OCR Text |
Show 134 report of mines, & c, see Dr. Loew's report,) and thence by excellent wagon- road down the mountain to Cerrb Gordo landing, on Owens Lake. The country from Panamint to Cerro Gordo was without settlers, except the small garden in the canon east of Pana-mint. Skirting the northeastern shore of Owens Lake, we crossed the river by a bridge a few miles above tbe lake, and thence throngh Lone Pine to Camp Independence, arriving the 3d October, and remained until November, small parties being sent out from time to time to prosecute the work in the vicinity. October 6> Mr. Nell occupied a triangulation- station on the eastern divide of the Sierras and nearly west of Camp Independence. Careful observations were made to connect this post with primary triangnlation points, and a series of sextant- observations taken for latitude. October 9 we started to occupy Mount Whitney, tbe highest peak in this portion of the Sierras, and probably the highest in tbe range. The most feasible route was found by returning to Lone Pine and ascending the very steep eastern slope of the Sierras by the way of the Hockett trail, ( from Lone Pine to Visalia, Cal.,) passing tbe divide by the headwaters of Cottonwood Creek, and then turning northward from the trail when in the basin of Kern River, which drains directly the western slope of the peak which we occupied October 13. The view from this peak is most grand and comprehensive, more than 11,000 feet above the Owens River Valley, overlooking it and the ranges to the east, and including almost in one view the two great ridges on either side of tbe basin of the Kern River and the rocky barrier at its head that separates it from King's River to the north and west. In the Sierras wfi find the strata dipping to the west, just the opposite of what is found in the Amargosa range, ( the eastern one of the uniform system heretofore remarked.) A close study of these ranges in connection with the intermediate ones, tbe Inyo, Argus, and Panamint, would I think, in this particular alone be very interesting. In the Inyo ( next to the Sierras) the strata seem out little inclined from the perpendicular. This range has been considered remarkable from its height compared to its base, rising 7,000 to 8,000 feet from a base of scarcely more than 8 miles, both sides being at this point ( Inyo Peak) about equally precipitous. The glacier action to be seen on the western slope of Whitney's Peak is very grand; the immense size of the canons and the smooth and polished surface of the rocks extending up their sides attest the action that once has taken place; the eastern slopes of the range observed near Camp Independence also bear evidence of this action, notably on Glacier Canon, just north of Kearsarge Pass, and almost at any place along this slope may be found broken rocks worn and polished on one side, showing they were fixed in position when this abrasion took place. Returning from Whitney's Peak, we were compelled to leave our pack animals at Lone Pine to recruit, while Mr. Nell and myself made a trip to occupy Cerro Gordo Peak and New York Butte, both of the Inyo range; then collecting the party, we returned to Camp Independence. Next a trip was made to occupy Wau- oo- ba Peak, ( Inyo range,) returning by the Eclipse mill and mine and crossing the river at the mill. A triangulation- station was also made upon one of the group of craters just south of Big Pine. The Owens River is soarcly fordable within 20 miles of its mouth, but is crossed by three bridges. The banks, though low, are steep, and the river- bed soft or tbe approaches swampy. The sediment brought down by the river is deposited in bars in the fake, perpendicular to the thread of the current; behind them are forming lagoons. The bed of the river near its mouth is a hard- pan formation, in which deep and shallow places alternate, seemingly withont reason. In the valley is distinctly observable a fissure formed by the earthquake in 1872, when tbe ground sank in the valley and along the west bank of the river; and nest to the foot- hills is observed the exposure of the west side of the fissure. There seemed a striking resemblance between this and a terrace formation, its position faomg the valley also, and I think in a short time, when the bank shall have become rounded by the weather, it will be hard to distinguish from an old terrace. On November 3, having completed as far as practicable the area assigned us, the party moved toward Caliente, Cal. Passing along the western shore of Owens Lak* » the road keeps along the eastern base of the Sierras to Tehacapai Pass, and through this to Caliente, where we arrived November 12. At Little Lake a halt was made to occupy a station in the Coso Mountain, and for me to visit interesting boiling springs that had been reported in tbe vicinity. Dr- Loew has analyzed the waters from these springs and reports upon them. Supplies for the party were received at Los Angeles for forty days, at Panamint for sixty days, and at Camp Independence for forty- five days. Lieutenant Whipple and party arrived at Caliente also on the 12tb, and Mr. Klett and party on the 15th. The parties were disbanded as soon as practicable, and the property inventoried and packed in cases. Lieutenant Whipple, in charge of train and property, left for Los Angeles on the 19th. Mr. Klett and myself left the last, on the night of the 19th, for Washington, D. C. \ |