lf-mile below was the Scanlon Ferry, a binding tie between Arizona,
on the south and what was now Nevada, on the north, for we had reached
the boundary line shortly after emerging from the canyon. We still
travelled nearly directly west. The ferry was in charge of a
Cornishman who also had as pretty a little ranch as one could expect
to find in such an unlikely place. A purling stream of water, piped
from somewhere up in the hills, had caused the transformation. The
ranch was very homey with cattle and horses, sheep and hogs, dogs and
cats, all sleek and contented-looking. The garden proved that this
country had a warm climate, although we were not suffering from heat
at that time. An effort was being made to grow some orange trees, but
with little promise of success; there were fig trees and date-palms,
with frozen dates hanging on the branches, one effect of the coldest
winter they had seen in this section.

The rancher told us he could not sell us anything that had to be
brought in, for it was seventy miles to the railroad, but we could
look over such supplies as he had. It ended by his selling us a
chicken, two dozen eggs, five pounds of honey, and ten pounds of
flour,--all for $2.50. We did not leave until the next morning, then
bought another jar of honey, for we had no sugar, and two-thirds of
the first jar was eaten before we left the ferry.

We pulled away in such a hurry the next morning that we forgot an axe
that had been carried with us for the entire journey. A five-hour run
brought us to the mouth of the Virgin River, a sand-bar a mile wide,
and with a red-coloured stream little larger than Cataract Creek
winding through it. We had once seen this stream near its head waters,
a beautiful mountain creek, that seemed to bear no relation to this
repulsive-looking stream that entered from the north. A large,
flat-topped, adobe building, apparently deserted, stood off at one
side of the stream. This was the head of navigation for flat-bottomed
steamboats that once plied between here and the towns on the lower end
of the river. They carried supplies for small mines scattered through
the mountains and took out cargoes of ore, and of rock salt which was
mined back in Nevada.

It was here at the Virgin River that Major Powell concluded his
original voyage of exploration. Some of his men took the boats on down
to Fort Mojave, a few miles above Needles; afterwards two of the party
continued on to the Gulf. The coun