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Show [ 174 J 234 R brtwry 11.-Ilirrh wind continued, and our trail this mm·nina was ~ly 1·uvisiblc-he~c and there imlicnted by a little ridge of snow.0 neat d . . . Our situation became tiresome and reary, req UJ nng a strong cxerc1se of pa· tience and ref!olution. . ,. . . In the evening 1 reeeived a. message Jrom l\1r. 1• lt7.patnck, acquamting me with the utter failure of IH.s aUetnpt to get o~r mules a~d horses over the snow-the half-hidden tra1l had proved enttrely too slt~ht to support them and they had brol en through, and were pl11nging about or lying half buric'd in snow. He was occupied in endP-avoriug to get them back to his camp; and in the mea•! time. sent t? me for further ~nslructions. I wrote to him to send the antmal~ unrnecbatcly back to thc1r old pa&lures; and, after having made mauls aud shovels, turn in all the strc1~gth .of l.lis party to open and beat a ro<~d through the snow, strengthcnmg tl wt!n branches and boughs of the plllc~. J~'ebruan; 12.- Wc made mauls, and worked harc1 at our end of the road all th~ day. The wind wns high, but the sun bright, and the snow thawing. W c worked down the f~•cc of the hill, to meet the people at the other end. Towards sundown it began to grow cold, and we shoul· dercd our mauls, and trm1ged back to camp. . Februar.lJ 1 3.-\V c continued to labor on the road ; and 111 the ?ourse of the day had the satisfacl ion to sec the people w~rkin~ down. the l.1ceof the opposit(l hill, about three miles distant. Dunn~ the moru1.ng we had the pleasure of a visit from .Mr. Fitzpatrick, with the iuformatwu that all was ~oing on well. A party of Indians had passed on. how _hoes, ,'~·h.o saici they were going to.,.thc western t-.ido of the mountaw aft('r ttsh. lhts was au indication that the salmon \\'ere coming up the streams; and we could hardly restrain our impntiencc as we thought of them, and workeo with increased vigor. The meat train did not anive this evening, and I gave Godcy leaveto kill our little dog, ( Tlamath,) which he ~repared in 1 ndian fashion; &corch· ing off the llair, and washi11g the skin with soap and snow, and then cut· ting it up into pieces, which were laid on the snow. Shortly afte1:wards, the sleigh arrived with a supply of horse meat ; and we had to-111ght an extraordinary dinner-pea soup, mule, and dog. . . Pebn.tary 14.-Annexed is a view of the dividino· ridcrc of the Slenn, 0 taken from this encampment. With Mr. Preuss, 1 ascebn dct 1 t?·CI a y the hiphest peak to the right; from which we had a beautiful v~ow of a ~nou~~ tam lake at our feet, about fifteen miles in length, and so ent&rely surrou~ h ed by mountains that we could not disco\·er an outlet. We had taken W'\r us a glas'; but, though we enjoyed an extended view, the valley wa~ h.a hidden in mist, as when we had seen it before. Snow could be dtsll~· guished on the higher parts of the coast mountains ; eastward, as far as t e eye could extend, it ranO'cd over a ten ible mass of broken snowy ~noun· tains, fading off blue in tJ7e d istnn ce. The rock composing the sum nut cond sists of a very coarse dark volcanic conglomerate· the lower parts appeare t o be o f. a slaty strueture. Tho highest trees we'r e a few scattcn·n ~ cedar.s and aspens. From the immcd iatc foot of the peak, we were two !wur~ 10 reaching the summit, and one hour nnd a quarter in descending. fhe .a~ had been very briP"ht still and clear and sprinrr srems to be advnn,c~no rapt' dl Y· Wl1'1 lc thle': )s,u n is ' in the sky,, the suow m.., elts ntpH.J I y, an dO'USllllg t'1 1 ·r springs cover the face of the mountain in ull the exposed places; butt 1e1 surface freezes instantly with the disappearance of the sun. 235 • [ 174 J 1 obtained to-night some observations ; and the re uH from these, and others made during our stay, gives for the latitude 38.;) 41' 57", Jongitude 120° 25' 57'' and rate of the chronornl'ter 25".82. Pebr;tary1 G.-We had suecceued in ~ctting our animal , afcly to the first rrrassy hill; and this rnorni11g I started with .Jacob on a rccon11oitring expedition beyond the mountain. \tV c travelled along the cr sts of narro'\ ridges, extending down fr~m the ~ountain in the direction or the valley, from which the snow wn last melt1ng away. On the open spots was tolerably good gras ; and I judged we should succeed in gelling the <.:amp down by way of these. · Toward~ sundown we discovered some icy spot ... in a deep hollow ; and, dcsccncli ng th(\ monntain, we encamped on the head water of a little creek, where at last the water found its way to the Pacific .. The night was clear and very lonp;. We heard the cries of ,,omc '' ild animals, which had been attracted hy our fire, and a flock of ~<'esc pa sed over during the 11ight. Even th<'SO strnnge sounds had something pleasant to our senses in this region of sil ence and desolation. We started a~ain early in the morning. The creek acquired a re~ular breadth of about 20 feet, and we soon began to hear the rush in~ of the, .. atcr below the icc surfaee, OV('I' whic·h we lravelled to avoid the snow; a l'c\\" miles below we broke through, where (be water was several f et deep, and halted to make a fire and 'dry our clothes. We coutinued a few mile farther, wulkin~ being very laborious without snow shoes. I was now perfectly. atisfted tb: t we had slruck the ~lr am on which Mr. Sutter lived ; and, turning about, made a hard pu. h, and reached the camp at clark. llcre we had the pleasure to find all the remaining animal , 57 in number, safdy arrived at the ~l'assy hill ncar the camp; and l1cre, also, we were agreeably , urpriscd 'vith the sight of an abundance of salt. s.ome of the horse guard had gone to n n ighboring but for pine nuts :lnd dtscoverccl unexpectedly a largf"~ cnkcof' very white line-grained salt, which th~ Indians told them they had brought from the other side of the mountam; they used it to eat with their pine nuts, and readily soiJ it for goods. On the 19th, the people wC're oecupied in making a road and bringing up the baggan·e; and, on the afternoon of the next day, }"ebruary !20, lt)tj ~1, we encamped with the anim:.cls and Q.ll the rnateriel of the camp, on the ummit of the PAss in the dividincr ridcrc 1 000 miles by our travelled road from th c Da \lc: ot · the Columbiar.. o . ' ' Tlie people, who had not yet been to this point, climbed the neighboring peak to enjoy a look at the valley. The temperature of boiling water gave for the elevation of the encamp· ment 9,338 feet above the sea. This wns 2,000 feet higher than the South Pass in the Hocky mountains ~d several peaks in view rose several thousa.nd feel still higher. TIJUs, at l e ext~·emity of the continent, and ncar the coast, the phenomenon was slcen of a range of mountains still higher than the great Rocky mountains ~lemselves. This extraordinary fact accounts for the Great Basin, and hows that there must be a system of smaJllakcs and rivers here scattered Nver a flat country, and which the c~tcnded and lofty range of the Sierra 1 ev~da prevents from escaping to the Pacific ocean. Latitude 38" 44'; ongttude l20o 28'. f ~hus this Pass in the Sierra N cvada, which so well deserves its name ~f thnowy mountain, is eleven degrees west and about four degrees south e outh Pass. |
