New Year's day, 1844.--We continued down the valley, between a
dry-looking black ridge on the left, and a more snowy and high one on
the right. Our road was bad along the bottom, being broken by gullies
and impeded by sage, and sandy on the hills, where there is not a blade
of grass, nor does any appear on the mountains. The soil in many places
consists of a fine powdery sand, covered with a saline efflorescence;
and the general character of the country is desert. During the day we
directed our course towards a black cape, at the foot of which a column
of smoke indicated hot springs.
2d.--We were on the road early. The face of the country was hidden by
falling snow. We traveled along the bed of the stream, in some places
dry, in others covered with ice; the traveling being very bad, through
deep fine sand, rendered tenacious by a mixture of clay. The weather
cleared up a little at noon, and we reached the hot springs of which we
had seen the vapor the day before. There was a large field of the usual
salt grass here, peculiar to such places. The country otherwise is a
perfect barren, without a blade of grass, the only plant being some
dwarf Fremontias. We passed the rocky cape, a jagged broken point, bare
and torn. The rocks are volcanic, and the hills here have a burnt
appearance--cinders and coal occasionally appearing as at a
blacksmith's forge. We crossed the large dry bed of a muddy lake in a
southeasterly direction, and encamped at night, without water and
without grass, among sage-bushes covered with snow. The heavy road made
several mules give out to-day; and a horse, which had made the journey
from the States successfully, thus far, was left on the trail.
3d.--A fog, so dense that we could not see a hundred yards, covered the
country, and the men that were sent out after the horses were
bewildered and lost; and we were consequently detained at camp until
late in the day. Our situation had now become a serious one. We had
reached and run over the position where, according to the best maps in
my possession, we should have found Mary's lake or river. We were
evidently on the verge of the desert which had been reported to us; and
the appearance of the country was so forbidding, that I was afraid to
enter it, and determined to bear away to the southward, keeping close
along the mountains, in the full expectation of reaching the
Buenaventura river. This morning I put every man in the camp on
foot--myself, of course, among the rest--and in this manner lightened
by distribution the loads of the animals. We traveled seven or eight
miles along the ridge bordering the valley, and encamped where there
were a few bunches of grass on the bed of a hill-torrent, without
water. There were some large artemisias; but the principal plants are
chenopodiaceous shrubs. The rock composing the mountains is here
changed suddenly into white granite. The fog showed the tops of the
hills at sunset, and stars enough for observations in the early
evening, and then closed over us as before. Latitude by observation,
40° 48' 15".
4th.--The fog to-day was still more dense, and the people again were
bewildered. We traveled a few miles around the western point of the
ridge, and encamped where there were a few tufts of grass, but no
water. Our animals now were in a very alarming state, and there was
increased anxiety in the camp.
5th.--Same dense fog continued, and one of the mules died in camp this
morning. I have had occasion to remark, on such occasions as these,
that animals which are about to die leave the band, and, coming into
the camp; lie down about the fires. We moved to a place where there was
a little better grass, about two miles distant. Taplin, one of our best
men, who had gone out on a scouting excursion, ascended a mountain near
by, and to his surprise emerged into a region of bright sunshine, in
which the upper parts of the mountain were glowing, while below all was
obscured in the darkest fog.
6th.--The fog continued the same, and, with Mr. Preuss and Carson, I
ascended the mountain, to sketch the leading features of the country as
some indication of our future route, while Mr. Fitzpatrick explored the
country below. In a very short distance we had ascended above the mist,
but the view obtained was not very gratifying. The fog had partially
cleared off from below when we reached the summit; and in the southwest
corner of a basin communicating with that in which we had encamped, we
saw a lofty column of smoke, 16 miles distant, indicating the presence
of hot springs. There, also, appeared to be the outlet of those
draining channels of the country; and, as such places afforded always
more or less grass, I determined to steer in that direction. The ridge
we had ascended appeared to be composed of fragments of white granite.
We saw here traces of sheep and antelope.
Entering the neighboring valley, and crossing the bed of another lake,
after a hard day's travel over ground of yielding mud and sand, we
reached the springs, where we found an abundance of grass, which,
though only tolerably good, made this place, with reference to the
past, a refreshing and agreeable spot.
This is the most extraordinary locality of hot springs we had met
during the journey. The basin of the largest one has a circumference of
several hundred feet; but there is at one extremity a circular space of
about fifteen feet in diameter, entirely occupied by the boiling water.
It boils up at irregular intervals, and with much noise. The water is
clear, and the spring deep: a pole about sixteen feet long was easily
immersed in the centre; but we had no means of forming a good idea of
the depth. It was surrounded on the margin with a border of _green_
grass, and near the shore the temperature of the water was 206°. We had
no means of ascertaining that of the centre, where the heat was
greatest; but, by dispersing the water with a pole, the temperature at
the margin was increased to 208°, and in the centre it was doubtless
higher. By driving the pole towards the bottom, the water was made to
boil up with increased force and noise. There are several other
interesting places, where water and smoke or gas escape; but they would
require a long description. The water is impregnated with common salt,
but not so much as to render it unfit for general cooking; and a
mixture of snow made it pleasant to drink.
In the immediate neighborhood, the valley bottom is covered almost
exclusively with chenopodiaceous shrubs, of greater luxuriance, and
larger growth, than we have seen them in any preceding part of the
journey.