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Show 22 RECONNAISSANCE IN THE UTE COUNTRY. spectator, and thence in a series of minor cascades to nearly the level of the Animas, issuing from the cleft about 100 yards below, a broad, sprawling, rather slow stream of a totally different appearance. From the foot of the slope leading into the valley from that of the Animas for a distance of half a mile, the trail is in dense timber and rises rapidly, being at this point about 500 feet above the Animas Kiver at junction. Here the general appearance of the valley is a deep V, the visible sky- lines being about 800 to 1,000 feet above the river; on the right bank the slope is continuous from the river to sky- Hue ; on the left bank the slope is surmounted by cliffs of about 400 feet where we leave timber, but becoming less high as the valley is ascended. It in no wise differs in general appearance from the upper part of Cement Creek or of any of the higher mountaiu valleys. The line was run for about three miles above its junction with the Animas, where the mountain- side was so steep and difficult to travel over the slide rock that it was deemed inadvisable to proceed farther. An attempt was made to ascend Maggie's Gulch, but was abandoned, as the stream was swollen with melting snow, and the only practicable trail is along the creek- bottom, sometimes up the middle of the stream. The line was carried to a point about half a mile from its junction with the Animas, from whence bearings were taken, and the distances estimated as far as could be seen up the nearly straight lower reach. The mountain- sides on either hand, for a distance of about a mile, are steep stone slides of from 400 to 600 feet, impassable along their face for man or animal. E. W. CAMPBELL, Recorder. Camp 26, down the Animas.- About a mile and three- quarters below Camp 26 the trail leaves the Hamilton Park and enters the canon of the Animas. The trail at once ascends directly up the face of the hill on the right bank to about 200 feet above the river valley, then turns southerly along the face of the mountain, and rises rapidly, Camp 27 being 1,030 feet above Camp 26, and distant three miles from it. For 1,000 feet the trail skirts the face of the precipice, and is very dangerous, being narrow, crooked, and steep. A heavily- packed mule might easily roll down 300 feet on the sharp rocks below; we passed without accident. After this precipice is passed the trail passes into small spruce-pine, and on to mossy, vegetable- soil- covered rocks, and is no longer dangerous, but steep. Many snow- banks lie in the pines, but are avoidable or not deep 5 water and wood plentiful, but grass poor. A short distance below Camp 27 I went down the canon of a small creek until the Animas River was seen, at a distance of about one- third of a mile and 500 feet below. A small aneroid barometer carried indicated the . same height at Camp 27 at the crossing of the trail and this creek, and a descent of 945 feet from the crossing to the point where I saw the Animas, at an estimated depth of 500 feet below me, thus making Camp 27 to be at an elevation of about 1,445 feet above tne river. The canon of the Animas, at the mouth of this creek, is not less than 3,500 feet deep on the east and 1,445 feet on the west side, and consists of ledges of trap or basaltic rocks covered with a thin, small growth of spruce-pines. It is impassable for pack or saddle animals. The canon of the creek down which I went is about 500 feet deep on the north side, 200 feet of which is a sheer cliff of ragged syenitic granite, crowned by a steep slope bearing a few pines. The south side is |
