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Show • [ 174 ] 206 pursue. -vy e struck o~tr tents at 10 o'clock, a~d crossed the lake in a noarly east directwn, where 1t has the least extonswn-the breadth of the arm being here only about a mile aud a half. There we~e ponds. of ice, with but little grass, for the great.er part of the 'vay; and 1t was difficult to get tho paek animals _acroRs, wh1ch fel.l freqneO(Jy, and could not get up with their loads, uua. s1sted. The mormng was very unp1easant, snow falliug at intervals iu large flal<es, and the sky darl... In about two hours we sue. ceeded in gottiug the animals over; and, aftc.r travelling another hour along the eastern shore of the lake, we turned up Into a cove whero there was a sheltered placr. among the timber, witll good grass, and encamped. The Indians, who had accompanied us so far, returned to their village on the southeastern shore. Among the pines here, I noticed some five or six feet in diameter. December 13 .-The night has been cold ; the peaks arouud the lake glBam out brightly in the morning snu, and the thermometer is at zero. We continued np the hollow formed by a small aflluent to the lake, and immediate! y entered an open pine forest on the nwuntain. The way here was sometimes ob tructed by fallen trees, and the snow was four to twelve inches deep. The mules at the gun pulled heavily, and walking was a little laborious. In the rnid$t of the wood, we heard th<}sound of galloping horses, and wore agreeably surpriseJ by the unexpected arrival of our Tlamath chief, with several I ndiuns. He seemed to have found his con· duct inhospitable in letting tfle stranger::; depart without a guide through the snow, and had come, with a few others, to pilot us a day or two on the way. After travelling in an ea ·terly directiou through the forest for about four hours, we reuched a considerable stream, with a border of good grass; and here, by the advice of our guides, we encamped. It is about thirty feet wide, and two to four feet deep; the water clear, with som~ current; and, accoruing to the information of our Iudiaus, is the principal ailluent to the lake, and the head water of the Tlamalh ri vcr. . A v~ry clear sky. en bled rne to obtaiu herd to-night good observations, mcludlllg au emers10n of the first satellite of J npiter, which aive for the Ion· gitude 121° 20' 12", and for the latitude 42° 51' 26". Thi~ emersion coin· cidcs remarka9ly well with the result obtained from an occultation at the encnmpn~eut ofDece!nbcr 7lh to 8tl1, 1843; from which place, the hneof.our survey g1ves au eashng of thirteen xnilcs. fhe day's journey was 12 m1les. December 14.-0ur road was over a bt"oad monntain and we rode seven hours in a thick snow storm, always through pine for~sts, wheu we came down upvn the head \Vaters of auotlwr streatn, on which there was grass. The snow lay de~p on the grouud, and ouly the high swamp grass appeared above. The lnd1ans wer.e thinly clad, u.nd I ltad l'emarkcd during the day that the-y: suffered from the cold. This evening they told me that the snow was gettmg too deep on the nwuntaiu and I could not induce them to go any farther. The tream we had str~ck issued from the mountain in an easte~ly ~irection, turning to the southward a short distance below? and, draw~ng Us course upon ~he ground, they made us comprehend that 1t pur· · sued lts way for a long d1stauce in that direction, uniting with many other ~t ams, .and gr~dually .}'\r.coming a great river. Without the subsc~uent mform~twn, wh.tch confumed the opin10u, ,ve became immediately satisfied that this water formed the principal stream of the Sacramento river; at~d, conseque.ntl_Y, that. th.is m~in aiflu.eut of the bay of Sau Fra_ncisco had Jts source Wlthln the hm1ts ot the Un1ted States, and opposite a tnbntary to the 207 [ 174 ] Columbia, and near the head of the Tlamath river, which goes to the ocean north of 42°, and within the United States. December 15.-A present, consisting of useful goods, afforded much satis( action to our guides; and,. bowing thern the national flag, I explained that 1t.was a syn1bol of ?nr nat.wn; ~uc.l they engaged always to receive it in a frwnd1y mauner. fhc ch1ef pou1ted out a course by fotlowina which we w~uld.arriv~ at ~he big wa~cr, where no nwrc s~o~ was to be fo~u1c.l. Travelling m a .duectwn N. 60. E. by c~n1pass, winch the Indiaus informed n1e would avoid a bad mountam to the nght, we crossed the , acramento where it . tnrned to the southward, aud entered a grassy level plain-a smaller Grand Rood; from the lower end of which the river issued into an invitiuO' country of low rolling hills. Crossing a hard-frozen swamp ou the farth~r side of the Rolld, .we entered again the pine forest, in wbich very deep snow n1ade ?ur tr..tvellmg. slow and laborious .. We were slowly but gradually ascendIng a moun taw ; and, aftc: a hard JOUrney of seven honrs, we carne to some naked places amo~1g the timber, wl,lere a few tufts of grass slwwcd above the snow, on the side of a h~llow; and here we encamped. Our cow, which every day got poorer, was lulled here, but the meat was rather touah. Decem~er 16 .. -We tra,·elted this worniug through snow ahout tJ~rec feet deep, w.h1Ch., bemg crusted, very nnteh cut the feet of our anin1als. The mou~tam st1ll gradu<-l:lly. ro1:-e; we crossed se\reral spring heads covered with qualnug a~p; otherw1se 1t was all pine forest. The air was dark with falling snow, whJCh every where weighed down the trees. The depths of the forest wc~e profoundly still; and bclo\v, we carcc felt a breath of the wind w(1ich whul.ed the snow through their branches. I found that it required some ex;rtwn of constaucy t? adhere steadily to one course through the woods, w en we were uncertain how fur the forest extended or what lav beyond. atd, on acc?uu~ of our nnim~ls, it would be bad to sp~nd anothei· night 0~ ~ le 1mount~1n: fowan1s noon the forest Io.oked ?lear ahead, appr.aring sudR~~ i~ to toJ.muw.te; and b~yond a certa111 pomt we could sec no trees. t' 1 § raptdly ahead to tlus spot, we fouud ourselves.on the verO'c of aver/ ca and rocky wall of t.he n1ountaiu. At our feet-more than ~ thousand l:~t below-we look~d u~to a green prairie couutry, in which a beautiful t . e, ~ome twenty 1n1les 111 leugth, was sprc·ad aloJJO' the foot of the moun-ams, Its shores bordered with green grass. Just then the sun broke out a~ong _the clouds, and iJJuminate the country below, while around us the :1~0r~ la~ed fiercely. Not a part~cle of ice was to be seen ou tiJe lal<e, or . on 1 Its borders, and all 'vas ltke summer or spring. 'I'hc glow of the sun In t 1c valley bel b · · J d · We rna de tho d OW· 11g· ll te·n e llp OUr hearts Wlth "s uudon pleasure·' and as I woo s nng wu 1 Joyful shouts to those behiucl · aud ~radtially euc 1 came u l d . ' b ' snow thre f, p, le stoppo . to e.uJor the unexpected scene. hivenng on once tl 0 1 cot deep, and st1ffenmg 111 a cold north wind, we exclainwd at to thesla~ t te ll::tpl.es of Summer Lake and Winter Ridge should be ap}Jlied We~ wo prox.nnate places of such iUdden and violent contrast. had b ere uow. 1mmediatel y on the verge of the forest land in ,vhich we a tree ewena st rtaov elhnO' d d k' ' b so rna~1Y ays; an 'loo mg forward to the east' scarce exhibit d be sceu. Vtewed from our eievation, the face of tbe country misl·a bee only 1 rocl<s.and grass, aud presented a region in which I he arte-for their cfaimrees t b1 e .p rm. ct· pa J wo? d ' f urm·s l1 !· ng to I. ts scattered inhabit ants' fuel game which ' . ~Ildmg mat.enal for thcll' huts, and ~helter for the small the boundar mi;nsters to the!r h nnger all d. nakedness. Broadly marked by Y 0 the mountain wall, and Immediately below us, were the .. |
