of fatal termination."

* These mountains, as the glacial accumulations began to permanently
diminish, must have annually sent a long-continued huge flood of water
down the rivers heading there.

He was mistaken about the trappers, not having ventured, for, as we have
seen, there are traces of at least three parties: that of Ashley, that
of the missionaries mentioned by Farnham, the trappers also mentioned
by him, and the one indicated by the wreckage discovered in Lodore by
Powell's expeditions, though the latter and that mentioned by Farnham
are possibly the same.

The fur trade, which up to about 1835 was principally in beaver skins,
had now somewhat changed, and buffalo robes were the chief article of
traffic. But the buffalo were also beginning to diminish. They were no
longer found on the western slope of the mountains, and no wonder, as
the fur companies ANNUALLY gathered in about ninety thousand marketable
skins during the ten years ending with 1842, yet it was only those
animals killed in the cold months whose pelts were suitable for the fur
business. The largest number of buffalo were killed in the summer months
for other purposes; therefore one is not surprised that they were soon
exterminated in the Colorado River Valley, where they never were as
numerous as on the plains, and apparently never went west of the mouth
of White River.

Fremont went over to the California region, returning through Nevada by
way of the Spanish Trail, past Las Vegas (see cut, page 137), and up the
Virgen, which he called the most dreary river he had ever seen, till he
reached the point where Escalante had turned east. From here he followed
Escalante's trail back to Utah Lake, passing through Mountain Meadows
(1844), afterward the scene of the terrible massacre of emigrants by a
body of Mormons under John D. Lee.* His route was full of interesting
adventures, but it is not possible to give details here.** Passing over
the Wasatch by way of Spanish Fork, he again entered the valley of the
Colorado on the head-waters of the Uinta, pausing briefly at Roubidoux's
Fort on Uinta River. Soon after he left, the fort and its occupants were
annihilated by the Utes. Crossing Ashley Fork he climbed on the trail
high up the mountain, where he had "a view of the river below shut up
amongst rugged mountains;" Whirlpool Canyon and the Canyon of Lodore.
Descending then to Brown's Hole, he crossed the river in a skin boat,
and camped ju