Sulphate of lime,------} Chloride of calcium, }----- .23 Chloride of
magnesia,--}
Silica, --------------------- 1.50 Vegetable matter, ----------- .20
Moisture and loss, ---------- 4.61
______
100.00
At eleven o'clock, when the temperature of the air was 73°, that of the
water in this was 60.5°; and that of the upper spring, which issued
from the flat rock, more exposed to the sun, was 69°. At sunset, when
the temperature of the air was 66°, that of the lower springs was 58°,
and that of the upper 61°.
19th.--A beautiful and clear morning, with a slight breeze from the
northwest; the temperature of the air at sunrise being 57.5°. At this
time the temperature of the lower spring was 57.8°, springs was 58°,
and that of the upper 54.3°.
The trees in the neighborhood were birch, willow, pine, and an oak
resembling _quercus alba_. In the shrubbery along the river are currant
bushes, (_ribes_,) of which the fruit has a singular piny flavor; and
on the mountain side, in a red gravelly soil, is a remarkable
coniferous tree, (perhaps an _abies_,) having the leaves singularly
long, broad and scattered, with bushes of _spiraea ariaefolia_. By our
observations, this place is 6,350 feet above the sea, in latitude 38°
52' 10", and longitude 105° 22' 45".
Resuming our journey on this morning, we descended the river, in order
to reach the mouth of the eastern fork, which I proposed to ascend. The
left bank of the river here is very much broken. There is a handsome
little bottom on the right, and both banks are exceedingly
picturesque--strata of red rock, in nearly perpendicular walls,
crossing the valley from north to south. About three miles below the
springs, on the right bank of the river, is a nearly perpendicular
limestone rock, presenting a uniformly unbroken surface, twenty to
forty feet high, containing very great numbers of a large univalve
shell; which appears to belong to the genus _inoceramus_.
In contact with this, to the westward, was another, stratum of
limestone, containing fossil shells of a different character; and still
higher up on the stream were parallel strata, consisting of a compact
somewhat crystalline limestone, and argillaceous bituminous limestone
in thin layers. During the morning, we traveled up the eastern fork of
the _Fontaine-qui-bouit_ river, our road being roughened by frequent
deep gullies timbered with pine, and halted to noon on a small branch
of the stream, timbered principally with the narrow-leaved cottonwood,
(_populus angustifolia_,) called by the Canadians _liard amere_. On a
hill near by, were two remarkable columns of a grayish-white
conglomerate rock, one of which was about twenty feet high, and two
feet in diameter. They are surmounted by slabs of a dark ferruginous
conglomerate, forming black caps, and adding very much to their
columnar effect at a distance. This rock is very destructible by the
action of the weather, and the hill, of which they formerly constituted
a part, is entirely abraded.
A shaft of the gun-carriage was broken in the afternoon; and we made an
early halt, the stream being from twelve to twenty feet wide, with
clear water. As usual, the clouds had gathered to a storm over the
mountains, and we had a showery evening. At sunset, the thermometer
stood at 62°, and our elevation above the sea was. 6,530 feet.
20th.--This morning (as we generally found the mornings under these
mountains) was very clear and beautiful, and the air cool and pleasant,
with the thermometer at 44°. We continued our march up the stream,
along a green sloping bottom; between pine hills on the one hand; and
the main Black hills on the other; towards the ridge which separates
the waters of the Platte from those of the Arkansas. As we approached
the diving ridge, the whole valley was radiant with flowers; blue,
yellow, pink, white, scarlet; and purple, vie with each other in
splendor. Esparcette was one of the highly characteristic plants, and a
bright-looking flower (_gaillardia aristata_) was very frequent; but
the most abundant plant along our road today, was _geranium maculatum_,
which is the characteristic plant on this portion of the diving
grounds. Crossing to the waters of the Platte, fields of blue flax
added to the magnificence of this mountain garden; this was
occasionally four feet in height, which was a luxuriance of growth that
I rarely saw this almost universal plant attain throughout the journey.
Continuing down a branch of the Platte, among high and very steep
timbered hills, covered with fragments of sock, towards evening we
issued from the piny region, and made a late encampment near Poundcake
rock, on that fork of the river which we had ascended on the 8th of
July. Our animals enjoyed the abundant rushes this evening, as the
flies were so bad among the pines that they had been much harassed. A
deer was killed here this evening; and again the evening was overcast,
and a collection of brilliant red clouds in the west was followed by
the customary squall of rain.
_Achillea millefolium_ (milfoil) was among the characteristic plants of
the river bottoms to-day. This was one of the most common plants during
the whole of our journey, occurring in almost every variety of
situation. I noticed it on the lowlands of the rivers, near the coast
of the Pacific, and near to the snow among the mountains of the _Sierra
Nevada_.
During this excursion, we had surveyed to its head one of the two
principal branches of the upper Arkansas, 75 miles in length, and
entirely completed our survey of the South fork of the Platte, to the
extreme sources of that portion of the river which belongs to the
plains, and heads in the broken hills of the Arkansas dividing ridge,
at the foot of the mountains. That portion of its waters which were
collected among these mountains, it was hoped to explore on our
homeward voyage.
Reaching St. Vrain's fort on the morning of the 23d, we found Mr.
Fitzpatrick and his party in good order and excellent health, and my
true and reliable friend, Kit Carson, who had brought with him ten good
mules, with the necessary pack-saddles. Mr. Fitzpatrick, who had often
endured every extremity of want during the course of his mountain life,
and knew well the value of provisions in this country, had watched over
our stock with jealous vigilance, and there was an abundance of flour,
rice, sugar, and coffee, in the camp; and again we fared luxuriously.
Meat was, however, very scarce; and two very small pigs, which we
obtained at the fort, did not go far among forty men. Mr. Fitzpatrick
had been here a week, during which time his men had been occupied in
refitting the camp; and the repose had been very beneficial to his
animals, which were now in tolerably good condition.
I had been able to obtain no certain information in regard to the
character of the passes in this portion of the Rocky Mountain range,
which had always been represented as impracticable for carriages, but
the exploration of which was incidentally contemplated by my
instructions, with the view of finding some convenient point of passage
for the road of emigration, which would enable it to reach, on a more
direct line, the usual ford of the Great Colorado--a place considered
as determined by the nature of the country beyond that river. It is
singular, that immediately at the foot of the mountains, I could find
no one sufficiently acquainted with them to guide us to the plains at
their western base; but the race of trappers, who formerly lived in
their recesses, has almost entirely disappeared--dwindled to a few
scattered individuals--some one or two of whom are regularly killed in
the course of each year by the Indians. You will remember, that in the
previous year I brought with me to their village near this post, and
hospitably treated on the way, several Cheyenne Indians, whom I met on
the Lower Platte. Shortly after their arrival here, these were out with
a party of Indians, (themselves the principal men,) which discovered a
few trappers in the neighboring mountains, whom they immediately
murdered, although one of them had been nearly thirty years in the
country, and was perfectly well known, as he had grown gray among them.
Through this portion of the mountains, also, are the customary roads of
the war parties going out against the Utah and Shoshonee Indians; and
occasionally parties from the Crow nation make their way down to the
southward along this chain, in the expectation of surprising some
straggling lodges of their enemies. Shortly before our arrival, one of
their parties had attacked an Arapaho village in the vicinity, which
they had found unexpectedly strong; and their assault was turned into a
rapid flight and a hot pursuit, in which they had been compelled to
abandon the animals they had rode and escape on their war-horses.
Into this uncertain and dangerous region, small parties of three or
four trappers, who now could collect together, rarely ventured; and
consequently it was seldom visited and little known. Having determined
to try the passage by a pass through a spur of the mountains made by
the _Cache-à-la-Poudre_ river, which rises in the high bed of mountains
around Long's peak, I thought it advisable to avoid any encumbrance
which would occasion detention, and accordingly again separated the
party into two divisions--one of which, under the command of Mr.
Fitzpatrick, was directed to cross the plains to the mouth of Laramie
river, and, continuing thence its route along the usual emigrant road,
meet me at Fort Hall, a post belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, and
situated on Snake river, as it is commonly called in the Oregon
Territory, although better known to us as Lewis's fork of the Columbia.
The latter name is there restricted to one of the upper forks of the
river.
Our Delaware Indians having determined to return to their homes, it
became necessary to provide this party with a good hunter; and I
accordingly engaged in that capacity Alexander Godey, a young man about
25 years of age, who had been in this country six or seven years, all
of which time had been actively employed in hunting for the support of
the posts, or in solitary trading expeditions among the Indians. In
courage and professional skill he was a formidable rival to Carson, and
constantly afterwards was among the best and most efficient of the
party, and in difficult situations was of incalculable value. Hiram
Powers, one of the men belonging to Mr. Fitzpatrick's party, was
discharged at this place.
A French _engagé_, at Lupton's fort, had been shot in the back on the
4th of July, and died during our absence to the Arkansas. The wife of
the murdered man, an Indian woman of the Snake nation, desirous, like
Naomi of old, to return to her people, requested and obtained
permission to travel with my party to the neighborhood of Bear river,
where she expected to meet with some of their villages. Happier than
the Jewish widow, she carried with her two children, pretty little
half-breeds, who added much to the liveliness of the camp. Her baggage
was carried on five or six pack-horses; and I gave her a small tent,
for which I no longer had any use, as I had procured a lodge at the
fort.
For my own party I selected the following men, a number of whom old
associations had rendered agreeable to me:
Charles Preuss, Christopher Carson, Basil Lajeunesse, François Badeau,
J.B. Bernier, Louis Menard, Raphael Proue, Jacob Dodson, Louis Zindel,
Henry Lee, J.B. Derosier, François Lajeunesse, and Auguste Vasquez.
By observation, the latitude of the post is 40° 16' 33", and its
longitude 105° 12' 23", depending, with all the other longitudes along
this portion of the line, upon a subsequent occultation of September
13, 1843, to which they are referred by the chronometer. Its distance
from Kansas landing, by the road we traveled, (which, it will be
remembered, was very winding along the lower Kansas river,) was 750
miles. The rate of the chronometer, determined by observations at this
place for the interval of our absence, during this month, was 33.72";
which you will hereafter see did not sensibly change during the ensuing
month, and remained nearly constant during the remainder of our journey
across the continent. This was the rate used in referring to St.
Vrain's fort, the longitude between that place and the mouth of the
_Fontaine-qui-bouit_.
Our various barometrical observations, which are better worthy of
confidence than the isolated determination of 1842, give, for the
elevation of the fort above the sea, 4,930 feet. The barometer here
used was also a better one, and less liable to derangement.
At the end of two days, which was allowed to my animals for necessary
repose, all the arrangements had been completed, and on the afternoon
of the 26th we resumed our respective routes. Some little trouble was
experienced in crossing the Platte, the waters of which were still kept
up by rains and melting snow; and having traveled only about four
miles, we encamped in the evening on Thompson's creek, where we were
very much disturbed by musquitoes.
The following days we continued our march westward over comparative
plains, and, fording the Cache-à-la-Poudre on the morning of the 28th,
entered the Black hills, and nooned on this stream in the mountains
beyond them. Passing over a fine large bottom in the afternoon, we
reached a place where the river was shut up in the hills; and,
ascending a ravine, made a laborious and very difficult passage around
by a gap, striking the river again about dusk. A little labor, however,
would remove this difficulty, and render the road to this point a very
excellent one. The evening closed in dark with rain, and the mountains
looked gloomy.
29th.--Leaving our encampment about seven in the morning, we traveled
until three in the afternoon along the river, which, for the distance
of about six miles, runs directly through a spur of the main mountains.
We were compelled by the nature of the ground to cross the river eight
or nine times, at difficult, deep, and rocky fords, the stream running
with great force, swollen by the rains--a true mountain torrent, only
forty or fifty feet wide. It was a mountain valley of the narrowest
kind--almost a chasm--and the scenery very wild and beautiful. Towering
mountains rose round about; their sides sometimes dark with forests of
pine, and sometimes with lofty precipices, washed by the river; while
below, as if they indemnified themselves in luxuriance for the scanty
space, the green river-bottom was covered with a wilderness of flowers,
their tall spikes sometimes rising above our heads as we rode among
them. A profusion of blossoms on a white flowering vine, (_clematis
lasianthi_) which was abundant along the river, contrasted handsomely
with the green foliage of the trees. The mountains appeared to be
composed of a greenish-gray and red granite, which in some places
appeared to be in a state of decomposition, making a red soil.
The stream was wooded with cottonwood, box-elder, and cherry, with
currant and serviceberry bushes. After a somewhat laborious day, during
which it had rained incessantly, we encamped near the end of the pass
at the mouth of a small creek, in sight of the great Laramie plains. It
continued to rain heavily, and at evening the mountains were hid in
mists; but there was no lack of wood, and the large fires we made to
dry our clothes were very comfortable; and at night the hunters came in
with a fine deer. Rough and difficult as we found the pass to-day, an
excellent road may be made with a little labor. Elevation of the camp
5,540 feet, and distance from St. Vrain's fort 56 miles.
30th.--The day was bright again; the thermometer at sunrise 52°; and
leaving our encampment at eight o'clock, in about half a mile we
crossed the _Cache-à-la-Poudre_ river for the last time; and, entering
a smoother country, we traveled along a kind of _vallon_, bounded on
the right by red buttes and precipices; while to the left a high
rolling country extended to a range of the Black hills, beyond which
rose the great mountains around Long's peak.
By the great quantity of snow visible among them, it had probably
snowed heavily there the previous day, while it had rained on us in the
valley.
We halted at noon on a small branch; and in the afternoon traveled over
a high country, gradually ascending towards a range of _buttes_, or
high hills covered with pines, which forms the dividing ridge between
the waters we had left and those of Laramie river.
Late in the evening we encamped at a spring of cold water, near the
summit of the ridge, having increased our elevation to 7,520 feet.
During the day we had traveled 24 miles. By some indifferent
observations, our latitude is 41° 02' 19". A species of _hedeome_ was
characteristic along the whole day's route.
Emerging from the mountains, we entered a region of bright, fair
weather. In my experience in this country, I was forcibly impressed
with the different character of the climate on opposite sides of the
Rocky Mountain range. The vast prairie plain on the east is like the
ocean; the rain and clouds from the constantly evaporating snow of the
mountains rushing down into the heated air of the plains, on which you
will have occasion to remark the frequent storms of rain we encountered
during our journey.
31st.--The morning was clear; temperature 48°. A fine rolling road,
among piny and grassy hills, brought us this morning into a large trail
where an Indian village had recently passed. The weather was pleasant
and cool; we were disturbed by neither musquitoes nor flies; and the
country was certainly extremely beautiful. The slopes and broad ravines
were absolutely covered with fields of flowers of the most exquisitely
beautiful colors. Among those which had not hitherto made their
appearance, and which here were characteristic, was a new _delphinium_,
of a green and lustrous metallic blue color, mingled with compact
fields of several bright-colored varieties of _astragalus_, which were
crowded together in splendid profusion. This trail conducted us,
through a remarkable defile, to a little timbered creek, up which we
wound our way, passing by a singular and massive wall of dark-red
granite. The formation of the country is a red feldspathic granite,
overlaying a decomposing mass of the same rock, forming the soil of all
this region, which everywhere is red and gravelly, and appears to be of
a great floral fertility.
As we emerged on a small tributary of the Laramie river, coming in
sight of its principal stream, the flora became perfectly magnificent;
and we congratulated ourselves, as we rode along our pleasant road;
that we had substituted this for the uninteresting country between
Laramie hills and the Sweet Water valley. We had no meat for supper
last night or breakfast this morning, and were glad to see Carson come
in at noon with a good antelope.
A meridian observation of the sun placed us in latitude 41° 04' 06". In
the evening we encamped on the Laramie river, which is here very thinly
timbered with scattered groups of cottonwood at considerable intervals.
From our camp, we are able to distinguish the gorges, in which are the
sources of Cache-à-la-Poudre and Laramie rivers; and the Medicine Bow
mountain, towards the point of which we are directing our course this
afternoon, has been in sight the greater part of the day. By
observation the latitude was 41° 15' 02", and longitude 106° 16' 54".
The same beautiful flora continued till about four in the afternoon,
when it suddenly disappeared, with the red soil, which became sandy,
and of a whitish-gray color. The evening was tolerably clear;
temperature at sunset 64°. The day's journey was 30 miles.