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Lake, a large fresh-water lake flowing into the great Salt Lake. We see here plainly the action of the water in cutting this enormous and gloomy rift in the mountain side. You can look down upon the little stream from a point fifteen hundred feet above it. And I understand that this cañon is only a specimen of many similar ones throughout this grand mountainous region. Laura has spoken of the word butte as descriptive of certain hills. Some of these are strange and awful monuments. Immense masses of rock, a thousand or two thousand feet high, perhaps, sides almost perpendicular, and looking like compact and solid towers of masonry built by a Titanic race of men.

THE PRESIDENT: Favor us, Albert, with the key to the word “Titanic.”

ALBERT: I imagine it refers to the Titans of Greek mythology, a fabled race of giants, far back away from any historic period, powerful enough to make war against Jupiter.

THE PRESIDENT: Whenever a vast, gloomy, and awe-inspiring object is before us it is natural to think of the traditional heathen stories of the freaks of this race of giants, hurling mountains at the gods.

AUNT HARRIET: I suppose that in all ages and among all races of men the love of the marvelous and the idea of the supernatural have been prominent characteristics. And especially do we seem to find everywhere the idea of a rebellious race at war with the ruling powers of the universe. I wonder whether the idea of these Titans has any affinity as to its origin with Genesis 6: 4-7.

THE PRESIDENT: It is not improbable, as we see a strange though often a grotesque and weird likeness to Scripture history in many heathen traditions. I think that Frederick Von Schlegel brings out this thought very clearly in his Philosophy of History. By universal agreement of ancient traditional sources this world was early the scene of a great conflict between opposing moral influences.

MR. GOLDUST: To judge by the frequency of the references to his Satanic Majesty in the nomenclature of the picturesque and grand objects in creation, that personage must have had no little influence in this world. There is hardly a square

mile of mountainous country but has some point named after him.

THE PRESIDENT: In the Golden age of Grecian mythology, man is said to have lived in peace and plenty, and in happy communion with the gods; but this was succeeded by a degenerate or Silver age, in which the passions of men became turbulent

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and wicked. Then followed the Brazen age, in which crime and disorder reached its highest pitch. This was the age of the Titans, and of their war against the gods, which issued in the triumph of the latter. But the Grecian mythology does not embrace the idea of an elevation or restoration of mankind. It gives us the Iron age as the closing term of human degeneracy, and there it leaves us. The idea of malevolent supernatural influences being at work among men, fostering this evil spirit of disobedience, and causing grand and awful disturbances in the physical world, to the dismay and destruction of mankind, is universal. It has been reserved for the Christian system to bring out the truth of a divine fatherhood and rulership of love, through whom and through which the devout may find safety 'amid the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds.'

MR. MERRIMAN: Utah is much more picturesque in its physical features than I supposed.

DR. PAULUS: It is divided into two sections by the Wahsatch Mountains which form part of the eastern slope of the Great Basin. The waters which flow westward find no outlet to the ocean for reasons which I have explained. The Wahsatch range is grand and full of features of interest. The Uintah range is also very picturesque, with towering peaks covered with perpetual snow. For extreme diversity of scenery and climate, this part of the United States is almost without parallel.

ALBERT: It will be a long time before the Great Basin becomes populous.

DR. PAULUS: Portions of it will never become so, but it has, as we have seen, great mineral wealth locked up within it, and some of it is already finding its outlet. KATE: Perhaps the rivers which now sink into it may some day find their way out also.

DR. PAULUS: At Humboldt wells there are about thirty springs, some of which have been sounded over 500 yards without touching bottom. As these springs rise to the surface it is supposed that they may be the outlet of some vast subterranean lake. But the surrounding region is most desolate, and, I agree with Albert, not likely to attract visitors at present, although it is thought that the Humboldt valley might be made productive by irrigation. Being the highway between East and West, this valley may become, in the near future, more attractive for labor and settlement.

CHAPTER VI.

SALT LAKE CITY AND THE MORMONS.

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R. PAULUS: I have here a series of views of Salt Lake City. This place lies, so to speak, on the eastern edge of the Great Basin, at the westerly foot of a spur of the Wahsatch Mountains. We approach the city from Ogden, by the Utah Central Railroad, which follows the eastern shores of the Great Salt Lake. Salt Lake City is about twelve miles from the southern extremity of the lake. The first view shows the Wahsatch Mountains to the left or east, so that we are looking south. The second view is from a point southeast of the city, and therefore looking northwest, with the lake in the background. This is the point from which Brigham Young first saw the valley which was to be his future home, and the chief city of his deluded followers. And here I will ask my friend Bertram to relate to us some of the particulars which led to that memorable journey of Brigham Young. I know that he has been studying the history of this remarkable heresy, and can probably furnish the club with a brief summary of the leading incidents.

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BERTRAM I will do my best. The founder of the Mormon sect, as everybody knows, was Joe Smith, who brought out his book of Mormon in 1830, and in the same year organized the Mormon Church. He was an infamous man, notwithstanding his claims to be the leader of a religious sect; he tried his hand at banking, and cheated his depositors, and was otherwise disreputable. The Mormon Church removed its headquarters from place to place, being compelled to "move on " by the authorities and public sentiment. The irregularities mostly charged against them were burning and plundering houses, and secret assassinations. They were a kind of Ishmaelitish people, and were suspected of all kinds of crimes and misdeeds. At last, I think in 1839, they concentrated to the number of seven or eight thousand in Illinois, and built a city which they called Nauvoo, in Hancock County. They obtained a charter from the State, which permitted them to organize a little army,

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