14th. Sunday. Laid over to-day. Weather very warm, but cold last night.
Jonathan killed a sage hen to-day; we found it good, delicate flavored
meat, much better than prairie hen. A packer had a horse shot last
night with an arrow about 10 miles below us; another man lost two
horses and four oxen which were stolen by the Indians.
15th. Got an early start this morning, traveled about four miles and
came to the hot springs. They are curiosities worth visiting. They boil
up like water in a kettle, and are hot enough to cook eggs. I attempted
to put my hand into one of them to the wrist, but could not get it in
to the knuckles without scalding. An amusing story is told of some
Dutchmen who came to it, and stopped their teams by its side, when one
of them went to the spring, and seeing it boiling up clear and limpid,
threw himself down on the ground and thrust his face into the water,
but instantly sprang to his feet with his eyes staring, and brushing
the hot water from his face with both hands, he screamed out, "Trive
on, Honce, trive on; hell ish no more dan five milsh from here!" The
springs smell strong of sulphur, and discharge a large quantity of
water. Near them are some good cold springs. Four miles from these
springs we left the Mormon trace which leads over to Kanyon Creek, and
passed through a valley to a branch of the Humboldt River. Road good
but dusty, not much grass. At the point where we left the Mormon trace,
we found an excellent spring of pure cold water, as cold as ice water.
We passed a natural well near the place where we struck a branch of the
Humboldt, and camped two miles below at some sulphur springs, strongly
impregnated with alkali. This well has no soundings that have ever been
reached, there are also some of the same in Thousand Spring Valley. The
whole country hereabouts has been at some day past a great volcanic
crater, and its distinctive features at this day will remind one of
that place spoken of above by the honest Dutchman, rather than
pertaining to earth. We have passed springs gushing out of the rocks
to-day so poisonous that a wine glass full would kill a man as soon as
so much arsenic. They can be told by the smell for 40 rods before
reaching them. We found good grass to-night, although there was
considerable alkali mixed with it.