The Kintner Letters: fin Astronomer's flccount of the Wheeler Survey in Utah and Idaho INTRODUCTION BY R U S S E L L E . BIDLACK AND EDITORIAL N O T A T I O N S BY E V E R E T T L. COOLEY
[Continued from Winter Issue of the
Quarterly] Soda Springs, I d a h o * August 4, 1877.
T o the Editor of the Register. I t is just two weeks ago since we left here and now we are back again to get our mail and to learn of the terrible times you are having in the east, or at least have been having, for we have no news later than the 28th ult. We left here on the morning of the 22d of July, after having h a d our bumps of excitability somewhat wrought upon by an Indian scare which originated a m o n g the people of Soda Springs. I t seems a half breed I n d i a n had a misunderstanding with a worthless white m a n here and a fight ensued in which poor L o got the worst of the battle, and, I n d i a n like, was bent on revenge if the whole settlement h a d to be sacrificed. T h e r e were about a hundred and fifty or two hundred Indians encamped near the village, and the warriors appeared in war paint and feathers and sent off their squaws and children (a sure sign of trouble), so we were told. We were camped about a half mile from the village, and they sent a m a n out at dusk to ask us to come into town and help defend the place, but as all our property would be exposed, we divided the party, sending five to town and four of us staying in camp, armed with pistols and breech-loading shot guns. Your correspondent stood guard, but not an incident occurred to disturb the quiet of the lovely moonlight night, save the occasional howling of a coyote [sic] or the hooting of an owl on the mountain side. By seven o'clock, July 22d, the whole train was in motion, moving westerly and crossing Bear river again a mile below here. T h e n we followed the river u p its right bank about fifteen miles, camping for two days in a canon while the party ascended peaks in the neighborhood. W e continued u p the right bank of Bear river until opposite Montpelier when we crossed on a bridge, the only one structure over the river from Evanston to Corinne, a distance of about 500 miles. Passing u p Montpelier canon the scenery is constantly changing, and ere we were aware of it, we had ridden twenty-five miles and did not * This letter was published in the Ann Arbor Register, August 22, 1877.
