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Show [ 174 J 284 all whom they rneet on the western side of the mountains to be their mies. They deceived me into the belief that I should fi11d a ford at Iehne. village, and I could. not. avo1· d acco'!lpanym· g t h en1; b ut put cveralslou en1!r between us and theu v1Hagc, and 1ortcd strongly on the ba11ks of the ri; which was every where rapid and deep, and ~vera huwlred yarus in bread~· The camp was generally crowded with Indians; an~ thongh the bagga ~ wa, carefully watched and covered, a nnmber of tlungs were stolcu. g The next rqot:niug we doscenJc:_d tho river for .abon; eight 1uiles,ana halted a short dtstanco above a cauon, through wltich Grand river issues from the Parle Ilcre it was smoo(h und deep, 150 yard iu breadth ana its elevation at this point G,7?0 feet. A frame for ~he boat being very'soon m~de, our baggage was fern d :~cross; .the horses, m lhe. mean time, swim. mmg over. A southern fork of Grand n ver here tnakes lls Junction nearlr opposite to the branch by wb ich we hnd euterecl the valley, aud 11p 'this we continued for about eight miles in the afternoon, and eucarnpcd in a bottom on tbe loft bank, which u1forued good grass. At our cncautplllent it was 70 to 90 yards in breadth, sometimes widened by islands, and se parated inlo several channels, with a very swift current aud bed of rolled rocks. On the 20th we travelled up the left bank, with tlw prosp ct of a oad road, the trail here taking the opposite side; but the stl'cam was up,and 110 • where fordable. A piney ridge of mouutaius, with bare rocky peaks, was on our right all the day, untl a ~nowy tnountaiu appear d ahead. We crossed many foaming torrents with rocky beds, rushing dow11 to the river; and in tho cveuiog tnade a strong fort in an a .. pen grove. Tl~c valley ba~ already become very narrow, shut up mC!>re .sJosely in densely timbere~ mountaius, the pines sweeping down the verge of tile botto111~. The co~ de P'Ntirie (tetrao eu1·ophasianus) was occasionally ~CCJl anwtlg the sage. We saw to.day the returning trail of au Arapahoe party which had been sent from the village to look for Utahs in the Bayou Sa lade, (South Park ;) and it being probable ~hat they woulcl visit our can1p with tho de ire tore· turn on horseback, we were more than usually on the alert. !Jere the river diminished to :35 yards, and, notwitll::)tatH1iug the number of aflluents we had crossed) was still a large stream, dashing swiftly by, with a great continuous fall, and not yet fordable. 'Ve bad a dclightfulride along a good trail among the fragrant pines; and the appearance of buffalo in great numbers indicated that there were Indian in the Bayfm S11lade, ( 'outh Park,) by whom they \Vero driven out. vVo halted to 11000 under tho shade of the pines, and the weather wa mo .. t deligiJtfnl. The country was literally alive \Vith buifalo; and tho conti!lued cclw of the hunter's rifles on the other ide oC tlle river for a Jnoment mnde me uneasy, thinking perhaps they were engaged with Jndians; bnt in a short tin1e they came mto camp with the meat of scveu fat cows. During the earliP.r part of the clay's ride, the river lwu been merelya narr.ow r~ vine bet ween bi o h piney mountains, backed 011 both sides, but P.art1culany on the we t, by a line of snowy ridges; but, after several hours' nde, the treat? opened out into a valley \Vith pleasant bottoms. In the aft~rnoon ~he nver forked into three app~rently equal slreoms; broad buffalo tra1ls leadmg up the left hand, and the 1niddle branch indicating good passes over th~ mountains; but up the right-hand branch, (whid1, in the object of desceudt~lg from the mountain by the n1ain head oC the Arkansas, I was most desu·o~ls to follow,) there \vas no sign of a bnfl'olo trace. Apprehend· ng from lh 1s reasou, and the character of the rnonntains, which are known 285 [ 174 J ruo- e.d, that the right-hand branch led to no pass, I proto be extrem:liniddfe branch, which formed a fiat valley bottom b~twcon ceeded up .th the left and snowy mountains on the right, termm.atmg timbered nd~~so~~1aked rock. The trail was good, and the country interin large butt . o-htfall we encamped in an open place among the pn~es, esting; and ~\:~bstrong fort. The mountains exhibit their usual vane~ where we bl . and at t!Jis place I noticed, among others, lltermopSls growth off owetsb 'o-ht yellow color makes it a showy plant. Thts has montana, wllos~ t·rc 1 '"' 1· haractens 1 11 many part.s.. of t•h e c•o untry since· r1ea ching the Uintadh wbeaetne ras. c wI·t 11 fi e ids of iris were a.q~nlegut ccc'rttlea, vw ots, esparcette, an 'strawberries. . ived a fire in the edge of the pines, on the opposite At dark, w~l petc\vo had evidently not been discovered, and, at the rcslde of the va cy.l tl1e blaze of fre h fuel which was heaped on our fires; t Of a crnn an< . . d I h . tt phor f tbh e s't ra11ge1· s were I·nstca utly extmo0- m he . n t e mornwg, nhe y t ose 0 found to be a pa r·ty of six trar>J)ers ' who had venturedh ont ambo ng t· he were . f . heaver They informed us that two of t e num er wll mountams a tel d 1 d been already killed by the Indians-one of them which the~ st~rst~tce 1a by the Arapahoes we had lately seen, who had found b~tl afew ~ya cam on this river, and carried otT his traps and ammals. htm alon~ere desirgus to join us, the hunters returned with them to thetr As they ment aud we continued up the valley, in which the s.tream rapl(lly de~c~~pl d b't·eakino- into small tribntaries-evcry hollow aflo_rdwg wa~er. Amt ums w o,n hacl t thbe hunters J. O.l lled us w1· t l1 tlt le tt. appers. Wlule J)rcpannoo· to s~~:t ~~om thei~· encampment, they found themselves sn?denly surroun.ded b a art of Arapahoes, who informed them that then scouts had d1s-y d ~ taige Utah villao-e in the Bayou 'alade, (South Park,) and that a ~~~~~~var party, consisting of almost every man in the vi~atc, ex~~g~ ~~~~ who were too old to go to war, were gomg over t.o attac t em. . body had ascended the left fork of the river, wlnch atfc;{ded a ~ft:~ro~J~~ than the branch we were on ; and this party h~d followe our t~l ' . that we min·ht add our force to theirs. Carson m~ormed them t at we wele too far ahe~d to turn back, but would join tbem 111 the bayou; .and the In·· dians went off apparently satisfied. By the temperature of b01l.ing water, our elevati~n here was 10,430 feet; and still the pine forest contmued, and grass Was good. · ll th uo-h open IA the afternoon we continued onr road-occastona Y ro b . . P.m es wi.t h a very a'- radual ascont. w e stu. p.tt· s c d a 11 c1· d of buffalo ' enJoylm. g ' 5 the shado at a small lake among the pm• os; and t 1.1 0Ym ade the hd.r y bruanarctletcrss crack as they broke throuo-h the woods. In a nde of about t lee-q ' 0 of an hour and havincr ascended perhaps 800 tre et, we r eac. hed tdh e UM- 1 . ht MIT OF THE' DIVIDING RoI DGE Whi·C h WOU 1u·1 tl lllS 1l a ve an estimated 1e. 1g of 11 200 reet Uere the rive'r spreads I· tself I·n to smaU br anc hes an spnacor s ' headi' ng n1e1 arl•y in the summit of the n•d ge, wJn• c h I.S ver y n arr<1w · d Imhm er-t diately below us was a <>reeh valley, through which ran a strean\;fian a{ ~ distance opposite rose ~nowy mountains, whose summits wete ormc_ ln ° peaks of nakcll rock We soon afterwards sati fi.ed ourselves that klmme-· dI.a tely beyond these· mountam. s was the n1o1·1 1 1H ~"t1 ch of the A r ansas river-most probably hea.dino- directly with the httlc stream be 1~ w. us, I . 0 w Hch gathered its waters in the snowy moun tam· s neal. by · Descnpnons of t Il e ruoged character of tho mouutam· s aronn d tll l1ead o1 tlle .A r1 { Un- as, wlu· cbh thet. r appearance amply J·U StJ' fi e d , d c erre d l nc from Jnaln 1a any 0 |
