OCR Text |
Show 19 at the head of the South Fork of the Alamosa Creek, and by an abrupt and tortuous descent from the plateau- shaped summit the bed of the East Fork of the San Juan was reached, over a rugged trail marked out by this party, and not likely to be soon followed. A difficult journey brought us to the junction of the main and east forks of this stream, from whence a fine trail leads to Pagosa Hot Springs, a point selected as a rendezvous. After the usual mishaps and trials incident to exploration- life, camp was made at this picturesque locality. This point had been visited by the party of Lieutenant Marshall in 1873, and a party under Captain Macomb, of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, passed this section to the westward in 1859 in search of the junction of the Green and Grand Rivers. A description of these hot springs is given by Assistant J. J. Stevenson in volume III of the quarto Reports. The principal southern tributaries of the San Juan River are the Rito Blanco and Navajo. They are crossed by the wagon- road constructed by Captain Macomb, of the Topographical Engiueers, in 1859, on the road to Tierra Amarilla, upon the Rio Chama, where are several small Mexican settlements within a radius of six or seven miles upon the main stream, or near the mouths of the East Fork and Nutritas Creek. The ruins of the buildings at old Fort Lowell are characteristic, and show the rapid action of time as a demolishes Remnants of the temporary shelter used as a summer cantonment on the banks of the San Juan, a little to the north of Pagosa Springs, were noted. A shorter route, bnt impracticable for wagons after heavy rains, via Canon Amagre, has been lately opened from the upper settlements about Tierra Amarilla, that passes to the eastward of Horse Lakes. Grass abounds along this entire distance, and timber on the high hills and mesas. ' Below the mouth of the Navajo, the San Juan turns from, first a southerly, then southwesterly course, nearly to the westward, and soon receives from the north several important streams, including the Florida, Pinos, La Plata, Las Animas, and Mancos. So far as is known, no streams of any ynportance enter the river from either side to the west of the Mancos. The area bounded on the east and south by the San Juan from the junction of its forks to the mouth of the Mancos, on the west by the Mancos, and on the north by a liue drawn from the point of the emergence of this stream from the higher mountains to the point first mentioned, is one great grazing* field, broken only at irregular intervals by groves, and not infrequently dense patches of. timber. Its elevation precludes the cultivation of vegetables and corn, except in spots in the lower part of the narrow valleys of the streams; but the more hardy crops ought to mature by careful culture. The mountains commanding the area described upon the north and east are covered nearly to their summits with a dense growth of pine, fir, and hemlock. Groves of aspen occur at elevations from six to eight. and often nine thousand feet above sea- level. The San Miguel, La Plata, and San Juan ranges, and other gronps not yet properly classified, form this vast mountain amphitheater. Late prospecting has shown that surface indications of the precious minerals are promising at several points, some of which were visited, and reports thereupon, as far as the examinations could be made, will appear in due time. In the month of September, the climate upon the Upper San Juan and its northern tributaries, at elevations not exceeding 8,000 feet, is delightful. The rains of July and August have ceased, aud few clouds disturb |