27th I took President Young in my carriage & started for an explo
ring expedition. Br A Lyman came into camp this morning &
informed us that Browns detachment of the Battalion would
be with us in about 2 days. Br Lyman with all of the twelve
in camp with several other Brethren started with us on our
exploring expedition being 8 of the Twelve & 6 other Brethren
among whom was Br Brannan from Francisco Bay being 14 of
us in all. We started for the purpose of visiting the salt lake & mou
ntain on the west of the valley we travled ^2^ miles west fro[m] [page cut off]
the Temple Block & come to the Utah outlet of the Utah lake
we then travled ^14^ miles to the foot of the Bluff or mountain
on the west of the valley whare we found a fountain of fresh
water some brackish the land was not near as fertile on the
west side of the valley as on the east. And lbut little fresh wate[r] [page cut off]
as far as we went while the east side of the valley is as well
wattered as any land I ever saw. we took our dinner at the fresh
water pool & then rode 6 miles to a large rock on the shore of
the Salt lake we here ^we^ made A Halt. And all went into the salt
water & we made up our minds at once that the great salt
lake ought to be added as the eigtht wonder of the world, the
watter was quit warm And was impregnated with as much
salt as could possibly be dissolved in water ist was so strong
that if A particle got into the eyes nose or mouth it would
strangle & put one in pain no person could possibly sink in it
A person would float & rooll on the top of the water like A dry
log & while standing to our waist in water we could not get
our knees to the bottom but would rise to the top like a
cork, we found the most beautiful white salt that I ever saw lyi[ng] [page cut off]
in bunches on the shore whare the water dryed away, the whole
dBody of the water will make at least 3 pints of the best quality of
white salt to one gallon of water. After spending an hour at this plac[e] [page cut off]
we rode south on the lake shore about 4 miles & then returned 10
miles to our place of nooning & camped for the night the whole
distance of the day which I drove my carriage from camp 40 mil
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