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Show [ 174 ] 70 It was a strange place, the icy roc~{ and the highest peak of the Rocky. mountains, for a lover of warm sun hme an~ flowe_rs ; and we pleased our-el vcs wi th the idea that he was the first of hts spcc10s_ t~ ~ros_s the mou11tain barrier-a solit:u y pioucer to fo retell the advance o~ clVlliZ~tlO ll . . I believe th at a moment 's thl)ught would have tnacl~ us let htl~ contume h~s way unharmed · bnt we carried out the Ia w of tins co untry, where all amm1.ted nature see ; 11 - at war ; and, sci:.dng him immediately , put him in at least a fit place-in the leaves of a large book, among the ilowers we had coll ected 011 our wtt y. The barometer stood at 18.293, the a ttached thermometer at 44o. aivina for the elevation of this summit 13,570 fee t above the Gnlf of 1\!Ie~i~o wlticll may be call ed the hi ghest ili crht of the bee. It i certainly the hi crl1c t knowu fli ght of that insect. From tl1C description given by Macl c~lZic of the mountains where he cro sed th elt, with tlw.t of a French oilicc r , till fat tiler to the nnrtl', and 'alone\ Long'::; measnremeuts to the south, joiued to the apinio11 oC the oldest trader of the_ country, it is presul) 1ed that this is tbc highest pc'lk of tlte Rocky mount am~ . The clay was sunny and l>right, but a ~light shining mist hung ovrr the lower plains, which interferrcl with our view of th e surrounding country. On one siue we overlooked intlumeral>le lakes and streams, the spring of the Colorado of tbe Gn1f of Californi G; ::.wd on the other was the \Vi11d river va11 cy, where were the beads of the YL~ IIo wslono branch of the .Misso uri ; fa r to the north, we just conlJ discov --r the s11owy heads of the Trois 1'etons, where were the onrccs of the Missouri and Columbia rivers; ancl at the southern cxtremily of the ridge, the pcnks were plainly vi ible, among which were some of the springs of the Nebraska or P latte river. Around ns, the whole scene had one main strik i11g feature, which was that of te rribl e convulsion. Parallel to its length, the ridge was ... plit into chasms and. fis ures ; between which rose the thin lofty walls, tenni11a ted with slender mi11arets and columns, which is correctly rcpres~nted in the view from the camp on Island lake. According to the barometer, the littl e crest of the wall on which we stood was three thonsuncl Jive hundred and scveuty feet a bove that place, aml two thou. and seven hunurecl and eighly above the little lakes at the bottom immediately at our feet. Our camp at the 'l'wo Hills (an astro· uomical station) bore south 3° ertst, which, with a bearing afterward obtained from a fix ed po~ition , ena h1 ed n · to loca te tllC pe~k. Thr bearing of the Trois '!'dons was north 50° west, and tho direction of the central ridge of the \Vind r iver monutains south 3 !)0 east. The sumntit rock was gneiss, suc.ceeded by sie11itic gneiss. Sicnite aud feldspar succeeded in ' Ollr descen t to the n ~w line, where we fon ucl a r~ldspathic graui te. I had remarked that the n o1~e prod nccd by th e expl osion of our pistols had the u ual _degree of lonclness, but wn~ not in the least prolonged, expiring a.l· most mstantaneously. If a ving now made what obse rvations our means afford ed, we pt~occedcd to descend. We ha cl accomplished an object of laudable arnl ntwn, ~nd. heyo11d the strict order of our i11structions. We had climbed the lofti rst peak of the Rocky rn ountuins, aud looked down u pon the snow a thousand feet belo w, and, standi ng wh re never human foot had stood l,cfvrc, felt the exultation of fHst explorers. It wa about 2 o'clock when we left the snmmit; and when we reached the bottom, the sun had already snuk behirHl tlte wal l n.nd the day was drawing to a c\o,e. It would have _he en pleasant to ! 1.1 v<' lingercLl here and on the summit longer; t but we hurned away as rapidly ns the ground wou\·1 permit , f lH it was an ·. . 0 H ~ H ::0 ~ ~ 0 iii ~ H ~ 0 ·"t . ., \.' ~ _; H . \.., ~ ~ ... ~-~ .• z ~e. t:1 ~ - H ~ H ::0 ~ · 0 .. q .~, . "> ... . H ~ I'll |
