Mormon Wells

We headed across the great alkali desert, a choking, baking, itching experience. This is the farthest West I have been; Landers and I turned around before we reached this far in 1859. The strangness of the landscape is beyond anything I cound imagine. I am grateful for the company of Smith, a ever-smiling and cheerful companion, absolutely filled with excellent knowledge of this vicinity. I believe even though we may be followed and watched by the Goshoots (or others, be they Danites or Confederate spies or blackguards of another stripe) we have the very best of guides. Our stage looks out of place in this wilderness, far from the beaten trail. I am in dread of the narrow defiles that separate us from the next Stage Post, just the other side of the blue hills ahead and beyond this sea of cruel diamonds. These odd trees Smith calls "Joshua Trees." He says they may be guides to a source of water if one knows where to look. He took me forthwith to a small spring, under a ledge of most unlikely-looking rock, populated even with small fish!