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Show { 17-! J 120 of findincr some convenient point of pa sago fnr tl1c road of emigration which w~nld cnaulc it to rcucl1, rHt a nwrc direct line, tlte u~ual ford of the G rcat Colorado-a place cousiuereu as determined by the nature of the country beyond that river. It is sinoula.r .t h~tt, imntedi.::ttely at .the foot of the monntains, 1 could find 110 one snfhcicntly acqnamtcd With them to au ide us to tho plains at their western ba. c · but tlw race of trappers, who formerly lived in their recc ses, ha almost elltir ·ly disappearecl-dwiudled to a few sca.ttered individuals-some one o~· two of wh~llt are regularly ldlled in the cour. e of each year by the flldmn:;;. Yon wdl remember that, m the previous year, I brourrht with me to their villa~e near this post, and hospitably tr0atcd 011 the way, several Cheyenne Imlmus, whom lltad met on the Lower Platte. Shortly after their arrival here, these were out with a party of Indians, (thom~elves the principal men.) which uiscovcrcd a few irap pcr~ in the neighboring mountain. , whom they immediately murdered, altltoucrh one of th m had been 11carly thirty years it1 the country, aud wa' perfectly well known, a· he had <Yrown oray among then~. Through thi portion of the mountains, also, arc tltc customary roads of the war parties going out against tltc Utah and Slwsho:H'C lt!dians; and occasionally partirs from tltc Crow nation make tlteir way dow11 to the ~outhward alo1tg this chain, iu the cxp ctatio11 or sttrpri. i;1g some straggl iug \ocJ cre of their Cllel11ies. IJortly ueforc Olll' arrival, OliO of their p::tl'· ties had attacked an Arapaho village in the vicinity, wl1id1 they had found u nexpcctoilly strong; and their assault was tunwd into a. rapid Jlight and a hut pursnit, in which they had been comp lled to aba11dou the anin1als they had rod(), and escape on their war horses. Into this tlllcenaiu and daugerous regiou, small partie~ of three or four ~rappers, who no~v.co nld coll~ct togeth er, rare! y vent urcd; and con cqucntly rt was r-ldom VISited and ltttle known. Having dctcnuincd to try the pas age by a pass through a spur of the mountains made by the Cciche-a· la Pourlre river, which ri cs in the high bed ol' mouutains around Lonl)'' peak, I tlwught it auvisa.ble to avoid :uty ellCttmbrance which wonld ~cC~ ts ion d 'lrntion, ~nd accordingly ngain separatcJ t.ltr. party into two diviswns- olle of :Vh1ch, under the command of ~M r. Fitzpatrick, was directed to cross the plums to the month of L::namie ri ver and COJJti11 nincr thence ~ts r?ute alo11g the nsnal ctm. grant road, meet me' at F' ort Ilall, a0 post be- ,ongmg to the IIu.dson Bay Compuuy, and situated on Snake river, as it is co m1~10illy called 111 the Oregon Territory, :~)though better k11own to us a. Lewts's fork of the Columbia. The latter name is there restricted to one of the nppcr f01ls of the river. Onr Delaware India11s having determined to retnrn to their home·, it be- came necessary to provide this party with a rrood hunter. ancll accordinaly engaged in that c:1paci~y Al.cxander Godcy, ~ yonng mu'n a bout 25 ye~r of age, who .had hccn 111 th 1s country :;ix or seven years, all of which time ~a~ b~en ac~Jvely cm1!l?yed in hn11ting for the support of the posts, or in ~?htaty t.radlllg cxpediiJOt~s amon~ the Indians. l11 courage and profes· .::ilOnal skill he was a. form1dable nval to Carsou, aud constalltlv afterwards "Yas among t.hc best and most e[ficicnt of tl10 party, and in difficult situa· •• wus wa~ of H1Calculable value. Hiram Powers one of the men belonaina to M1~· _Jqtzpatrick's party, was discharged at thi~ place. 0 0 f 1 ftench e~gage, ~t Lupton's fort, had been shot in the back ou thE: 4th 0 u y, and dwd dunng our absence to tlac Arkansas. The wife of the ,!nurderccl man, an Indian woman of the uakc natiou, desirons, like Naomt 121 [ 174 J of old 1o retnm to ltr.r p~oplc, requcst?d and O~)tained pcrmis.<~ion to travel with my party to tho l.tcl g ~thorltood o( B:ar nvcr, wit re ~he exyected to mel"t with 5:ome of thetr villages. Ilapp1cr titan the .Jewl-11 w1dow, . he carried with her two childreu, pr tty little half'-brce0s who adclcc1 ~lllch to the liveli11c:-: of the caltlp. Il cr baggage Wi:tS earned on five or s1x pack hors ; allll l gave lH'l' a, mall tent, for which I no longer had any n e, a, I had procured a lodge at the forl . For my own party I selected the following nwn, a number of whom old as. oci:tlioll rendered a err ·enble to me: Charle ' Preuss, Christopher Carson, Basil Lnjcnnes c, Fr~111~ois Bn.deau, J. B. Bcmicr, Louis 1\J ellarcl, Rapktcl Prone, .Jacob Dodson, Louis jljindcl, Hell ry LCle, .J. B. Dero icr, Fran~ ois Lajr n ~css<', au~! A,t,t crnstc. Vasq u~z . By ob ervation, the la titude of the po~t IS 40° Hi 33 , ancl1ts loiJO'Itudc 105° 12' 23" depending, with all the other IOJlcritmles alonrr tl1is portion of tile liuc upon a nb equc11t occultation of Septemi>N 1 ~3 . 1 •13 to which they arc rdt:rred by tlte c ltroJ.lOlll~t e r : fts di ·taucc f'rom Kan a~ la~1di~cr, by the road we travellc'd,. (which, 1l wdl b.e ren~<;mbcrecl, was very wmdtng alo11g thr low '1' Kn11 <l~ nvcr,) wa~ 750 mtle~ . I he .rate of tl1e chronometer, dclerlllined by obscrvatious at tl11 · place for the lllt crval of our absence, dnri11 0' thismo11tlt, was ~33. 72" wllich yon will hereafter ,ce did not sensibly ch;;uw~c dnring the e u~nin!.{ tnolttlt, ancl remained nea rly con~ta11t during the r~muiJtucr of onr jonrilcy anoss the continent. Tltis wa~ the rate nsed in rGferriiJ ()' to St. Vmiu's fort, the longitmlc uctw 'II that place and the mouth of the Fo11ta£ne-qui-bouit. Our various bnrometrical ob,crvations, which arc better worthy of confidence than the isolated cletenni11ation of 1 42, give, for the elevation of the fort above the sea 4,930 feet. '[,lw bnrometcr here n:od was also a better one, and less liable to dcrancrcment. :\t the end of two day , which was allowed to my animals for necessary_ rcpo~c, all the arrangcmcuts had been complctt-d, and on the aftcmoon o{ the 26th we rl'snntcd our respective route ~. Som~ little trouble was experienced in crossincr the Platte, the waters of which were still kept up by rai1ts and mel1inu s~o\v; and having travcll ocl only about fonr miles, we encamped in the evening on Tllomp ou':s creek, where we were very much difltlll'becl by mu '(lllitocs. . The following days we contiuuccl onr march wcstwa1~d over comparative Plains a11d fonlitJn tltc Cikhe-i-la-Poudrc on tl1e nJOI'Illl1!! of the 2<. lh, en- ' ' 0 u . tcred the Black hills and nooned on this stream in tit' monnta1u beyond them. Pas~ i1w over' a fine large bottom in the afternoon, :v reach~d a plncc wllcr ' the river was Jmt np in the hills; and, asccndmg ~ ~·avuu•, made a laborious and very difficult passage aron1H.l by a gap, ·tnk.mg .tl~c river acrain al.Jout dusk. A little labor, however would remove th1s dtfh~ cnlty, ~nd render the roaJ to this point a. very excellent one. Tho evening closet.! in dark with rain, and the mountains looked gloomy. July 29.-Lcaving our encampment abot~t 7 in the n.wrn.ing, we travelled u.ntil ~ i11 the afternoon along the river, whtch, f?r thts d1~tancc of about SIX mile: runs <lirectly through a spur of the mam mounra1ns. . . W c were colllpellcd by the nature of tlte ground to cross the n~er e1~llt or nine times, at diflicull, deep, and rocky ford ·, tho stream runnlllg wtth great force, swollen by tho rains-a true mountaiu torrent, o~ly fo:·ty or fifty feet wiue. It was a mountain valley of tho n:\Trowest lnnd--...-almo t a chasm; and the scenery very wild aud beautiful. Towering mountains rose |
