GREEN EIVER VALLEY. 409 



IJfDIAJf ENGRAVINGS OX THE EACE OF ROCKS ALONG GREEN RIVER VALLEY 



IN THE SIERRA NEVADA MANGE OF MOUNTAINS. 



By J. G. Bruff. 



In 1850, accompanied by a party of twenty-three persons in all, well 

 mounted and armed, I explored a mountain district probably never before 

 visited by the whites. The Pi-utah Indians, numerous and hostile, an- 

 noyed us much, stole a horse, and killed one of the party. I had a pocket- 

 compass, a protractor, scale, and dividers, with which, taking the bearings 

 of the snow-capped peaks of Shasta and Mount Saint Joso, or Lassen's 

 Peak, I fixed our position upon the map. We soon commenced descend- 

 ing the eastern slope of the mountain, following ridges and valleys through 

 ^'hat Lassen, who was one of the party, very aptly termed "a blowu-up 

 country." It is all of volcanic origin, with fissures, extinct craters, obsid- 

 ian, &c., &c. At length, descending the side of an extensive ridge, by an 

 Indian or brute trail, we reached a gulch-head, in which was a delightful 

 spring of clear water, the source of a stream, at first a mere brook, which 

 after a few hours' ride became a considerable creek, bordered with a lux- 

 uriant growth of willows, grass, and trees of all sizes. From near the 

 spring commenced a volcanic rent, running in a general northeasterly di- 

 rection diagonally across an extensive inclined sterile plain, covered with 

 shari> angular blocks of a brown plutonic rock, among which, through 

 this defile, the creek meandered. All indications showed this to be a 

 favorite resort of Indians. Game abounded ; tracks of grizzly bears, deer, 

 antelopes, panthers, wolves, «&c., were seen at the numerous crossings of 

 the stream, with several shooting-lodges of the natives, one of which I 

 sketched. We traveled at a quick pace the greater part of the day, 

 in this defile, in imminent danger from the Indians, who might from the 

 willow jungles, or from the top of the walls, have unhorsed the entire party 

 with their obsidian pointed arrows. The southern side of the defile was a 

 vertical wall, as of masonry ; the other was irregular and broken. From 

 its head the creek-bottom, having a greater declination than the general 

 surface, gave the walls more height, until the southern one was on an 

 average 20 feet. Several large blocks of stone occasionally projected over 

 the wall, and the top all along was very irregular, with rocks and clumps 

 of cedar-bushes. But that which was the principal point of interest in 

 this defile of some fifteen or tweut;^ miles in length was the fact that the 

 surface of the rock was covered witli sculptured characters. (Fig. 1.) 

 The highest ranges of these remarkable records, some of which are cut in 

 the under face of overhanging rocks, could only have been executed by 

 the aid of platforms. The rock is of such a hard nature that in order to 

 make similar markings we would be compelled to use a well-tempered 

 chisel and hammer. They are generally of the size of a crow-quill, say 

 one-tenth of an inch, but were originally greater. Some, here and there, 

 were partially obliterated by the action of the elements for many years. 



