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Show 149 Moving np the Castao Creek I then followed an excellent trail across the mountains to a point on the Pern near where I bad terminated my meander before, and keeping to-its headwater, passed the Los Alemos and Gorman's ranches, and reached old Fort Tejon, where I had left my supplies, on September 19. From here our march took us past Rose's Station, and alone the foot- hills to the San Emidio, then round the edge of Kern Lake, through Bakerfield and across Sage- brush plains, which numbers of little preemption houses indicated a hope on the part of the inhabitants to reclaim, to a point on the sluice at the western extremity of this area allotted me. I moved north from here under a broiling sun toward Poea Creek, and though this country was so barren that I begged from a humane ranchman at my first camp the corn- stalks which formed his shed- cover to prevent my animals from starving, he was sanguine enough to herd sheep there in large numbers. When I arrived at his camp he was driving around an ill- conditioned horse, pumping up water from a well 90 feet deep, while his thousands of sheep were huddled together in bands under care of dogs, waiting their turns to drink; and when I left him in the morning he was similarly employed. Following Posa Creek, in which water stands in occasional pools, we climbed the backbone of the Green Horn Mountains, and, camping on the summit, from a station looked down into the valley of Kern River. Here, as everywhere, was apparent the overstocked condition of the country; every vestige of grass seemed trodden out, even In spots almost inaccessible. By the most perfect road I have ever seen, we moved past the lumber- mill into the valley and up the river to Kernville, where a day was employed in visiting the Sumner mines, and where every courtesy was shown us by Mr. Burke, the superintendent. We camped over night at the hot springs a few miles below, and then, following up Erskine's Creek, took a trail which leads us to the summit of the Pah- Ute Mountain. The mines and work here were carefully inspected, thanks to the extreme kindness of the proprietors, and a station made on the peak to the eastward. Passing through Clarasillo, we visited the John's mine and made a station on a beautiful point we called the " Crowned Butte," on the edge of this desert, and, keeping down Kelso Valley and along Cottonwood Creek, we crossed a divide and camped at the warm springs of Cali-ente Creek. Moving from here into Walker's basin, a station was made on Mount Breckenridge and an abandoned mine visited, and I then took my party into Caliente for supplies. From here our road lay along the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad in the Tehachipi Pass, and making a camp for a few days in the valley, we meandered Sand Canon, Charlie Morris's Cafion^ and Cache* Creek, and made two stations in the range between Tejaohipi and Kelso valleys. The difficulties in executing nice instrumental work had been increased. Besides the mist and fogs, the wind blew constantly almost a gale, filling the air with dust and sand. Crossing Little Oak Creek, we then passed by Desert Springs and Elizabeth Lake, and camped at Lopez Ranch, on the edge of the Desert, long enough to permit us to make an excellent station in the range north of Polvadera Pass and near its mouth. From Elizabeth Lake, I sent Mr. Lee into Los Angeles to assist Lieutenant Bergland in his meteorological computations. We then passed the head of Castac Creek, and, having made two stations in this range north of the Santa Clara, we crossed the hills, and following down a valley, passed Cow Springs and Gorman's Ranch and over on to the San Emidio Creek. Here, November 2, for the first time during the season's work, we were detained by a very severe storm, which covered the mountain- side with snow. Moving due west, we made a station near the Paleta Ranch, and, descending into the valley of the Cuyana, followed it for miles through as barren a country as I had yet seen, and by very hard marches crossed to Lock wood Creek, and reaching the San Emidio again, moved on to the Plato. Here we visited the antimony mines, recently established, and of which great hopes are entertained. For some miles the bed of the Plato ran in an exceedingly pretty valley, where we startled deer and quail from cover at every bend; but it gradually narrowed, until it became an absolutely impassable canon, and we were forced to climb for hours with jaded, worn- out animals over immense hills. Scattering with pistol- shots bands of mountain- sheep, we climbed to the highest point, made a station, and descended over rolling foot- hills to the valley. Striking from here across the plains, we made a direct march toward Caliente, and, climbing the hills by the old Bakersfield Road, reached that place and joined Lieutenant Birnie on November 13. After Mr. Klett's arrival with the other party, a week in Caliente sufficed to disband this expedition. I then conducted the trains to Los Angeles and stored the material. It is a source of consolation to me that, before leaving this part of Southern California, I had the satisfaction of seeing grass springing up in the valleys and along the hills. Ocular demonstration was necessary to convince me of the fact that such could be the case, for in the six months my party had been in the field my animals had but once found feed ( this on the summit of a high mountain) that I did not pay for. That AP. J J- 10 |
