold mines. They know, because they have been made to feel its superior worth. Many of the emigrants would pay no attention to the warnings of our people, not to let their cattle drink of the water so strongly impregnated with saleratus. They said it was all a "Mormon humbug" about the alkali being strong enough to kill their their cattle, and the conse-quences were, that mere than two thousand dead car-cases of oxen lay strewed along the way, and the very offensive smell caused thereby rendered it almost im-possible to travel near the road.
The Cholera has been very fatal among the Indians. In one place, Mr. Babbitt mentions having passed ten deserted lodges, with many dead Indians lying about, and their bodies torn and half eaten by the wolves.
He met Livingston & Kinkade's company, command-ed by William Miller, about 200 miles west of Lara-mie, then all well. Met Egan at Weber River—Hick-man and Hatch beyond the South Pass—Perkins's and ' Taylor's company this side of Laramie. They had one stampede; about 150 teams hitched up, took fright in the day time, and ran with their loads like wild buffalo. One lady was killed, (Mrs. Hawk,) and several others badly bruised and injured. George A.'s and Ezla's company were all well, but getting along slowly on account of high water and constant rains. Gully, Mc-Carty, and Kellogg died of cholera out of the first company. But four of our people died of cholera on the road.
Mr. Babbitt certainly deserves our thanks and praise for his perseverance in swimming rivers, and towing over his wagon on rafts made with a hatchet and tied together with lariatts. It cannot be a very pleasant job to freight a rude sort of raft with a wagon and push off into a rapid current and pole out about one quarter of the distance across, then take one end of a rope in your teeth while the other end is attached to the raft, and plunge into the stream like a spaniel and swim over with craft and cargo in tow, being swept down stream over snags and sawyers for a quarter or half a mile as Mr. B. informs us has been his lot in two or three in-stances. The sacrifice of property thrown out and left by the road side by the Californians, between Laramie and the Valley is beyond calculation as Mr. B. informs us. Gen. Wilson is getting slowly on; he will have to remain in the Valley this Winter most likely, and not visit the diggings until spring. Mr. B. thinks that Livingston and Kinkade will be broken merchants because of so many goods getting to the Valley before their and having been sold for less than prime cost.—The market is glutted.
We learn by Mr. B. that Major Simmonson has estab-lished the Government post at Smith's Fork of the Bear River, about 50 miles from the Salt Lake City. We learn, from the same source, that the citizens of the Great Basin have organized a Provisional Govern-ment, called the "State of the Desert," under which the civil policy of the nation is duly adminstered, and will so continue until Congress shall otherwise provide by law.
