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Show 558 Ex. Doc. No. 41. . t m e w i t h y 0 u r 1 e tt e r f r 0 m vr a rn e r':: ran ell e ; h e b r 0 ugh t Clst~o hm~ seven mules found on the Gila; and, altogether, I ' w~t · 1 1 at the villages twenty, which ha•l belonged (Q the dra- 0 amet Th y were not ~ufliciently recruited to be of much servtce , f0 ~~:;1ed t~e Indian goods, and every spare article, for co;.n, Afte~ ft~eding it several days, I b~ought ~way twelv_e. quarts or each ublic nnimal, which wa fed 1n very srr:all quan t1t1es_. Wifh the aid of a compa s, and closely esllmatmg the dtstances, I h . . tea rude sketch of my route from the pow t on the R:to ll\ e m cH (, h · · · t} v d G de where our roads diverged, tot eu JUnetlon, near 1e - l ran ' It i~ her e·wi th submit ted. I have good reason to be- 1t!::·that, e;en with pack mules, better time can be made. on my · te than yours· t~nd the mules kept ~n good orde1·, for mtne nnr~~ YCd on the gr'eater part of it. On the 27th December, (?flo r P k · the f'o r. · e d m a r c h wit h o u t w ate r, a cross t h e b en d of t h e rGn a· ' 1)n rirn c 0 n s r "q u en c e o f ' t h c in fo r rn at · · d · 1 tt I 1 on r c c e 1 v e . m y our . e e r, d:i!;mined lo end my useless guides express, togtve you tnform~tion of my approach, &c; hopLOf? thu , as I sa1u, to meet ~rdet at Warner': rancl1c on the 21st of January,_ and to.be of service to 0 u r active 0 per at ion . . I a 1 so sent for a . s 1st an c_e 1 n m u 1 ~ s? ~ n d e r~ tanding that you had placed a number of them tn that vtcmtty. Sixty or seventy mile above the mouth of the Gila, havmg m?re wagons than nece~sary, and scar~e1 y ab I e_, to get thew. on, I tne 1~ the experiment, wtth very flattenng assuJtlnces of uccess? of boat inrr "·ith two nonton warron beds, and a raft for the runr11ng gear. 1 ~mbarked a })Qrtion ofbth~ ration~, some road tool , and corn . The ex periment · ignall~ faded, owmg to the shallownes_s of the ater on the bars· the nver was vcr} low . In c_onscquenc e of the :ifliculty of app:.oaching the river, orders mt taken, &c., the flour only was sa.ved from the l?ading, and the ponton~ we,re floated empty to the crossing of the Rt~ Colorado, wh ere th~y \\ere ~sed as a ferry boat. I pa sed th:.tt nvcr on the lOth and lllh of Jcmua r y . 0 11 the fi r t d a y .an d n i g h t, t he 1 o ad in g . o f t h e wag o n s, an cl m a n y m en , , '" ere b o a t e rl ~ v e r. 0 n t h e m o r n 1 n g o f t lw llt IJ , the m u 1 e s were < L i v en two m des, . from grass; t l: en . d r e w t h e wagons through the long ford of a m lie,. nearly swtmmtng. The. wagon~ were t h en 1 o ad e u in the w 1ll o w tln c k e t, a n d I m a r c he d 15 rrlll c s o v e t the sandy road to the first we ll, thP same day; a great effort an (t labor. But as {here wa np food for the mul es on this side, I deemed it so necessary that I forced it, agains~ every ob~tacle; ~ar c hinf?, 1n fact when one company's wagon was In a hole 1n the middle of the rive~; the sheep and rear guard on the opposite bank. In the well I found no water; and, when obtatued by <.hggwg deeper, It was 111 quicksa nd, and quite insuffic.:ient for the m_en. I had another \Vell dug· and against lwpe almost, when (' Onsulerably befow the water !eve'! of fhe old one, that of the river water suddenly boiled up. I Yiewed thi~ as in other instances, a Providential deliveranc~. It was the mo~t tryinrr lwur of my long military service. That water fa.ilin<r the next ~ell would also; anrl all the circumstances well conside~;d, it will be found that on obtaining it not only de- I I Ex. Doc. No. 41. 559 pender! my military sucoess, but the lives of very many, whr, ju tly cou]d hold me respon ible. When of no real use to me, some wngon , whi ch \Ycre broken on the march, were ]eft, in order to save the mules At this fir t well I left three, beca use the mules were unequal to drawing theru. I had then remaining one for eaeh company, and two others. I sent forward a strong p arty to the next well : to prepare it and dig another. I arrircd there the second day, soon after noon; and, during my stay, until 11, a.m., the following morning, I eould not obtain enough of water. There I left two more wagons. (Arrangements were made for sending for a11 the . e wagons, the moment 1 arrived at the first ranch e.) l then took the direction of the "pozo hondo," the deep welt; sending a party through the first day, and arriYing, before noo!', the second. Although a second deep well had been dug, the water was insufTlcient even for the men to drink. I bad spent the night ''itho u t water, and thirty miles of des e r l were s t i l1 before me; the m en way-\vorn and exhau ted, half fed, and many ·ho('less. I~ut I rnet there a relit:f of mules and some beevt>s. Mr. Lcreux haJ sent back fifty-seven mul es, whi ch were chiefly young, unbroken, and as wdrl as deer, and the cattl e, in one body, (and by poor hand .) So a clay's time had been lost, a.nd twenty of the mul e· . 1 i m mediate I y had a beef kill e cl, for a me rtl ~ a drink of ". n t e r issued to the men; th wild mules caught, by their Indian driver , with the lasso, thrown, haltereU and harnessed; the poor animals, which then had not drank for thirty-six hours, struggling drspe· rately during the whole pro ces. , which lasted abore two hours, under a hot sun. Then I marehed ur.ti1 an hour after dark, ::1nd halted to r es t, until two o'clock in the morning. I had cl10sen a spot where there wa orne large bunch grass, which was cut for the mules. There was no moon, but, at two o'clock, the battalion marched again; and, at mid-day, having come 1 miles more, after long ascending its dry berl, met the running \Yater of the Carizita . The mo. t of the ani mal had been without water about fifty hours. Here there was but little grass; and I marched, next day, 15 miles, throuo-h the ands, to the Bajiocito; the poor men staggering, utterly exhausted, into camp. At this time there should ha.Ye been half rations of flour for nine day ·; but, owing probably to inevitable wastage, the l::tst of it \•vas eaten here_. I rested a day, andre .. ceived, at evening, a letter from Cornmanr!er Montgomery. It advised me of your march to Pueblo; of the tardy arriYal of my ex.p ress, and of communi ca tion with you being cut off. Next day, I encountered extraonlinary obstacles to a wagon road, anrl actually hewed a passage, with axes, through a chasm of solid rock, which lacked a foot of being as wide as thr ,,_·ago ns. Two of them were taken through in pieces, whilst the work was going on. So much was I rrtarded that I encamped, at dark, on the mountain slope, making but seven miles, without water, and without being prepared for it. San Philippi was six miles on this side, but there was a ridge be't ween, so rough with rocks, that, after much labor, it took extreme care to get the wagons over in day- |
