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Show CHAPTER XI MIRACLE ON ALTAR PEAK Before parting company in the Snake Valley, the two contingents of Bean's exploring company must have made plans t o l i n k - u p two valleys west of t h e ir settlement. Adams's Iron County men continued t h e i r southbound t r e k down Steptoe Valley and over a low divide i n t o Cave Valley which they entered on the afternoon of May 13« This elevated mountain v a l l e y had a n a t u r a l , rugged beauty to i t . Far greener than the other v a l l e y s in the area, lush meadows rippled across i t s 6,500 foot high bottoms. To t h e east stood the craggy, snow-covered peaks of the Schell Creek Range. In s h o r t , i t looked l i k e a refreshing location for a camp. Within a day Bean found h i s way i n t o the valley apparently from tbe south, and plans were l a i d t o continue t h e i r explorations to the west. While Bean was pushing h i s way toward the Pahranagat Valley, Colonel Dame's Southern Exploring Company was working i t s way toward the Grant Range which Dame believed t o be the White Mountains. Unlike Bean, Dame was unaware of the change in policy in S a l t lake City, and h i s pace was r e l e n t l e s s . At 7 o'clock on the morning of May 6, the company r e t r e a t e d from t h e i r camp a t Desert Spring Wells and crossed over the North Pahroc divide two miles from camp. Descending a canyon, they entered the narrow White River Wash and turned almost due north to follow i t up. After a hard march of twenty-seven miles, the company made a dry camp for the n i g h t . Had the party been but a few days l a t e r , they might have intersected George W. Bean's southwest t r a i l. On the morning of the 7th, the Southern Exploring company continued i ts 194 |
