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Show [ 174 J 2~0 5,150 feet. The bearing to the entrance of the calion below was south oo 3 a~t. llcrc the river enters hctwccu lofty precipices of red rock and ;h conutry below is said to assume a very rugged character; the river a J .ts afltncnts passing through caiions which forbid all access to the watn This sheltered little va.!tey was formerly a favorite wintcri11 o- gronnd ~r. 1.he trappers, as it affonle<.l them suflicicnt pa~ turage for their animals at~J • he surrotrtHJing monntaitlS are wull stocked with game. ' 'vVc surprised a flock of nwuntaitl sheep as we de. ccndcd lo the river tnd o~n. hunters kille~ severn!. The bottoms of a smaH stream called th~ ~/ Cl'lllllhon Creek, "\VlllCh enterS the lc(t bank of the river a ~ho rt ui tance T)clow our cncamprr~enl, were covered abllndantly with F'. vermicularis liH1 other chcnopodiaceous shrubs. From the lower CIIU or Brown's hoi~ .ve issncd by a remarkably dry canon, llfty or sixty yards wiue, and rising ''~.we advauc~d, to the height of six or eight hnndred feet. Is~n ing fro~ h1s, a11d ~ro ss mg a small green valley, we CJJtcred another rent nf the same ~ttltt~re: st ill •.w._rrower thau the other, tll.e ro cl~s 011 either side rising innl'arly ~cr t1ca I prc?lptccs pe~·haps l ,500 (ret 1n hc1ght. These pln.ccs are men. Ho t~cd, to gtvc some Idea o[ tl1e country lower down ou tho Colorado, to .vh tch tiJe trappers nsnally apply the name of a cailon cowHry. The caiion )pcucd _upon a pond of water, where we halted to noon. Several flocksof .uonlltalll sheep w er~ here among the rocks, which ruug with volleys of ::>tnall arms. In the a.itcrnoon w? uu tcrcd n pon an ugly, barren, and broken ~o uutry, correspond1~1g \Veil with that we had traversed a few degrees north, on the same s1de of the Colorado. T'he Vcrn1illion creek afTorded ·1s brackish water and indifferent gras for the night. A few cat~ercd cedar t recs were the only im provcment of the counlry )11 the followll)g day; and at a little sprin()' of bad water where we halted '' o no.~n, we Il n. d not cv?n the shelter of th:::e::> se from the ho' t rays of the sun. t utollt we encamped 111 a fine grove of cottonwood trees on tile banksof ~.be Elk Head river, the principal f'ork of t.he Yampah ;.iver, commonly ..;ailed by the trappers the Uca r river. We made here a very strong coral .and fort, and formed the camp into vio·ilant O'Uards. The country we were . . b 0 "10\~ entenng .Is con~tantly infested by wv r parties of the Sian x: and other pf n dtIa ns, and IS .c onstdcre. d n monoo- the mo~t dang'- erous war oo- rounds in the ~c cy monntams; parttcs of whites having been repeatedly defeated on f h ts n ver. . On the llth we continued up the rtvcr, which is a considerable ~tream, ~~.l(.ty to a hundred yards in width, IJandsotncly and continuously wooded N~th groves of th~ narro~-l.oavccl cottonwood, (populus angust1jol~a;) Wlth these were ~h1ck.ets of wtllow and grain du breuf. Tho elwractensttc plant.alo.n: the r~ver 1~ F. ve·nnfcularis, which generally covers the ~ot· toms' rn1nolcd With this, arc .. nlmc slnnbs and artomisia. The new vanety of grass which we had seen on leaving the Uintah fort had now disap· pc.ared. The country ?n either . ide was sandy and poor, scanr ilr wooded . wllh cedars, .but ~he nver holtoms afforded good pasture. Three ante· ~opes V:.crc. k1lled m the a ft?rrioon, aud we encamped a I ittle below a branch '1f t.he nvet, called St. Vraw's forlc A few miles above was the fort at \Vh~ch Frn PP 's party had been defeated two years since ; au d. we passed Junng the daY a place whero Carson had been fired upon so close that one ?f t~1 ~ t~en had five bullets through his body. Leaving this river tbe next :n~~n!no, we ~ook our way across the hills, where every hollow had a ~pu n::; of runnmg water, with good grass. 281 [ 174 ] y sterday and to-day we have had before our eyes the high mountain t · ch ,11·vide the Pacific frotH the lVlississippi waters; and enteriug here WumtlioCu g ut he lower sp~r1s, or 1r 00t. h'\l l s o f . -~1 .1 e ranNge, the . 1 fache o~ the country be an to improve WIL 1 a ma~tca rap1u1ty. ot on y t e n ver ?ottoms, bu~ the hills, ~ere ~overed wrth gra ... s; .and amoug t~e usual vaned flora. fthe mountamregwn, these were occaswnally blue w1tht1Ic showy bloom ~[a lupin us. In the course of the morning we bad the firs! glad view of bu!falo, and welcomed the appearance of two old bulls with a~ nnlCh joy as if they had been messengers fro1n home ; ~nd whct'l we dL' ceuded to noou 011 St. Vrain's fork, an ailluent of Green nvcr, the hunters brought in mountain sheep and tbc meat oft wo fat bulls. Fresh entrails in the river showed us that there were Indians above; and, at cveninO', jndging it unsafe to encamp in the botto1ns, which were wooded only with willow thickets we ascended to the spnrs above, and. iorted strong\ yin a small aspen ar~ve, near to which was a spring of cold. water. The hunters ki lled two fine cows ncar the camp. A band of elk broke out of a nei~hhoring grove; antelopes were runuing over the hills; and on the opposite rivl:r plains, herds of buffalo were raising clouds of dust. The country here appeared more variously stoc](ed with game than any part of the Rocky mmmtain we had visited; and its abundance i · owing to the excellent pasturage, and its dangerous character as a W[.tl' gronnd. June 13.-Therc was StlOW here ncar our mountain camp, anu the morning was beautiful and cool. Leavino-, 't. Vrain's fork, we took onr way directly towards the summit of the dividing ridge. The bottoms of the streams and level places were 'vooJed with aspens; and as we neared the summit, we entered again the piuey region. \V e bau a delightful morning's ri<.le, the ground affordiug us an excellent bridle path, and reached the sumn1it towards miduay, at an elevation of 8,000 feet. With joy aud exultation we saw ourselves once 1norc on the top of the Rocky mountains, and heheld a little stream takiug its course towards the rising sun. It was an ailluent of the Platte, called P ullarn' s fork, and "\Ve descended to noon upon it. It is a pretty stream, twenty yard.s broad, and bears the name of a trapper who, some years since, was killed here by the Gros Ventre Indians. Issuing from the pines in the afternoon, we saw spread ont before us the valley of the Platte, \Vith the pass of the Medicine Bnttc beyo11<l, and some of the Sweet Water mountains; bnt a smoky haziness in the air entirely obscured the Wind River chain. We were now about two cJegrecs south of the Sonth Pass, and our course homo would have been eastwardly; but that would have takc~t us over gro~1nd already examined, and 1 hercfore wi tbout the interest w luch would c~cite cmiosity. Southwardly th e re were objects wortiiy,to be e-:plored, to Wit: the approximation of the head. waters of three dtflcreut nvers-the Platte, the Arkansas and the Grand River fork of the Rio Colorado of the gulf of California · tl~e Passes at the heads of these rivers; aud the three remarkable mountain coves en I led Parks in which they took their rise • One of these Parks was of c~urse on the ";estern ide of the di viuing ridge; and a visit to it would ~·cquire us' oucc more to cross the sumtnit ?f t~e Rocky mountains to the west and then to re-cross to the cast ; malong, 111 al~, '~ith ~he transit ,:ve had j~s t accomplished, three crossings of that mountall1 ~n th1s section of its course. But no matter. The coves, the heads of th~ nvers, the approxima tiou of their ~aters, the practicabilitY: of the r~ountatn passes, and the locality of the THREE PARKS, were all objects of Interest, and, although well known to hunters and trappers, were unknown to |