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Show W I T H SITGREAVES TO THE PACIFIC Fig. 96. Mountain Pass, Near Camp 31 • Lithograph based on a drawing by Richard H. Kern. Lorenzo Sitgreaves, Report of an Expedition down the Zuni and Colorado Rivers (Washington, D.C, 1853). plorers continued on through the parched, rugged country (fig. 96). Two days after Leroux was wounded, on November 5, they crossed Union Pass through the Black Mountains, and the Colorado River finally came into view. "Balboa at his first sight of the Pacific," Kern exclaimed, "did not experience greater pleasure than our party-for we had a certainty of life for our mules. All cause of anxiety on account of water immediately vanished and three hearty cheers were given." Kern confided to his diary, however, that he was not as excited as some members of the party, for he had never doubted that they would soon reach the Colorado: "as Leroux said positively we would find it where we did, I knew such must be the case, for I never felt my confidence in his knowledge and judgment diminish." From the summit where they first saw the river, Kern did a dramatic sketch that he entitled First View of the Big Colorado 175 |
