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Show 148 attempt, I moved on with all haste, and had the fortune to meet Mr. Joy at the entrance to the canon. The information I succeeded in obtaining in regard to the possibility of finding grass was so exceedingly discouraging that I decided not to risk my animals by taking the San Gabriel trail, the details of this vicinity having already been collected. Crossing by the Cajon Pass, we followed down the Swarthows Cafion on to the Mo-jave Desert, and camped near the mouth of Rock Creek. This stream meandered, we struck for Soledad Pass, and, occupying stations on the south side, marched straight down the Santa Clara Valley to San Buenaventura, on the sea- shore. The Santa Clara rises in some springs and small mountain creeks near the mouth of the Soledad Pass* and a few years ago, it is said, was a continuous running stream. Now it is dry for much of its length. At Riley's Station, a few miles above the stage-crossing, the preseut occupant told me that in 1869 there were large lakes in this valley, both above and below him, and an abundance of water in the river. He then ran profitably placer- diggings in the range to the north. That year the water began to fall at the rate of an inch and a half per day, and he commenced to sink his well, which is now 80 feet deep, with a very scant supply of water. 1 was shown a great variety of ore specimens, including graphites, blue and green carbonates, magnetic iron; but no mines were then worked nearer than the Charlotte at the head of the Big Tujunga Cafion. With the exception of the Cumules Ranch, which consumes the waters of the Penn Creek in irrigation, but little cultivation is attempted in the valley above Santa Paula, which is some 16 miles from the sea. We followed the San Buenaventura River to its junction with the San Antonio, and, passing through the pretty little village of Nordhotf, crossed the Topa Topa Mountains by a very rough trail, and reached the Cespe Creek. The scarcity of grass and the critical condition of my animals hurried my departure from a locality where tbe single man brave enough to strive there for an existence did all in his power to assist me; and I crossed the White Sandstone range, which incloses the north side of the cafion, by a trail which he indicated, making a station on one of its highest points from a camp on the summit, and, following Ray's Creek, moved round the base of Cuddy's Mountain, and joined you at Tejon August 15. Here my party was increased by the addition ot Mr. Douglass Joy, assistant geologist. After your'departure, and upon deliberations with Dr. Kamfp, chief of triangulation, I made arrangements for the erection of a monument at Monnt Pinis, and returned to the White Sandstone Mountains to complete from a point in this range, adjacent to the one already occupied by me, the triangle between that station, Mount Pinos, andTehachipi Mountain. As an example of the difficulty attending an instrumental work during the season, t may be said that after one day had been spent in cutting down trees, another followed, during which the fog and mist did not permit us to catch a glimpse of Teha-chipi, and barely of Mount Pinos, though scarcely 10 miles away. Sleeping on the mountains, Mr. Carpenter and myself were fortunate enough to see both of our points, which soon after sunrise, however, were covered by the mist which rose from this valley, not again to be seen for the day. With the inteution of collecting the topography of the range north of the Santa Clara, and completing unfinished work, we then crossed Motor's Flat, where in a number of cavities in an immense rock we found some very odd Indian hieroglyphics and paintings, and following down the Hot Spring trail camped on the Cespe in tbe vicinity of the springs themselves. These were exceedingly interesting, and it is a source of regret that the bottles of water collected there were broken during their shipment to Washington. The flow of water comes from the base of the mountains, forms a very considerable stream, possesses a temperature of 195° at its point of emergence, and probably contains sulphur and iron. Thanks to a multiplicity of stock trails, I was misled into attempting the cafion, and had the satisfaction of spending six days there, during which I crippled some of my animals, smashed one wheel of my odometer vehicle, and met with other mishaps. I succeeded in getting within about 5 or 6 miles of the mouth of the cafion, far euougb indeed to see from the mountain- side into the open valley of the Santa Clara, only to find that farther progress was absolutely impossible and that I must retrace my stops. Over immense bowlders, through pools of water deep enough to carry the mules off their feet, through a country where in the most accessible spots the soil had betn stripped of the meager supply of herbage it perhaps once possessed, we struggled on and finally crossed the Topa Topa by the same trail we had used before, and, leaving Nord-hoff on our right, camped at the Ojai. Our road from here to the Santa Paula took us around the base of the Sulphur Mountains, out of which run the Tar Springs, which frequently flow across the road, and in the heat of the day are soft enough to make travel difficult. Some days were spent in Santa Paula, meandering the creek and occupying a very difficult point at its headwaters. The Peru then having been meandered for some distance from its mouth, 1 sent Mr. Carpenter and Sergeant Farnham to Sau Fernando, to collect some topographical details in the vicinity of the Pacoima Creek, and a waited their return on the Santa Clara. |