OCR Text |
Show [ 14~] . 18 gther large aftluent to the San Joaquin, a'nd coatinued about six mile5 up the stream, in tending to reach, gradually, /th,e heart of the mountains at the head of the Lake Fork of the Tulare. · We encamped on the southern side of the river, where broken hills made a steep bluff, with a narrow bo~t?m. On the nor~hern side was a low, undulating wood and pra1r1e l~nd, over which a band of about three hundred elk was slowly coming· to water where ,ve halted, feeding as they approached. December 19th. The weather continued clear and. pleasant. We continued our journey in.a southeasterly d.irection, over a broken and hilly country without timber, and showing only scattered clumps of trees from' which we occasionally started deer. In a f~w hours' ride we' reached a beautiful country of undulating uplan~, open 1 y timbered with oaks, principally evergreen, and watered With small streams. We came here among some villages of Indians, of the horse-thief tribes, who received us- in an unfriendly man?er; and, after a b\lsy night among them, we retreated the next morning to the more open country of the lower hills. Our party was then a small one of 16 men, encumbered with cattle, \vhich we were driving to the relief of the main body of the expedition, which had been sent southward from Walker's lake, in the basin, along the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, and to which a valley in the mountain, on the Tulare Lake Fork, had beeR appointed as a place of mt::eting. In the evening, \Ve encamped at an elevation of 1,000 feet above the sea latitude 37° 07' 47'', still .among the hills,. on a spring hollow, le~~ing to the Upper Joaquin river. The day had been mild, . · with a faint sun and cloudy weather; and, at sunset, theJe were . some light clouds in the sky, with a northeasrerly wind, and a sunset temperature of 45°; probably rendered lower than usual by the air from the mountains, as the foot-hills have generally a warmer temperature than the ope.n valley. Elk were nu mero~s d.uring· the day, making, on one occaston, a broken band, several miles In length. On the 21st, the thermometer at sunrise was 32.6; . the sky slightly clouded, and, in the course of the morning, the clouds gathered heavy in the south,vest .. Our rou.te lay in a sout~east~rly direction, toward the Upper J oaqutn, crosstng, among rolhng hills, a large stream and several sandy beds of affiuents to the main river. On the trees along these streams, as well as on the hil1s, I noticed mosses. About 2, in the afternoon, we reached the Upper San Joaquin. The stream was here about 70 yards wide, and much too deep to be forded. A 1ittle war. below, we succeeded in crossing, at a rapid made by a bed of rock, below which, for several miJes, the river appeared deep and not fordable. We followed down the stream for s.ix or eight miles, and encamped on its banks, on the verge of the valley plain. At evening, rain began to fall, and, with this, the spring properly commenced. There had been a little rain in November, but not sufficient to revive vegetation: December 22.-The temperature at sunrise was 39°. There had been heavy rain during· the night, with high wind, and this morn, ing, there was a thick fog, which began to go off a~ 8 ~'cl?ck, when the sun broke through. We crossed an open plain_, sttll In a \ , southeasterly direction, reaching, in about twenty miles, the Tulares Lake river. This is one of the largest and handsomest streams in the valley, being about 100 yards broad, and having, perhaps a larger body of fertile land than any other. The broad alluvial'bottoms are- well wooded with several species of oaks. This is the principal affluent t~ the Tulare lake, (the bullrush lake,) a strip of water, about 70 miles long, sur:o.unded by lo.wland.s, rankly overgrown with bullrushes, ·and receiving all the nvers 1n the southern end of the valley. In times of high water, the lake discharges into the Joaquin, making a continuous water line through the whole extent of .the valley.. . We ascended this river to Its sources· In the Sterra Nevada, about 50 miles from the edge of the valley, which we reached again on the 7th of January, in the neighborhood of the Tula re lake. We found the temperature m~ ch the sam~ as in December. Fogs, which rose from the lake In the morning, were dense, cold, and penetrating but, after a few hours, gave place to a fine day. The face of the' cot1ntry had ?een .much improve~ by the rains which had fallen while we rematned In the mountains. Several humble plants, among them the golden flowered violet (viola crysan~ha) and erodium cicutarium, the first valley flo,vers. of the spnng, . which courted a sunny exposur~ and wa~m sandy soil, w~re already iR bloom on the southwestern hdl slopes. In the foot hills of the mountains the bloom of the flowers was earlier. We travelled among multitudinous herds bf elk, antelope, and wild horses. Several of the latter, which we killed for food, were found to be very fat. By the middle of January, when we had reached the lower San Joaquin, the new green grass covered the ground among the open timber on the rich river bottoms, and the spring vegeta-tion had taken a vigorous start. . . . The mean temperature in the Joaqutn v~lley, dunng the JOurney, from the mid die of December to the m1d dle of January, w·as at sunrise 29° and at sunset 52°, with generally a faint breeze from the snowy mountains in the morning, and calm weath~r at the eveni~g. This \Vas a lower temperaoture than we had found· 1n the oak region of tke mountains bordering the valley, between 1,000 and 5,000 feet above the level of the sea, where, throughout California, I have remarked the spring to be more forward than in the open valleys below. During a journey through the valley, between the head of the Tulare lakes and the mouth of the San Joaquin, from the 19th January to the 12th February: the mean temperature was 38° at sunrise, and 53° at sunset, with frequent rains .. At the end of !anuary,, the river botto1ns in rriany places, were thickly covered with luxunant . grass, more th~v half a foot high.. ':!-'he California poppy, (E~chsc~oltzia Californica,) the charactenshc .plant of the Caltforn~a spnn~; memophila insigni~, one of the earhes~ flow~rs, gr.owing In beau.hful fields of a delicate blue, and erod~'um c~cutar~um, were beginning to sho\v a scattered bloom. Wild hor~es were .fat, and a grisly bear killed on. the 2d February, had four Inches thickness of fat on his back and belly, and, \vas ~stimated to weigh a thousand pounds. ..... |