THE MORMON SETTLEMENT. We have been favored with the perusal of a letter from the "Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory,"' written by a gentleman, a native of this city, to his friends here. The letter is dated Sept. 22d, 1851. We make a few extracts.
* * "We arrived here on the 6th of Octo-ber, 1850, and remained in our tent until Dec. 25th, having lived in wagon and tents about eight months, during which we enjoyed excel-lent health. Last May, I had the pleasure of joining an exploring expedition with the Gov-ernor & Suit, some 300 miles South, & were gone about four weeks. We passsed through some of the grandest scenery the earth affords ; through the finest vallies, over the highest moun-tains, among volcanic remains and ruined cities, hieroglyphics, ancient pottery, sea shells of va-rious kinds, enough to fill volumes. The quartz also glistened along the sides of many of the mountains ;—occasionally the horsemen would bring in specimens where the yellow veins give undoubted evidence what those gorgeous piles contained. But wheat is more valuable where it is $3 per bushel ; and a rapidly increasing population forbid that our attention should be turned to that until our graneries are well filled, for we are at no time certain but that a flood of emigration may be turned upon us and consume all that we have yet been able to accumulate, and we are too far from the next market to risk that yet.
We have an excellent bath house over the warm sulpher springs, a short distance from our home, which we consider very advantageous to health. A little beyond is also a spring hot enough to boil an egg. We can reach Great Salt Lake by travelling about 25 miles west, a fine place for salt water baths. We have set-tlements all the way along an hundred miles north, and about 300 south of this place. We intend the next season to settle a colony on the Rio Virgin, just beyond the south rim of the great Basin. Last spring a company of about 250 went south to locate near San Diego, and to open a channel for other emigration by water, and thus save the vast land journey across the plains.
At Iron county, 250 miles south, we have found plenty of iron ore, coal, &c., which will supply us with our iron ware, &c. We are now laying the track for a railroad from the stone quarries some six miles from the city, which will bring the stone for building into our city with great ease, as it is on an inclined plane; and next year we shall begin a Temple in the midst of these mountains. We already have a building 120 by 160 feet, in progress for our usual Sunday meetings. To give you all the details of things in these vallies of the mountains would fill volumes.
I have been attending today the first sitting of the legislature at Utah. A part of the officers, sent by the President to officate in the Territori-al government, are about leaving us, whether because the climate does not agree with them, or that they cannot live as luxuriantly as at Washington, I am unable to say; but undoubted-ly they will find sufficient pretext to answer all questions in "Mormon monstrosities ;"—sev-eral of the officers, however, happen to be Mor-mons, so will of course not leave—among whom is our beloved Govenor.
We have not had so heavy an emigration through the valley to the gold mines this season as usual, for which we are very thankful. The Indians are getting to be very troublesome on the route; a great many companies have been robbed by them, and have come into the valley destitute.
Dr Bernhisel, our delegate, left for Washing-ton on the first of September. Forty or fifty persons leave for the States, England and Ger-many, tomorrow morning—among whom is Mr J. M. Grant, who has been officiating as Mayor of this city up to this time.
