Philadelphia inquirer

              CORINNE. The City of Refuge—Mormon Escapes—Mines, Trade and Prospects.
CORINNE, Utah, July 28, 1870.—Corinne being the only thorough Gentile town in Utah, and as such being a sort of city of refuge for disaffected Mormons, has not failed, as may well be sup-posed, to provoke the enmity of the hierarchy at Salt Lake. Not in all the Territory is there another town or community that has dared to come out and boldly denounce the rule of the Church, or give shelter and encouragement to those seeking to escape from its clutches, Everywhere else the adherents of the Church are so largely in the ascendant that it would not be safe for any one to assail or even express opinions strongly adverse to their policy and practices. 
In numerous cases, parties who have presumed to do so have been roughly handled, and some, as is well known, have been put to death for daring to interfere with their peculiar institu-tions. For any of their own people to make their escape, unless done in a clandestine manner, is almost impossible; the priesthood, if apprised of their intention, always finding some means of defeating it. Sometimes the recusant is arrested for debt, or for tithes due the church, while again some other charge is trumped up as a pretext for imprisonment. Since the completion of the railroad, however, many manage to get away, this greatly facilitating their means of escape. In this place one frequently meets with persons who have extricated themselves from their for-mer thraldom, the most of them being, women who had been forced into a state of concubinage, or young girls who had run away from their pa-rents, in order to escape a similar fate. But a few days ago two of this latter class arrived here from Salt Lake in company with some teamsters from Montana, to which section of country they pro-posed to proceed, in hopes that they would there be free from outrage, and be able to earn a de-cent living. These poor creatures are nothing but children, not more than sixteen or seventeen years of age, and yet the treatment they had met with at the hands of their own parents and cer-tain dignitaries of the church, or had reason to apprehend was in store for them, had compelled them to abandon their relatives and homes. 
It may be observed that, although a town of scarcely more than a year old, it already num-bers over a thousand inhabitants, contains more than a dozen large stores, several fine hotels, sus-tains a daily paper, and enjoys a prosperous trade with Idaho and Montana, as well as with the country more immediately around it. The busi-ness of the place has recently received quite an impulse from the Snake river mines, from which it is the principal point of outfit and supply. Corinne is well situated for commanding a con-siderable local, as well as a large la-boring trade, being located near the loot of the extensive Bear River Valley, on navigable water, but a few miles from Great Salt Lake, and being the depot on the railroad whence the most of the supplies for Montana, together with some for Idaho, are obtained. The land about it, though destitute of timber, is mostly of good quality, and with irrigation could be made to produce abundantly. A scheme for insuring irri-gation on a large scale has been projected, and will no doubt be carried to an early completion—the plan looking to a grant of land from Congress to aid in the construction of a ditch ample for the reclamation of several hundred thousand acres of land now nearly worthless.
For her supplies of lumber and fuel Corinne looks mostly to the timber lands in the moun-tains, some distance above, whence this material is floated down Bear River, the saw logs being cut up at a mill near the town. With these facilities for obtaining them, and the railroad as a further auxiliary for bringing in supplies, neither wood nor lumber is very dear in this place. Owing to the proximity to numerous Mormon settlements, all kinds of agricultural products can also be ob-tained here at moderate rates, rendering this one of the cheapest places for living along the rail-road. 
As regards the Snake River mines, while they seem likely to afford a considerable extent of moderately good diggings, they do not promise any very large pay, the prospect being that the average day wages will not exceed $4 or $5 to the hand. While some men are almost every day leaving this place for the mines, a few are at the same time returning, having been disappointed in their expectations. As the prospecting is now being mostly carried on high up the river, where there are thought to be the best chance's for suc-cess, this would seem to be the most eligible point from which to set out for those mines. 
Supplies, tools, rockers, &c. as well as ani-mals, can also be obtained here at moderate rates, the cost of conveyance from here to the river, by teams, being at the rate of about $12 per man, including outfit of 100 pounds each. The distance from here to the nearest point on the river is about 150 miles, the road being nearly level and a good one most of the way. The en-tire expense of travel from San Francisco to these mines need not exceed $65 to a person of frugal habits. As, however, pack animals will be re-quired by those intending to go far up the river, these had best be procured at this place, the miner buying, also, horses for riding if he has the means.