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Show BECONtyAISSANCE IN THE UTE COUNTRY. 15 two hundred feet high. The mouutains to the south are about 1,800 feet above river, timbered to the summit, having rather steep but even slopes to the river. Plenty of good bunch- grass and fuel on the trail, but no water accessible. At Camp 20 the hills open out, leaving a narrow bottom- cliff on the left, rising about 200 feet above- the trail, the slope from the foot of this cliff to the river being very steep, and grassed in the neighborhood of Camp 20, but, from a point about 600 yards above, covered with a dense growth of small timber for a distance of about four miles. A mile below Camp 21, the gorge of the river widens into a valley about half a mile wide, with a flat, sandy bottom, in which the river winds in a very crooked course and with a comparatively sluggish stream. About three miles above Camp 20 the trail passes along the face of a very steep and dangerous bluff of slide rock at a height of about 200 feet above the river. Here several of our mules stumbled and rolled into the river, causing the loss of a theodolite- box and contents, some cooking- utensils, and small articles. Above this bluff, for a distance of about five miles, the river runs in a flat, sandy bottom of from 200 to 1,000 feet in width, thickly fringed with willows. Camp 20 to 21.- About five miles above Camp 20 the river is crossed by aim Indian trail, the main trail of the Utes from the Los Pinos agency to the country sout^ li of the Sierra La Plata. uLo8t trail."- On our return this trail was followed ip the valley of Crooked Creek, down which we traveled to Antelope Park on a much better trail than that found along the Rio Grande 5 in fact, perfectly practicable for wagons, except for a short distance up the steep ascent to and through boggy ground on the summit between the head of Crooked Creek and the Rio Grande. The appearance of the valley and stream from the bluff above Camp 20 indicates that the whole valley was filled with water at a comparatively recent period, and the miners of the San Juan region informed us that Spanish records extant in Santa F6 describe a lake here as late as 1777. Camp 21 to 22.- Camp 21 was at the upper end of this bottom, where the trail is lost in the willows and swamp, and on the edge of a small stream flowing from the northeast. On the north are cliffs about 1,000 feet high, having a crown of trap. At a point about due north of Camp 21 these, cliffs trend to the southwest, and have a very unusual and remarkable appearance both in color and form. The color is a light, rather bright, greenish- blue, the color of verdigris, and of a friable, sandy substance. The cliff is about 400 to 500 feet high, distant about a mile from the river at Camp 21, and from the cliff- foot to the river is a beautifully- grassed and open- timbered slope, cut by deep ravines where the streams come down. As the cliff disintegrates by the action of the weather, isolated pinnacles are left standing boldly out, of nearly the full height of the cliff. Their singular color, contrasted with the bright-green of the young aspen- leaves and the dark- green of the pines, formed a beautiful picture. From Camp 21, for about four miles, the trail is good, over open ground, with good grazing and fuel for camping. There is no bottom land, but the valley is about half a mile wide on the left bank and all easily sloping foot- hills. On the right bank the mountains slope to the river of the same general character as below, " getting, however, more rugged as we ascend, and timbered to the visible summits. About two miles from Camp 21 the trail struck the wagon-trail made by the Little Giant Mining Company when transporting machinery the year before, and this was followed to Camp 23. The amount of wreckage strewed along the whole length of the wagon- trail followed |
