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Show ' 165 [ 174 J with a strong gale from the south, which commenced at II of the last night. The road to-day led along the river, which is full of rapids and small falls. Grass is very scnnty; and along the rup:gcd b:wks arc scattcreu cedars, with an abundance of rocks and sage. We travelled 14 llliles, and encamped in tile ::tfternoon ncnr the river, on a rocky creek, the bed of whieh was entirely occupied with boulders of a very large size. For the last three or four miles the ri~ht bank of the river has a palisaded appearanee. One of the oxen was killed here for food. The Lhennometer at evening was at 55°, the slqr alm0st overcast, and tbc barometer indicated an elevation of 4,400 feet. September 26.-Rain during the night, and the temperature at sunrise 42°. Travelling along the river, in about 4 miles we 1 cached a picturesque stream, to whieh we gave the name of Fall creek. It is remarkable for the many falls which occur in a short distance; and its bed is composed of a calcareous tufa, or vegetable rock, compo ed principally of the remain' of reeds and mosses, resembling that at the Basin spring on Brar river. The road along the river bluffs had beeu occasionally very bad; and imngininp; that some rongh ob!1tacles rendered such a detour necess:Hy, we followed for several miles a plain wagon road leading up this stream, until we reached a point whence it could be sren making directly tow<nds a low place in the range on the south side of the valley, and we became immediately aware that we were on a trail formed by a party of wngons, in company with ·whom we had encamped at Elm grove, near the frontier of Missouri, and which you will remrmber were proceeding to Upper California lmder the uirection of Mr. Jos. Chiles. At the time of th ·ir departure, no practicable pas~es were known in the southern Rocky mountains within the territory of the United States; and the probable apprehension of difficulty in attempting to pass ncar the settled frontier of New Mexico, together with the desert character oft he unexplored region beyond, had induced them to take a more northern and circuitous route by way of the 'w et Water pass and Fonllall. They had still between th em and the valley of the Sacramento a great mass of mountains, forming the Sierra Nevada, here commonly lmo,~n as the G1·eat California mountain, and which were at this time con~tdered as pre~euting an impracticable barrier to wheeled carriages. V nnous considerations had suggested to them a division of the party; and a greater portioll of the camp, including the wagons, with the mail and other stores, were now proceediug under th0 guidance of Mr. Joseph Walker, who had e~gaged to conduct them, by a long sweep to the ~outhward, around what IS called the point qf the mountain j and, crossing through a pass known only to himself, gain the banks of the Sacramento by the valley of the San Joaquin. It was a long~ nd a hazardous journey for a party in ~~Vhich t~crc. were wonwn and children. Sixty days was the shortest penod of tunc tn which th y could reach the point of the monntain, and their route Jay through a country inhabited by wild and badly disposed Indians, and Very poor in game; but the ~eader was a man posse ing grc•nt and intimate knowledge of the Indians, with an extraordinary lirmncs~ and decision of ch.aractcr. In the mean time, Mr. Chiles had pa S(·d down the Columbia Wtth a party of ten or twel\'c men, with the intention of 1 C'arh in~ the settlemen. t 011 the Sacrnmrnto by a more direct c~urse, which inddinite informattotl from hunters had indicatrd in the direction of tlw head waters off th.e INvicre m~.l: Jl1alhettr.~ )· and havin~1r ohtainrd there a r(' inforcC'ment 0 an1mals, and a supply of provi ions, meet the wagons before they bhould |