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Show RECONNAISSANCE IN THE UTE COUNTRY. 23 much the same, the cliff being of less height. Through this canon the water rushes in an uninterrupted succession of cascades, so that it is but a stream of white foam. At the point where I read the barometer it was 150 feet below me. Our guide was of opinion that the mountain- immediately east of the Animas, at this point, were a spur from the main range, and that east of this spur a stream rises, which empties into the Animas below. West of Camp 27 is a sharp , peak with a crown, the summit distant about one mile. South of Camp 27 is a divide between the waters flowing east and those flowing south. About two miles from Camp 27 we passed a small lake frozen completely over, ( June 15.) and a mile and a half beyond this another one on the divide. Fountain and Diana Creeks.- Thence the trail followed the valley of Fountain Creek to Camp 28. The trail from Camp 27 to Camp 28 was" through small spruce- pine, with open, swampy glades grown with scrub-willows. These glades are soft, but not so much so as to be troublesome if care be used. No camping- ground from Camp 27 to a point about one mile above 28; thence abundance of wood, water, and good grass. The trail from Camp 28 is through three and a half miles of heavy spruce and pine timber to Camp 29, on a small stream and pond about two miles from the base of Engineer Mountain, and northeast therefrom. Trail steep aad marshy in places, but not dangerous. JSo grass from 28 to 29, but wood, water, and fair grass at 29. Ascent of Engineer Mountdin.- From Camp 29 I made an ascent of Engineer Mountain, leaving camp at I p. in. Ascent rapid until I had attained a height of 1,000 feet, where I found large timber full of solid snow, 4 or 5 feet deep. Walked on this snow for three- quarters of a mile, ( leaving the timber at the height of about 1,350 feet above camp,) rising about 600 feet to the crest of a limestone ledge, having a vertical wall of 150 feet at highest point. '. I he stratum, dipping rapidly to the southwest, is covered with soil bearing the stunted willows found on Hamilton Pass, and a few stunted pines. Much soft snow on this plateau, on gaining which the peak of Engineer Mountain suddenly appears before me, south 65 west, distant one mile and three- quarters, and about 1,000 feet above me. This peak is a long, narrow crest, and I saw it first precisely in the line of its long axis. Seen thus, it presents a conical base of earth and debris of about 200 feet height; above this a vertical cliff of gray red sandstone, 200 feet; a cliff of dark red slate, about 10 feet; a cliff of from 50 to 200 feet of a light gray rock, and above this a sharp cone of the same color, 600 to 800 feet high, crowned with snow. Although it was then 3 p. m., I determined to ascend this i> eak, and made my way to the base, sinking mid- thigh deep in the soft snow every third step. The slope of the northeast end was comparatively easy, ( that is, as steep as loose rock and soil will lie,) and I ascended that. At the top of this slope I found a stratum of grayish red sandstone, and above this a stratum 10 feet thick of dark red slate, on which was the crowding stratum of light gray. These strata slope rapidly down north 65 west, in the direction of the trend of the crest, so that at the northwest end of the crest, for about three- quarters of a mile, only the upper stratum of light gray rock is exposed. I mounted above the slate with no other difficulty than fatigue, but above this was my work. I found the peak to be shaped like a saw- tooth, the laminae of the crowning stratum vertical, and the northern face a sheer cliff of about 1,000 feet absolutely vertical; the south face also a sheer cliff of about 500 feet, crowned with a slope of debris as steep as debris |
