On the trail of a Spanish pioneer; the diary and itinerary of Francisco Garces (missionary priest) in his travels through Sonora, Arizona, and California, 1775-1776; translated from an official contemporaneous copy of the original Spanish manscript, and ed., with copious critical notes

On the trail of a Spanish pioneer; the diary and itinerary of Francisco Garcés (missionary priest) in his travels through Sonora, Arizona, and California, 1775-1776; translated from an official contemporaneous copy of the original Spanish manscript, and e - Page 15

3 l 6 OTHERWISE MEADOW CREEK. June 7. I traveled four leagues east, and arrived painful recollections of the atrocious cruelties inflicted upon the cattle of a wagon train I met near the summit. This pass is not the one Garces made. Striking easterly from Mojave he followed an Indian trail now disused, or so little known that no name is to be found on the modern maps. But it is notable as the one by which Beale's expedition crossed the range on Oct. 15- 16, 1857; it is also the one taken Mar. 25, 1858, by Ives, who calls it Sitgreaves' pass. Why Ives should have done this I do not know; certainly Sitgreaves did not use it: see his map, trail from camp No. 31 to No. 32, showing that Sitgreaves crossed the range by Union pass, Nov. 5, 1851, as correctly delineated on Beale's map. The Aguage de San Pacifico of Garces is present Meadow creek, so named by Ives in his Report and on his map. This streamlet has its source in springs on the eastern slope, and flows a short distance toward the Sacra­mento valley. It is illustrated by fig. 26 on p. 93 of Ives' Re­port, where we read: " The grazing at the camp in Sitgreaves' Pass was poor, and the mules were ill prepared for the rough road before them. A few miles brought us to the base of a steep and difficult ascent that led to the summit of the Black mountains. The path was narrow and devious, and attended with hazard to the weak and heavily- loaded beasts. All of the party had to clamber up on foot, leading their riding animals. . . A rapid descent led through a ravine to the eastern base of the range we were crossing. When nearly down the hill the head of a creek [ Meadow] was encountered, and half a mile from the valley the ravine spread out for a few hundred yards, forming a snug meadow carpeted with good grass, and fringed on one side with a growth of willows that bordered the stream." Such is the Aguage de San Pacifico in the Sierra de Santiago, first seen of white men by Garc£ s. Ives made Meadow creek distant 20Y2 miles by the trail from Mojave; the latitude 35° 02* 17.6*, and the summit of the pass 3652 feet. Later observa-