288 FROM FORT OWEN TO WALLAH-WALLAH. 



travelled the day before, full of steep ascents and yet more precipitous declivities, and much 

 obstructed by fallen timber. About 12 o clock we arrived at the foot of a deep ravine, from the 

 side of which issued a small spring, and finding a little grass in the vicinity, I concluded to encamp 

 here. The spring was so small that we had to dig a number of little wells for the water to 

 collect in, in order to obtain sufficient for ourselves and animals. 



Three of our horses gave out this day and were left behind, and many of the others were so 

 much used up, that it was with great difficulty that we got them into camp. 



For eight days more we continued climbing mountain after mountain, our difficulties increasing 

 as we proceeded; and when after much toil we had attained the summit of one of these mountains, 

 it was only to behold another of still greater altitude rising in advance of us ; and so it continued, 

 day after day, until we began to think that there was no limit to them. 



These mountains, unlike any that I had before seen, seemed to have no dividing ridge, but are 

 an immense mass of mountains, broken into conical peaks and lateral spurs, and all thrown 

 together and piled one upon another in wildest confusion. 



Owing to the scarcity of grass we were unable to make regular camps sometimes stopping 

 three or four times during a day to allow our animals to gather the thin grass on the sides of the 

 mountain, and frequently encamping at night without either water or grass. 



We suffered a good deal from the cold, owing to the sudden transition to a high altitude. For 

 several days we had to contend against rain, hail, and snow, which, by making the rond muddy 

 and slippery, kept both men and horses on a continual strain. Often the road was obstructed 

 with large pine trees which had fallen and lay in every direction across the trail, making it 

 almost impassable. On the summit of two of the mountains we found snow to the depth of 

 three or four inches, and it was still snowing there, while in descending into the valley it changed 

 into sleet and rain. At last, about noon on the 15th of September, we found ourselves on 

 the summit of the last mountain, and beheld the Nez Perces plains spreading out. in smiling 

 verdure beneath us. The contrast between these vast plains, glimmering with reflected sunshine, 

 and the cold and dreary region from which we first beheld them, inspired us with fresh energy ; 

 and, forgetting our fatigue, we hurried down the mountain, dragging our jaded animals after us, 

 hoping soon to reach its base, where our animals would obtain food and rest. We soon, however, 

 discovered that our hopes were not to be realized as soon as we had imagined, and that we had 

 still a long distance to travel before reaching the plains. 



About sundown we encamped in a little open prairie on the side of the mountain, where we 

 found better grass than our animals had had since leaving the St. Mary s valley. There being 

 no water here, at dawn of day we were again on the march, and, after travelling about five 

 miles, came upon a small stream at the base of the mountain. Bordering on the stream was 

 a large prairie covered with a luxuriant growth of bunch-grass. Here I concluded to remain 

 a few days, as our animals were completely worn out and required rest; besides which, private 

 Stevens, a soldier attached to the escort, having failed to reach camp the night before, I wished 

 to send back in search of him. 



This man had not been seen by any of the party since noon the day before, and I feared that 

 some accident had happened to him. 1 therefore, immediately after encamping, sent two men 

 back on the trail to look for him. 



These men remained out all night, and did not return until the following evening. They found 

 the saddle and bridle belonging to the lost man about fifteen miles back from our camp, but 

 though they had built fires and shouted, and fired off pistols from every height, had seen nothing 

 of him. They said that it had snowed all night, and that in the morning it was so deep that 

 they had great difficulty in keeping on the trail. 



In some places the snow had drifted, and was two and three feet deep. They had gone back 

 to within a mile of the summit of the mountain, some distance beyond where the man had been 

 last seen. I sent parties to scour round the base of the mountains, and to build fires, in order 



