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Show [ 174 ] 128 little grass, except in some grer.n spo_ts where it had collected around springs hallow lakes. Within fitty m1les of the Sweet Water, the country ocrh asn ged into a vast saline plam· , ·m many pla ces ex t reme Iy l eve I , occas1·? 1l· a1ly resembling the fiat sandy beds of shallo'Y lakes. Here the ve~c~atwn consisted of a shrubby growth: among w_lu~h were several vane~1es of 1 O'Podiaceous J>lants ~ but the charactenst1c shrub was Fremonlza ver. cmt~icenu lw·is, with sn1aller· saline · · 1 · 1 1 sh~·ubs grow1_ng wtt 1 smgu ar uxnriauce, and in many places holding exclus1 ve posses 'IOn of the ground. On the evenincr of the Sth, we encamped on one of these fresh-water lakes which the fraveller considers himself fortunate to find_; and ~he next day, in latituue by obser~ation 42° 20' 06", h_alteu to n_oon t'm~ucdwtelyat the foot of the southern s1de of the range whtch _walls lll the Sweet \Vater valley, ou the head of a small tributary to that nvcr. . Coutinuiucr in the afternoon our course uown the stream, wluch hPre cuts directly ~hrough the ridge, forming a :'cry J?_racticable pa~ we eu.ter~d the valley; and, after a march of aboL~t nme nates, encamped 011 om l_annliar river euclcarcd to us by the arqua111tance of the prevwus expec!Itwu; the nigh't having already closed iu _with a Ct)ld ~·ain storm. Our camp was about twenty miles above the Devd's gate, wlnch we hau been uhle to ee in coming down the plain; alld, ill the conrs? of the_ night, the c_louds br~ke away arounu Jupiter for a short tune, dunn~ wh1ch we obta111ed an I~· mersion of tile first satellite the result of winch agrceu very nearly WI!~ the chrouometer criving for' the mean longitude 107° 50' 07 ": elevation above the sea 6,01b0 feet; and distauce from St. Vrain's fort, by the roa~ we had just travelled, 315 miles. . Here passes the road to Oregon; aLH.l th_c broad smooth_l11ghway, where the numerous heavy wacro ns of the ermgrants had ell ttrely bcateu an~ crushed the artemisia, wa~ a happy exchange to onr poor a1:i~11llls for the sharp rocks and tough shrubs among which they had bec1_1 tolltng .. o lo11g; and we moved up the valley rapidly and pleasantly .. \V1th very ltttle deviation from our route of the preceding year, we contmued up the vall~y; and on the evenina of the 12th encan1pcu on the Sweet vVater, at a pollit where the road tn~ns ofl'to cross to the plains of Green river. Tile iucre~seu coolness of the weather indicated that we had attained a gren t elev<iiiOn, which the barometer here placed at 7,220 feet; and during the uight water froze in the lodge. . . . The morning of tlie l3rll was clear and cold, there bemg a white lr~st; and the thermometer, a little before suurise, standing at .26.5°. Lea_v~n5 this encampment, (our last on the wn.ters which flow towards the ns~n~ sun,) we took our way along the upland, towards the dividillg ridge which separates the Atlantic from the Pacific waters, and crossed it by a ru~d some miles further south than the one we had followed on our return 111 1842. We crossed very ne[lr the table mountain, at the so uthcru extremity ofthe South Pass, which is 11ear twenty miles in width, aud already 1raversc:d _bf several different. roads. Selecting as well as I could, in the sca rc_ely ~I:!Ill· guishablc ascent, what nlight be considered. the dividing ridge 111 this_ remarkable depression in tlH~ mountain, I rook a baronJCtrical ob_sf'rvauon, which gave 7,490 feet for the elevation above the Gulf of l\Iex_Ico .. Yot~ will remember that, in my report of 18·t2, I estimated the elevatiOn o1llu~ pass at about 7,000 feet; a correct observation with a good baromC'trr!'na· bles me now to give it with 1nore prccisiou. Its importauce, as the great gate through which commerce and travelliug may hercaftt·r pass be1wecn 129 [ 174 J the valley of the Mississippi and th~ north. Pa~ific, jt~s~ifies a p~·ecise notice of its locality anu distauce fr?m leadmg pomts, ll1 ad?JtlOll_ to thiS state m~nt of its elevation. As stated 111 the_ report of 1842, 1ts la,lltu~~e ~t til~ polllt where crossed is 42° 24' 32"; tts lougttndc 109° '26 00 ; 1t d1stance from the mouth of the Kausas, by the cowmon travelling rome H62 miles; from the mouth of the Great Pbtte, aloug the valley of that river. accordiug to our survey of 184.2, 882 miles; awl its dist.auce li:om St. Loui ubout 400 miles more by the Kansa~, and about iOO by the G ren.t Platte route ; these additions being steamboat con vcyance in both in~tances. I~ wm this pass to the mouth of the Oregon is about 1,400 miles by Lhc common travell ing route· so that, mH.lcr a general point of view, it may be ll.t'SUtncu w be alwu t half ,~ay between the Mis is ~ippi auu the PaeiJic ocean on lhe common travelling rnllte. Following a hollow of sl igbt aud easy desceut. in whicll was very soon formed a little uibnLary to the Gulf o_f Calil'omi u., (for the waters which ilow west from the South Pass go to tlns gnlf,) we made ou1 usual halt four mile, from the pass, iu latitude by observatiou U " 1 D' 53". Entering here the valley of Green river-the great Colorado of t!tc \'\.estand iucliniug very much to the southward along the stream;;; wli ich form the Sandy river, tile roau leu for several days over dry ant.lle,·el uninteresting plains; to which a low, scrubby growth of :Hlutnisia ~ave a uniform dull grayish color; and 011 the evening of the 15th we. enc~nlptJLl i11 the Mexican territory, 011 the left bauk of Green ti'fer, G!J miles fron.t t!te South Pass, in longitude L 10° 05' 05", and latitude ·H 0 5!3' 5-1", uistant 1.0:31 ntilo:-; from the mouth of the Kallsas. This is the emigrant rouu to Orc·'l)tt. wltich bears much to the sontbwanl, to avoid tile mnllllt~ i ll s :.~.bont the we.·ttnt heads of Green river - tlte Rio Ve7'de of the ~pauiards. .:lugust 1 o.-Crossing the river, l1ere about 400 feet \\'iLl(•, by a ~:·cry ~ood ford, we continued to de. ccncl for seven or eio-!Jt lllilcs 011 a pleas:ult rond along the right ba11k of th\.! stream, of which the islauus aud slton" ~t r..; llaudsomely timbered. with cott otiwoo<..l. The rcCre hiug appc~tr:utcc of :lte bro~ul river, with itJ-; timbered shores nnd grec11 wooded is!anrl.c::, in CO!ltr:t t tn it~ dry :)andy plains, probahly obtnineu for it the name or Green ri vcr. WII ich was bestowed on it by tltc Spaniards wlto flr~ t came iuto tlli~ country ttl trade some 25 years ago. It was tltcn familiarly kuown as the Scr>ds-kedee- agie, or Prni rie lieu ( letrao urophusiawus) river: ~l unme \\'hirl1 it received f10m the Crows. to wltom its nppcr waters beloJJg, and on \\ hich this bird is still very ahnndant. By the Sttoshouee and !all lnuiaus, to whom belongs, for a collsiderable distauce below, tlte couutry wbrrC' we \\'t rc no\v lravelling, it was called tile Bitter Root river, from the great a!.nu~da.uce in its valley of a plant which aflords thrm ouc of their fu voritc root . Lowet down, from Brown's hole to Lhc southward, the river runs through lofty chasms, walled in by precipices of red rock; and even among the wilder tribes who inhabit thr. t portion of its course, I have heard it called by Indian refugees from the Califomi:.n1 settlements the Rio Colm·ado. \Ve halted to noon at the nppl'r oud of a large bottom, ncar some old houses, which had been a truding po~t, in latitnde 11° 46' 54". At this place the elevation of the river above the sea is 6 . .230 feet. That of Lewis's fork of the ColumlJb at Fort Hall is, according to our subsequr.nt obscrvatious, 1.500 feet. Tile de~cent of eacfl stream is rapid, bnt that of the Colorado is but littl . kuowJr, and that little derived from vague report. Three b 11 nd red milts of 1f...; lower part, as it approaches the gulf of California, i reported to be sruooth and tranquil; bnt its upper part is manifestly broken into many fall ... 9 |
