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Journal of Western Travel
by John McTurk Gibson
edited by Weldon Hoppe
June 30th, 1859 -- Left the Sweetwater at three o'clock in the morning, passed about daylight what are called the ice springs
that is a regular quagmire, where it shakes all around, and on digging down about a foot, you find a stratum of ice about three inches thick, clear, pure and nice. Each of the wagons took along a bucket of ice, a few miles further we passed some hot springs, but not seeing them myself, I can't describe them. 15 miles from our morning camp we again reached the Sweetwater, the mountains covered with perpetual snow are now in sight. We intend to reach the summit of the Rocky Mountains tomorrow. Shot 4 hares, and we are now beginning to get tired of them, they don't taste as well as they did at first.Powell
Travelled 22 miles. We left the Sweet Water for a distance of 16 miles. Allmost destitute of water, save two places and it is not good. One of these is the Ice Springs. One foot below the surface we found ice 6 inches thick and grass growing above it nicely. It is situated in a slew 4 miles from the river. This was a pretty sight to see ice dug from the ground and scorching sun over head. We reached the river about 2 o'clock. We left it for 6 miles more. The weather is warm but we have a breeze generally.