NARRATIVE AND ITINERARY WRIGHT LAKE RIIETT LAKE. 65 



but there is no reason to suppose that it did not bend toward the south, and discharge into Pit 

 river about ten miles below our camp. I feel pretty sure either that it sinks, (that is, has no 

 continuous bed,) or that it goes to Pit river. In the latter case, the railroad should follow it up. " 



August 10. — To-day, we travelled over the route examined by Lieutenant Williamson yester- 

 day, and encamped at what he termed the " spring branch." It was a little creek about ten 

 feet in width, which flowed through a small opening bordered by pine timber. The stream 

 was so choked up with bushes, that, in many places, it could only be reached by cutting them 

 away. Towards the lower part of the opening, the brook spread out into a little swamp ^ 

 Frogs of a very peculiar species were found in the creek and swamp, in great numbers. An ante- 

 lope was shot near camp. 



August 11. — The party was aroused at three o'clock this morning, by Lieutenant William- 

 son's order ; as it was very uncertain how far we might be obliged to travel before reaching 

 water. The head of the antelope killed yesterday, had been baked by allowing it to remain 

 all night buried among hot stones, and it furnished an excellent breakfast. We followed the 

 wagon road through an open pine forest for about six miles, and then, finding that it inclined 

 too much to the west, left it, and endeavored to keep, by compass, a course N. 20° W. After 

 travelling several miles on nearly level ground through the forest, we emerged from it, and 

 found ourselves on a rocky plain covered with sage bushes. This we crossed in about six miles, 

 and, on reaching the summit of a line of low sandstone hills capped with trap, saw below us 

 Wright lake. It was a fine sheet of water, about eleven miles long and four miles wide, 

 bordered by tule. The banks were so miry that we were compelled to travel more than a 

 mile before reaching a place where the animals could drink. We encamped in the edge of the 

 tule, near some green willow bushes which supplied us with our only fuel, as even sage bushes 

 had disappeared after crossing the hills. 



August 12. — Our course, at first, lay along the southwestern shore of the lake, where the 

 hills occasionally terminated very abruptly at the water's edge. The horn of a mountain sheep, 

 weighing several pounds, was found near the trail. After crossing the low hills which border 

 the lake, we travelled through a gently undulating region, dotted with sage bushes, for about 

 seven miles. We then found ourselves on the edge of an abrupt descent of 200 feet, which 

 conducted to the shores of Ehett lake. This lake was about fourteen miles long and eight 

 miles broad. It was bordered by a wide belt of tule, the home of vast numbers of water-fowl, 

 which rose in clouds at our approach. 



On the bluff the trail joined an emigrant road, which followed down a narrow ravine to the 

 level of the lake. This ravine was once the scene of a bloody massacre. A party of In- 

 dians lay in ambush, until an emigrant train reached the middle of the descent, and then 

 attacked and killed nearly the whole party. Rhett lake is a secure retreat, where the savages 

 can escape among the tule, in their light canoes, and defy a greatly superior force. 



The line of hills which borders the lake on the northeastern side, is separated from the tule 

 by a narrow strip of land, elevated but little above the water. This was covered with grass, 

 the rich green of which presented a refreshing contrast to the sickly blue of the sage plain 

 over which we had been travelling. The clouds of dust ceased, and we journeyed on through 

 a much more pleasing region. After riding a few miles from the bluff, we left the road, and 

 encamped on Lost river near where it discharges itself into the lake by several mouths. It 

 was a deep, unfordable stream, flowing with a very sluggish current. The banks were abrupt 

 like the sides of a canal. A few sage bushes and " bois des vaches" supplied the only fuel. 

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