nities to study mining life, and to become acquainted with the numerous frauds that were going on. I was also thrown in a good deal with the Mormons, and was able to study their characters and manners.
Little Cottonwood canon is about twelve miles long, is very narrow, and very deep. A stream runs down the middle of it, which is very swift in the months of June and July, when it is full, on account of the melting of immense quantities of snow on the mountains.
The Gold Region of Nevada.
Tannersville is a town, or settlement, named in honor of a woman who kept a hotel or stage-station there. There was a mill and smelter at that place at the time of which I am writing.
Alta City, at the foot of the two canons, Big and Little Cottonwood, is a town of rather more importance. When I was there it had three stores, a hotel, a couple of lodging-houses, a livery stable, and a large number of drinking-saloons. The dwelling-houses were mostly very small, and were entirely invisible in winter, being covered by the snow. The snow usually commences to fall about the middle of September, but I have seen it in August. During the winter many parts of the canon are impassable, except by the use of sledges and snow-shoes, and there is constant danger from avalanches, which carry everything before them.
The Wellington mine lost its foreman and a miner through an avalanche while I was there, and many men have lost their lives in this canon, their bodies remaining buried beneath the snow until spring.
I doubt whether many of the mines in this district will ever be successfully worked. The Emma is one of the best, and I think could be made to pay, if judiciously operated. This mine is situated in the side of the mountain, and is almost perpendicular. On looking at it, it is impossible not to wonder how the owners ever reached it, or are able to work it. I believe that there is an immense lead of silver here which will yet be unearthed.
This part of the country offers a rich field for the botanist and naturalist. The flowers are in the greatest profusion, and are of every imaginable hue. They grow from the mouth of the canon to some of the highest points on the mountains.
