I had evidently come upon an outpost of one of the Mormon colonies.
Throughout January the days continued to be fine, though at times a southerly cold wind was blowing; but at night it was cold and the water in our buckets was often frozen.

Then we felt what a real comfort a large camp-fire is.

Before sundown we would gather the fallen trees and such sorts of wood, and roaring fires were built in front of each tent.

The smoke, to be sure, blackened our faces, but the fire made the tents wonderfully comfortable, filling them with light and warmth.

For beds we used fragrant pine boughs.
We also had several falls of snow, the heaviest two and a half inches, and on the coldest night, on January 10th, the thermometer went down to 6 deg.