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Show 10 RECONNAISSANCE IN THE UTE COUNTRY. was defective in that its vernier read to hundredths of an inch, and the graduated scale had a range of only about 10J inches, the minimum reading being 20.30 inches. We finally left Fort Garland on the morning of the 20th of May. The organization and work of the party were the same as on the route from Pueblo to Fort Garland, except that the stadia rods were carried by four civilians hired for that purpose, the post- commander and commander of the company from which our escort was taken having declined to order soldiers to do this work. From this point the party was mounted on mules, and was accompanied by an escort of a sergeant and four men of Company F, Eighth Cavalry. San Luis Park.- From Fort Garland we proceeded across the San Luis Park, north of west, about twenty- six miles to the Rio Grande, striking this stream at the point where it makes its great bend to the southward ; thence our route was up the Rio Grande. From the point of striking the Rio Grande to the summer camp of a detachment of the Eighth Cavalry, " Camp Loma," two lines were run, as in coming from Pueblo, but afterward only one line was carried. My instructions directed that a main stadia line should be run by the first assistant, and a series of side lines by the second assistant, and I attempted to carry out this plan. The first day out from Camp Loma, Mr. Ba& sel ran a line of about eight miles up the South Fork of the Rio • Grande, and the second day he went ahead with his party, but failed to find a point at which to leave the valley of the Rio Grande. It was found that on both sides the rugged timbered slopes of the main range were well- nigh impassable in any direction, and particularly across the courses of the small tributaries; that side lines to be of any value must lead to the summit at least, and would necessitate the separation of the detachment, running them from the main party for indefinite periods- certainly, longer than one or two days; and that, moreover, our necessary ignorance of the country made it impossible to designate, with any accuracy, the points of rendezvous. Another very important consideration was the grave wear upon the animals during this work. On the whole, I considered the delays likely to arise in attempting a system of auxiliary lines would not be compensated by the information gained, and it seemed wiser that one line should be run by the second assistant, aided, when necessary, by another party, and that the time of the first assistant be devoted to the general conduct of affairs, to securing careful descriptive mtes of the country, and obtaining frequent topographical sketches from commanding positions. To Recorder Campbell was given the duty of preliminary computation necessary to determine our position as we proceeded. With little exception this was the plan of our work throughout the season. At Camp Loma wagon- transportation was entirely abandoned, and from this point our transportatian consisted of a train of thirteen pack-mules, packed and handled by the soldiers of the escort. Here we were joined by our escort, consisting of thirteen enlisted men of Company B, Eighth Cavalry, and, for a time, we moved in company with Major A. J. Alexander, and Company B, Eighth Cavalry. This company left us, however, at Camp 23, the last camp east of the main divide. The instrumental work westward from Fort Garland varied in no way from what has already been described, and the computations were carried on as accurately and rapidly as possible in order to locate the 107th meridian of longitude, when we should cross it, which was done. Sextant observations were made, when practicable, for latitude, and time and azimuth were observed as before described. On arriving in Baker's |
