1st.--We left to-day the Duchesne fork, and, after traversing a broken
country for about sixteen miles, arrived at noon at another
considerable branch, a river of great velocity, to which the trappers
have improperly given the name of Lake fork. The name applied to it by
the Indians signifies great swiftness, and is the same which they use
to express the speed of a racehorse. It is spread out in various
channels over several hundred yards, and is everywhere too deep and
swift to be forded. At this season of the year, there is an
uninterrupted noise from the large rocks which are rolled along the
bed. After infinite difficulty, and the delay of a day, we succeeded in
getting the stream bridged, and got over with the loss of one of our
animals. Continuing our route across a broken country, of which the
higher parts were rocky and timbered with cedar, and the lower parts
covered with good grass, we reached, on the afternoon of the 3d, the
Uintah fort, a trading-post belonging to Mr. A. Roubideau, on the
principal fork of the Uintah river. We found the stream nearly as rapid
and difficult as the Lake fork, divided into several channels, which
were too broad to be bridged. With the aid of guides from the fort, we
succeeded, with very great difficulty, in fording it, and encamped near
the fort, which is situated a short distance above the junction of two
branches which make the river.
By an immersion of the first satellite, (agreeing well with the result
of the occultation observed at the Duchesne fork,) the longitude of the
post is 109° 56' 42", the latitude 40° 27' 45".
It has a motley garrison of Canadian and Spanish _engagés_ and hunters,
with the usual number of Indian women. We obtained a small supply of
sugar and coffee, with some dried meat and a cow, which was a very
acceptable change from the _pinoli_ on which we had subsisted for some
weeks past. I strengthened my party at this place by the addition of
Auguste Archambeau, an excellent voyageur and hunter, belonging to the
class of Carson and Godey.
On the morning of the 5th we left the fort [Footnote: This fort was
attacked and taken by a band of the Utah Indians since we passed it,
and the men of the garrison killed--the women carried off. Mr.
Roubideau, a trader of St. Louis, was absent, and so escaped the fate
of the rest.] and the Uintah river, and continued our road over a
broken country, which afforded, however, a rich addition to our
botanical collection; and, after a march of 25 miles, were again
checked by another stream, called Ashley's fork, where we were detained
until noon of the next day.
An immersion of the second satellite gave for this place a longitude of
109° 27' 07", the latitude, by observation, being 40° 28' 07".
In the afternoon of the next day we succeeded in finding a ford; and,
after traveling 15 miles, encamped high up on the mountain-side, where
we found excellent and abundant grass, which we had not hitherto seen.
A new species of _elymus_, which had a purgative and weakening effect
upon the animals, had occurred abundantly since leaving the fort. From
this point, by observation 7,300 feet above the sea, we had a view of
Colorado below, shut up amongst rugged mountains, and which is the
recipient of all the streams we had been crossing since we passed the
rim of the Great Basin at the head of the Spanish fork.
On the 7th we had a pleasant but long day's journey, through beautiful
little valleys and a high mountain country, arriving about evening at
the verge of a steep and rocky ravine, by which we descended to
"_Brown's hole_." This is a place well known to trappers in the
country, where the canons through which the Colorado runs expand into a
narrow but pretty valley, about 16 miles in length. The river was
several hundred yards in breadth, swollen to the top of its banks, near
to which it was in many places 15 to 20 feet deep. We repaired a
skin-boat which had been purchased at the fort, and, after a delay of a
day, reached the opposite banks with much less delay than had been
encountered on the Uintah waters. According to information, the lower
end of the valley is the most eastern part of the Colorado; and the
latitude of our encampment, which was opposite to the remains of an old
fort on the left bank of the river, was 40° 46' 27", and, by
observation, the elevation above the sea 5,150 feet. The bearing to the
entrance of the canon below was south 20° east. Here the river enters
between lofty precipices of red rock, and the country below is said to
assume a very rugged character, the river and its affluents passing
through canons which forbid all access to the water. This sheltered
little valley was formerly a favorite wintering ground for the
trappers, as it afforded them sufficient pasturage for their animals,
and the surrounding mountains are well stocked with game.
We surprised a flock of mountain sheep as we descended to the river,
and our hunters killed several. The bottoms of a small stream called
Vermilion creek, which enters the left bank of the river a short
distance below our encampment, were covered abundantly with _F.
vermicularis_, and other chenopodiaceous shrubs. From the lower end of
Brown's hole we issued by a remarkably dry canon, fifty or sixty yards
wide, and rising, as we advanced, to the height of six or eight hundred
feet. Issuing from this, and crossing a small green valley, we entered
another rent of the same nature, still narrower than the other, the
rocks on either side rising in nearly vertical precipices perhaps 1,500
feet in height. These places are mentioned, to give some idea of the
country lower down on the Colorado, to which the trappers usually apply
the name of a canon country. The canon opened upon a pond of water,
where we halted to noon. Several flocks of mountain sheep were here
among the rocks, which rung with volleys of small-arms. In the
afternoon we entered upon an ugly, barren, and broken country,
corresponding well with that we had traversed a few degrees north, on
the same side of the Colorado. The Vermilion creek afforded us brackish
water and indifferent grass for the night.
A few scattered cedar-trees were the only improvement of the country on
the following day; and at a little spring of bad water, where we halted
at noon, we had not even the shelter of these from the hot rays of the
sun. At night we encamped in a fine grove of cottonwood-trees, on the
banks of the Elk Head river, the principal fork of the Yampah river,
commonly called by the trappers the Bear river. We made here a very
strong fort, and formed the camp into vigilant guards. The country we
were now entering was constantly infested by war parties of the Sioux
and other Indians, and is among the most dangerous war-grounds in the
Rocky mountains; parties of whites having been repeatedly defeated on
this river.
On the 11th we continued up the river, which is a considerable stream,
fifty to a hundred yards in width, handsomely and continuously wooded
with groves of the narrow-leaved cottonwood, _populus angustifolia_;
with these were thickets of willow, and _grain du boeuf_. The
characteristic plant along the river is _F. vermicularis_, which
generally covers the bottoms; mingled with this are saline shrubs and
artemisia. The new variety of grass which we had seen on leaving the
Uintah fort had now disappeared. The country on either side was sandy
and poor, scantily wooded with cedars, but the river bottoms afforded
good pasture. Three antelopes were killed in the afternoon, and we
encamped a little below a branch of the river, called St. Vrain's fork.
A few miles above was the fort at which Frapp's party had been defeated
two years since; and we passed during the day a place where Carson had
been fired upon so close that one of the men had five bullets through
his body. Leaving this river the next morning, we took our way across
the hills, where every hollow had a spring of running water with good
grass.
Yesterday and to-day we had before our eyes the high mountains which
divide the Pacific from the Mississippi waters; and entering here among
the lower spurs or foot-hills of the range, the face of the country
began to improve with a magical rapidity. Not only the river bottoms,
but the hills were covered with grass; and among the usual varied flora
of the mountain region, these were occasionally blue with the showy
bloom of a _lupinus_. In the course of the morning we had the first
glad view of buffalo, and welcomed the appearance of two old bulls with
as much joy as if they had been messengers from home; and when we
descended to noon on St. Vrain's fork, an affluent of Green river, the
hunters brought in mountain sheep and the meat of two fat bulls. Fresh
entrails in the river showed us that there were Indians above, and at
evening, judging it unsafe to encamp in the bottoms, which were wooded
only with willow thickets, we ascended to the spurs above, and forted
strongly in a small aspen grove, near to which was a spring of cold
water. The hunters killed two fine cows near the camp. A band of elk
broke out of a neighboring grove; antelopes were running over the
hills; and on the opposite river-plains herds of buffalo were raising
clouds of dust. The country here appeared more variously stocked with
game than any part of the Rocky mountains we had visited; and its
abundance is owing to the excellent pasturage, and its dangerous
character as a war-ground.
13th.--There was snow here near our mountain camp, and the morning was
beautiful and cool. Leaving St. Vrain's fork, we took our way directly
towards the summit of the dividing ridge. The bottoms of the streams
and level places were wooded with aspens; and as we neared the summit,
we entered again the piny region. We had a delightful morning's ride,
the ground affording us an excellent bridle-path, and reached the
summit towards mid-day, at an elevation of 8,000 feet. With joy and
exultation we saw ourselves once more on the top of the Rocky
mountains, and beheld a little stream taking its course towards the
rising sun. It was an affluent of the Platte, called Pullam's fork, and
we descended to noon upon it. It is a pretty stream, twenty yards
broad, and bears the name of a trapper who, some years since, was
killed here by the _Gros Ventre_ Indians.
Issuing from the pines in the afternoon we saw spread out before us the
valley of the Platte, with the pass of the Medicine Butte beyond, and
some of the Sweet Water mountains; but a smoky haziness in the air
entirely obscured the Wind River chain.
We were now about two degrees south of the South Pass, and our course
home would have been eastwardly; but that would have taken us over
ground already examined, and therefore without the interest that would
excite curiosity. Southwardly there were objects worthy to be explored,
to wit: the approximation of the head-waters of three different
rivers--the Platte, the Arkansas, and the Grand River fork of the Rio
Colorado of the Gulf of California; the passages at the heads of these
rivers; and the three remarkable mountain coves, called Parks, in which
they took their rise. One of these Parks was, of course, on the western
side of the dividing ridge; and a visit to it would once more require
us to cross the summit of the Rocky mountains to the west, and then to
recross to the east, making in all, with the transit we had just
accomplished, three crossings of that mountain in this section of its
course. But no matter. The coves, the heads of the rivers, the
approximation of their waters, the practicability of the mountain
passes, and the locality of the three Parks, were all objects of
interest, and, although well known to hunters and trappers, were
unknown to science and to history. We therefore changed our course, and
turned up the valley of the Platte instead of going down it.
We crossed several small affluents, and again made a fortified camp in
a grove. The country had now became very beautiful--rich in water,
grass, and game; and to these were added the charm of scenery and
pleasant weather.
14th.--Our route this morning lay along the foot of the mountain, over
the long low spurs which sloped gradually down to the river, forming
the broad valley of the Platte. The country is beautifully watered. In
almost every hollow ran a clear, cool, mountain stream; and in the
course of the morning we crossed seventeen, several of them being large
creeks, forty to fifty feet wide, with a swift current, and tolerably
deep. These were variously wooded with groves of aspen and cottonwood,
with willow, cherry, and other shrubby trees. Buffalo, antelope, and
elk, were frequent during the day; and, in their abundance; the latter
sometimes reminded us slightly of the Sacramento valley.
We halted at noon on Potter's fork--a clear and swift stream, forty
yards wide, and in many places deep enough to swim our animals; and in
the evening encamped on a pretty stream, where there were several
beaver dams, and many trees recently cut down by the beaver. We gave to
this the name of Beaver Dam creek, as now they are becoming
sufficiently rare to distinguish by their names the streams on which
they are found. In this mountain they occurred more abundantly than
elsewhere in all our journey, in which their vestiges had been scarcely
seen.
The next day we continued our journey up the valley, the country
presenting much the same appearance, except that the grass was more
scanty on the ridges, over which was spread a scrubby growth of sage;
but still the bottoms of the creeks were broad, and afforded good
pasture-grounds. We had an animated chase after a grizzly bear this
morning, which we tried to lasso. Fuentes threw the lasso upon his
neck, but it slipped off, and he escaped into the dense thickets of the
creek, into which we did not like to venture. Our course in the
afternoon brought us to the main Platte river, here a handsome stream,
with a uniform breadth of seventy yards, except where widened by
frequent islands. It was apparently deep, with a moderate current, and
wooded with groves of large willow.
The valley narrowed as we ascended, and presently degenerated into a
gorge, through which the river passed as through a gate. We entered it,
and found ourselves in the New Park--a beautiful circular valley of
thirty miles diameter, walled in all round with snowy mountains, rich
with water and with grass, fringed with pine on the mountain sides
below the snow line, and a paradise to all grazing animals. The Indian
name for it signifies "cow lodge," of which our own may be considered a
translation; the enclosure, the grass, the water, and the herds of
buffalo roaming over it, naturally presenting the idea of a park. We
halted for the night just within the gate, and expected, as usual, to
see herds of buffalo; but an Arapahoe village had been before us, and
not one was to be seen. Latitude of the encampment 40° 52' 44".
Elevation by the boiling point 7,720 feet.
It is from this elevated cove, and from the gorges of the surrounding
mountains, and some lakes within their bosoms, that the Great Platte
river collects its first waters, and assumes its first form; and
certainly no river could ask a more beautiful origin.
16th.--In the morning we pursued our way through the Park, following a
principal branch of the Platte, and crossing, among many smaller ones,
a bold stream, scarcely fordable, called Lodge Pole fork, and which
issues from a lake in the mountains on the right, ten miles long. In
the evening we encamped on a small stream near the upper end of the
Park. Latitude of the camp 40° 33' 22".
17th.--We continued our way among the waters of the Park over the
foot-hills of the bordering mountains, where we found good pasturage,
and surprised and killed some buffalo. We fell into a broad and
excellent trail, made by buffalo, where a wagon would pass with ease;
and, in the course of the morning we crossed the summit of the Rocky
mountains, through a pass which was one of the most beautiful we had
ever seen. The trail led among the aspens, through open grounds, richly
covered with grass, and carried us over an elevation of about 9,000
feet above the level of the sea.
The country appeared to great advantage in the delightful summer
weather of the mountains, which we still continued to enjoy. Descending
from the pass, we found ourselves again on the western waters; and
halted to noon on the edge of another mountain valley, called the Old
Park, in which is formed Grand river, one of the principal branches of
the Colorado of California. We were now moving with some caution, as,
from the trail, we found the Arapahoe village had also passed this way;
as we were coming out of their enemy's country, and this was a
war-ground, we were desirous to avoid them. After a long afternoon's
march, we halted at night on a small creek, tributary to a main fork of
Grand river, which ran through this portion of the valley. The
appearance of the country in the Old Park is interesting, though of a
different character from the New; instead of being a comparative plain,
it is more or less broken into hills, and surrounded by the high
mountains, timbered on the lower parts with quaking asp and pines.
18th.--Our scouts, who were as usual ahead, made from a _butte_ this
morning the signal of Indians, and we rode up in time to meet a party
of about 30 Arapahoes. They were men and women going into the
hills--the men for game, the women for roots--and informed us that the
village was encamped a few miles above, on the main fork of Grand
river, which passes through the midst of the valley. I made them the
usual presents; but they appeared disposed to be unfriendly, and
galloped back at speed to the village. Knowing that we had trouble to
expect, I descended immediately into the bottoms of Grand river, which
were overflowed in places, the river being up, and made the best
encampment the ground afforded. We had no time to build a fort, but
found an open place among the willows, which was defended by the river
on one side and the overflowed bottoms on the other. We had scarcely
made our few preparations, when about 200 of them appeared on the verge
of the bottom, mounted, painted, and armed for war. We planted the
American flag between us; and a short parley ended in a truce, with
something more than the usual amount of presents. About 20 Sioux were
with them--one of them an old chief, who had always been friendly to
the whites. He informed me that, before coming down, a council had been
held at the village, in which the greater part had declared for
attacking us--we had come from their enemies, to whom we had doubtless
been carrying assistance in arms and ammunition; but his own party,
with some few of the Arapahoes who had seen us the previous year in the
plains, opposed it. It will be remembered that it is customary for this
people to attack the trading parties which they meet in this region,
considering all whom they meet on the western side of the mountains to
be their enemies. They deceived me into the belief that I should find a
ford at their village, and I could not avoid accompanying them; but put
several sloughs between us and their village, and forted strongly on
the banks of the river, which was everywhere rapid and deep, and over a
hundred yards in breadth. The camp was generally crowded with Indians;
and though the baggage was carefully watched and covered, a number of
things were stolen.
The next morning we descended the river for about eight miles, and
halted a short distance above a canon, through which Grand river issues
from the Park. Here it was smooth and deep, 150 yards in breadth, and
its elevation at this point 6,700 feet. A frame for the boat being very
soon made, our baggage was ferried across; the horses, in the mean
time, swimming over. A southern fork of Grand river here makes its
junction, nearly opposite to the branch by which we had entered the
valley, and up this we continued for about eight miles in the afternoon
and encamped in a bottom on the left bank, which afforded good grass.
At our encampment it was 70 to 90 yards in breadth, sometimes widened
by islands, and separated into several channels, with a very swift
current and bed of rolled rocks.
On the 20th we traveled up the left bank, with the prospect of a bad
road, the trail here taking the opposite side; but the stream was up,
and nowhere fordable. A piny ridge of mountains, with bare rocky peaks,
was on our right all the day, and a snowy mountain appeared ahead. We
crossed many foaming torrents with rocky beds, rushing down the river;
and in the evening made a strong fort in an aspen grove. The valley had
already become very narrow, shut up more closely in densely timbered
mountains, the pines sweeping down the verge of the bottoms. The _coq
de prairie (tetrao europhasianus)_ was occasionally seen among the sage.
We saw to-day the returning trail of an Arapahoe party which had been
sent from the village to look for Utahs in the Bayou Salade, (South
Park;) and it being probable that they would visit our camp with the
desire to return on horseback, we were more than usually on the alert.
Here the river diminished to 35 yards, and, notwithstanding the number
of affluents we had crossed, was still a large stream, dashing swiftly
by, with a great continuous fall, and not yet fordable. We had a
delightful ride along a good trail among the fragrant pines; and the
appearance of buffalo in great numbers indicated that there were
Indians in the Bayou Salade, (South Park,) by whom they were driven
out. We halted to noon under the shade of the pines, and the weather
was most delightful. The country was literally alive with buffalo; and
the continued echo of the hunters' rifles on the other side of the
river for a moment made me uneasy, thinking perhaps they were engaged
with Indians; but in a short time they came into camp with the meat of
seven fat cows.
During the earlier part of the day's ride, the river had been merely a
narrow ravine between high piny mountains, backed on both sides, but
particularly on the west, by a line of snowy ridges; but, after several
hours' ride, the stream opened out into a valley with pleasant bottoms.
In the afternoon the river forked into three apparently equal streams;
broad buffalo trails leading up the left hand, and the middle branch,
indicating good passes over the mountains; but up the right-hand
branch, (which, in the object of descending from the mountain by the
main head of the Arkansas, I was most desirous to follow,) there was no
sign of a buffalo trace. Apprehending from this reason, and the
character of the mountains, which are known to be extremely rugged,
that the right-hand branch led to no pass, I proceeded up the middle
branch, which formed a flat valley-bottom between timbered ridges on
the left and snowy mountains on the right, terminating in large
_buttes_ of naked rock. The trail was good, and the country
interesting; and at nightfall we encamped in an open place among the
pines, where we built a strong fort. The mountains exhibit their usual
varied growth of flowers, and at this place I noticed, among others,
_thermopsis montana_, whose bright yellow color makes it a showy plant.
This has been a characteristic in many parts of the country since
reaching the Uintah waters. With fields of iris were _aquilegia
coerulea_, violets, esparcette, and strawberries.
At dark we perceived a fire in the edge of the pines, on the opposite
side of the valley. We had evidently not been discovered, and, at the
report of a gun, and the blaze of fresh fuel which was heaped on our
fires, those of the strangers were instantly extinguished. In the
morning, they were found to be a party of six trappers, who had
ventured out among the mountains after beaver. They informed us that
two of the number with which they had started had been already killed
by the Indians--one of them but a few days since--by the Arapahoes we
had lately seen, who had found him alone at a camp on this river, and
carried off his traps and animals. As they were desirous to join us,
the hunters returned with them to the encampment, and we continued up
the valley, in which the stream rapidly diminished, breaking into small
tributaries--every hollow affording water. At our noon halt, the
hunters joined us with the trappers. While preparing to start from
their encampment, they found themselves suddenly surrounded by a party
of Arapahoes, who informed them that their scouts had discovered a
large Utah village in the Bayou Salade, (South Park,) and that a large
war-party, consisting of almost every man in the village, except those
who were too old to go to war, were going over to attack them. The main
body had ascended the left fork of the river, which afforded a better
pass than the branch we were on, and this party had followed our trail,
in order that we might add our force to theirs. Carson informed them
that we were too far ahead to turn back, but would join them in the
bayou; and the Indians went off apparently satisfied. By the
temperature of boiling water, our elevation here was 10,430 feet, and
still the pine forest continued, and grass was good.
In the afternoon we continued our road occasionally through open pines,
with a very gradual ascent. We surprised a herd of buffalo, enjoying
the shade at a small lake among the pines, and they made the dry
branches crack, as they broke through the woods. In a ride of about
three-quarters of an hour, and having ascended perhaps 800 feet, we
reached the _summit of the dividing ridge_, which would thus have an
estimated height of 11,200 feet. Here the river spreads itself into
small branches and springs, heading nearly in the summit of the ridge,
which is very narrow. Immediately below us was a green valley, through
which ran a stream; and a short distance opposite rose snowy mountains,
whose summits were formed into peaks of naked rock. We soon afterwards
satisfied ourselves that immediately beyond these mountains was the
main branch of the Arkansas river--most probably heading directly with
the little stream below us, which gathered its waters in the snowy
mountains near by. Descriptions of the rugged character of the
mountains around the head of the Arkansas, which their appearance amply
justified, deterred me from making any attempt to reach it, which would
have involved a greater length of time than now remained at my disposal.
In about a quarter of an hour, we descended from the summit of the Pass
into the creek below, our road having been very much controlled and
interrupted by the pines and springs on the mountain-side. Turning up
the stream, we encamped on a bottom of good grass near its head, which
gathers its waters in the dividing crest of the Rocky mountains, and,
according to the best information we could obtain, separated only by
the rocky wall of the ridge from the head of the main Arkansas river.
By the observations of the evening, the latitude of our encampment was
39° 20' 24", and south of which; therefore, is the head of the Arkansas
river. The stream on which we had encamped is the head of either the
_Fontaine-qui-bouit_, a branch of the Arkansas, or the remotest head of
the south fork of the Platte, as which you will find it laid down on
the map. But descending it only through a portion of its course, we
have not been able to settle this point satisfactorily. In the evening
a band of buffalo furnished a little excitement, by charging through
the camp.
On the following day we descended the stream by an excellent
buffalo-trail, along the open grassy bottom of the river. On our right,
the bayou was bordered by a mountainous range, crested with rocky and
naked peaks; and below, it had a beautiful park-like character of
pretty level prairies, interspersed among low spurs, wooded openly with
pine and quaking asp, contrasting well with the denser pines which
swept around on the mountain sides. Descending always the valley of the
stream, towards noon we descried a mounted party descending the point
of a spur, and, judging them to be Arapahoes--who, defeated or
victorious, were equally dangerous to us, and with whom a fight would
be inevitable--we hurried to post ourselves as strongly as possible on
some willow islands in the river. We had scarcely halted when they
arrived, proving to be a party of Utah women, who told us that on the
other side of the ridge their village was fighting with the Arapahoes.
As soon as they had given us this information, they filled the air with
cries and lamentations, which made us understand that some of their
chiefs had been killed.
Extending along the river, directly ahead of us, was a low piny ridge,
leaving between it and the stream a small open bottom, on which the
Utahs had very injudiciously placed their village, which, according to
the women, numbered about 300 warriors. Advancing in the cover of the
pines, the Arapahoes, about daylight, charged into the village, driving
off a great number of their horses, and killing four men; among them,
the principal chief of the village. They drove the horses perhaps a
mile beyond the village, to the end of a hollow, where they had
previously forted, at the edge of the pines. Here the Utahs had
instantly attacked them in turn, and, according to the report of the
women, were getting rather the best of the day. The women pressed us
eagerly to join with their people, and would immediately have provided
us with the best horses at the village; but it was not for us to
interfere in such a conflict. Neither party were our friends, or under
our protection; and each was ready to prey upon us that could. But we
could not help feeling an unusual excitement at being within a few
hundred yards of a fight, in which 500 men were closely engaged, and
hearing the sharp cracks of their rifles. We were in a bad position,
and subject to be attacked in it. Either party which we might meet,
victorious or defeated, was certain to fall upon us; and, gearing up
immediately, we kept close along the pines of the ridge, having it
between us and the village, and keeping the scouts on the summit, to
give us notice of the approach of Indians. As we passed by the village,
which was immediately below us, horsemen were galloping to and fro, and
groups of people were gathered around those who were wounded and dead,
and who were being brought in from the field. We continued to press on,
and, crossing another fork, which came in from the right, after having
made fifteen miles from the village, fortified ourselves strongly in
the pines, a short distance from the river.
During the afternoon, Pike's Peak had been plainly in view before us,
and, from our encampment, bore N. 87° E. by compass. This was a
familiar object, and it had for us the face of an old friend. At its
foot were the springs, where we had spent a pleasant day in coming out.
Near it were the habitations of civilized men; and it overlooked the
broad smooth plains, which promised us an easy journey to our home.
The next day we left the river, which continued its course towards
Pike's Peak; and taking a southeasterly direction, in about ten miles
we crossed a gentle ridge, and, issuing from the South Park, found
ourselves involved among the broken spurs of the mountains which border
the great prairie plains. Although broken and extremely rugged, the
country was very interesting, being well watered by numerous affluents
to the Arkansas river, and covered with grass and a variety of trees.
The streams, which, in the upper part of their course, ran through
grassy and open hollows, after a few miles all descended into deep and
impracticable canons, through which they found their way to the
Arkansas valley. Here the buffalo trails we had followed were dispersed
among the hills, or crossed over into the more open valleys of other
streams.
During the day our road was fatiguing and difficult, reminding us much,
by its steep and rocky character, of our traveling the year before
among the Wind River mountains; but always at night we found some
grassy bottom, which afforded us a pleasant camp. In the deep seclusion
of these little streams, we found always an abundant pasturage, and a
wild luxuriance of plants and trees. Aspens and pines were the
prevailing timber: on the creeks oak was frequent; but the
narrow-leaved cottonwood, (_populus angustifolia_,) of unusually large
size, and seven or eight feet in circumference, was the principal tree.
With these were mingled a variety of shrubby trees, which aided to make
the ravines almost impenetrable.
After several days' laborious traveling, we succeeded in extricating
ourselves from the mountains, and on the morning of the 28th encamped
immediately at their foot, on a handsome tributary to the Arkansas
river. In the afternoon we descended the stream, winding our way along
the bottoms, which were densely wooded with oak, and in the evening
encamped near the main river. Continuing the next day our road along
the Arkansas, and meeting on the way a war-party of Arapahoe Indians,
(who had recently been committing some outrages at Bent's fort, killing
stock and driving off horses,) we arrived before sunset at the Pueblo,
near the mouth of the _Fontaine-qui-bouit_ river, where we had the
pleasure to find a number of our old acquaintances. The little
settlement appeared in a thriving condition; and in the interval of our
absence another had been established on the river, some thirty miles
above.
On the 30th of June our cavalcade moved rapidly down the Arkansas,
along the broad road which follows the river.