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Show 16 The principal line of march of the party under my charge extended from Pueblo, Colo., on the Arkansas, via the regularly- traveled wagon-road, to Fort Garland, situated on the eastern side of the San Luis Valley, through the Sangre de Cristo Pass; thence westward, crossing the Rio Grande, to near the junction of San Antonio Creek with the Couejas River; thence to the source of the latter; having touched and followed, en route, for a small distance, a portion of the south fork of the Alamosa Creek, near its head; thence passing the continental divide via the head of the east fork of the Upper San Juan River to its meeting with the upper main fork, and onward to Pagosa Springs, from which point a trip was made to Tierra Amarilla and return. The homeward journey doubled ou the inward route to the confluence of the uppei forks of the San Juan; thence in and out of the depressions, marking streams reaching either fork, until Del Norte, lying at the outer gate or entrance of the Rio Grande to the great San Luis Valley, was reached 5 thence following the usually- traveled route via Poncho Pass to Canon City ou the Arkansas. The portion of the route from Pueblo to Fort Garland aud its surroundings has often been described, while the resources of those sections in Colorado bordering upon the east base of the Rocky ranges* are receiving an outlet through the Denver and Rio Grande and other railroads that are fast being pushed to the southern boundary of this Territory, about to become a State. Fort Garlaud, lying on a plane slightly elevated above the main valley between the Ute and Sangre de Cristo Creeks, and near their junction, is south and west about nine miles from old Fort Massachusetts, that was far more desirably located on Ute Creek, except as to its defensive position and convenience in reaching the valley of the Arkansas by any of the known passes of the Sangre de Cristo. Up to the present time, the industries of the mountains and high valley portions of Southern and Southwestern Colorado have been but little developed, owing largely to their inaccessibility, aud to the fact that traveled routes have left large areas comparatively untrodden except by the wagons laden with Government supplies, the wool- teams of the settler, mostly from New Mexico, the march of troops to and from stations, or in scouts in and out of mountain, valley, and canon, the hardy prospector for hidden mineral wealth, or the nomadic tribes in their annual wanderings. The later mineral discoveries in the San Juan region have awakened a new spirit of enterprise; new mail and stage routes reach out into the unknown parts; toll- roads have been built; and the earlier prospectors are, it is hoped, to be followed shortly by capital seeking investment, always most welcome in such remote regions. The San Luis Valley was crossed to a camp on its western side, upon the banks of the Conejos, in the center of a cluster of Mexican towns, slumbering on the banks of this stream, and its neighbor, a tributary of the San Antonio Creek. The valley is fully forty miles wide along this line, which follows pretty closely the Triuchera, and crosses the Rio Grande below the mouth of the La Jara, and thence in close proximity * Up to the time of Fremont's first expedition, aud indeed later than that, in the popular mind, all the mountains lying west of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, especially those facing upon the great plains, were known as the 4i Rocky Mountains," and looked upon as one range. Later geographical researches have proven the existence of a number of ranges, and defined, in tnauy cases, the boundaries of each. In speaking of more than one of these ranges that face the great plains, the term " Rocky ranges" will be used, in a sense of contradistinction to Coast range or ranges, where mention is made of one or several of the ranges facing the Pacific Ocean. |