FREMONT, JOHN CHARLES. 



345 



the trail and slid along the field to the bottom, a 

 hundred yards below. Late in the day we reached 

 another bench in the hollow, where in summer the 

 stream passed over a small precipice. Here was a 

 short distance of dividing ground between the two 

 ridges, and beyond an open basin, some ten miles 

 across, whose bottom presented a field of snow. At 

 the further or western side rose the middle crest of 

 the mountain, a dark-looking ridge of volcanic rock. 

 The summit line presented, a, range of naked peaks, 

 apparently destitute of snow and vegetation ; but be- 

 low the face of the whole country was covered with 

 timber of extraordinary size. 



Toward a pass which the guide indicated here we 

 attempted in the afternoon to force a road ; but after 

 a laborious plunging through two or three hundred 

 yards, our best horses gave out, entirely refusing to 

 make any further effort, and, for the time, we were 

 brought to a stand. The guide informed us that we 

 were entering the deep snow, and here began the dif- 

 ficulties of the mountain ; and to him, and almost to 

 all, our enterprise seemed hopeless. I returned a 

 short distance back, to the break in the hollow, where 

 I met Mr. Fitzpatrick. 



The camp had been occupied all the day in endeav- 

 oring to ascend the hill, but only the best horses had 

 succeeded ; the animals generally not having suf- 

 ficient strength to bring themselves up without the 

 packs ; and all the line of road between this and the 

 springs was strewed with camp stores and equipage, 

 and horses floundering in snow. I therefore immedi- 

 ately encamped on the ground with my own mess, 

 which was in advance, and directed Mr. Fitzpatrick 

 to encamp at the springs, and send all the animals, in 

 charge of Tabeau, with a strong guard, back to the 

 place where they had been pastured the night before. 

 Here was a small spot of level ground, protected on 

 one side by the mountain, and on the other sheltered 

 by a little ridge of rock. It was an open grove of 

 pines, which assimilated in size to the grandeur of the 

 mountain, being frequently six feet in diameter. 



To-night we had no shelter, but we made a large 

 fire around the trunk of one of the huge pines ; and 

 covering the snow with small boughs, on which we 

 spread our blankets, soon made ourselves comfortable. 

 The night was very bright and clear, though the 

 thermometer was only at 10. A strong wind, which 

 sprang up at sundown, made it intensely cold ; and 

 this was one of the bitterest nights during the jour- 

 ney. 



Two Indians joined our party here ; and one of 

 them, an old man, immediately began to harangue us, 

 saying that ourselves and animals would perish in the 

 snow ; and that if we would go back, he would show 

 us another and a better way across the mountain. He 

 spoke in a very loud voice, and there was a singular 

 repetition of phrases and arrangement of words, which 

 rendered his speech striking and not unmusical. 



We had now begun to understand some words, and. 

 with the aid of signs, easily comprehended the ola 

 man's simple ideas. " Eock upon rock rock upon 

 rock snow upon snow," said he. " Even if you get 

 over the snow, you will not be able to get down from 

 the mountains." He made us the sign of precipices, 

 and showed us how the feet of the horses would slip, 

 and throw them off from thenarrow trails that led along 

 their sides. Our Chinook, who comprehended even 

 more readily than ourselves, and believed our situa- 

 tion hopeless, covered his head with his blanket and 

 began to weep and lament. "I wanted to see the 

 whites," said he : " I came away from my own people 

 to see the whites, and I wouldn't care to die among 

 them, but here " and he looked around into the 

 cold night and gloomy forest, and drawing his blanket 

 over his head began again to lament. Seated around 

 the tree, the fire illuminating the rocks and the tall 

 bolls of the pines round about, and the old Indian 

 haranguing, we presented a group of very serious 

 faces. 



5th. The night had been too cold to sleep, and we 

 were up very early. Our guide was standing by the 



fire with all his finery on : and seeing him shiver in 

 the cold, I threw on his shoulders one of my blankets. 

 We missed him a few minutes afterward, and never 

 saw him again. _ He had deserted. His bad faith and 

 treachery were in perfect keeping with the estimate 

 of Indian character which a long intercourse with this 

 people had gradually forced upon my mind. 



While a portion of the camp were occupied in 

 bringing up the baggage to this point, the remainder 

 were busied in making sledges and snow-shoes. I 

 had determined to explore the mountain ahead, and 

 the sledges were to be used in transporting the bag- 

 gage. By observation pur latitude was 38 42' 26" ; 

 and elevation by the boiling point, 7,400 feet. 



6th. Accompanied by Mr. Fitzpatrick, I set out 

 to-day with a reconnoitring party on snow-shoes. 

 We inarched all in single file, trampling the snow as 

 heavily as we could. Crossing the open basin, in a 

 march of about ten miles we reached the top of one of 

 the peaks to the left of the pass indicated by our 

 guide. Far below us, dimmed by the distance, was a 

 large snowless valley, bounded on the western side, 

 at the distance of about a hundred miles, by a low 

 range of mountains, which Carson recognized with 

 delight as the mountains bordering the coast. 

 '" There," said he, u is the little mountain it is fifteen 

 years since I saw it ; but I am just as sure as if I had 

 seen it yesterday." Between us. then, and this low 

 coast range, was the valley of the Sacramento ; and 

 no one who had not accompanied us through the in- 

 cidents of our life for the last few months could real- 

 ize the delight with which at last we looked down 

 upon it. At the distance of apparently 30 miles be- 

 yond us were distinguished spots of prairie ; and a 

 dark line which could, be traced with the glass was 

 imagined to be the course of the river ; but we were 

 evidently at a great height above the valley, and be- 

 tween us and the plains extended miles of snowy 

 fields and broken ridges of pine-covered mountains. 



It was late in the day when we turned toward the 

 camp, and it grew rapidly cold as it drew toward 

 night. One of the men became fatigued, and his feet 

 began to freeze, and, building a fire in the trunk of a 

 dry old cedar, Mr. Fitzpatrick remained with him 

 until his clothes could be dried and he was in a con- 

 dition to come on. After a day's march of 20 miles, 

 we strangled into the camp one after another at 

 nightfall, the greater number excessively fatigued, 

 only two of the party having ever traveled on snow- 

 shoes before. 



All our energies are now directed to getting our an- 

 imals across the snow ; and it was supposed that alter 

 all the baggage had been drawn with the sleighs over 

 the trail we had. made it would be sufficiently hard 

 to bear our animals. At several places between this 

 point and the ridge we had discovered some grassy 

 spots where the wind and sun had dispersed the 

 snow from the sides of the hills, and these were to 

 form resting places to support the animals for a night 

 in their passage across. On our way across we had 

 set on fire several broken stumps and dried trees, to 

 melt holes in the snow for the camps. Its general 

 depth was 5 feet ; but we passed over places where it 

 was 20 feet deep, as shown bv the trees. 



With one party drawing sleighs loaded with bag- 

 gage, I advanced to-day about four miles along the 

 trail, and encamped at the first grassy spot, where 

 we expected to bring our horses. Mr. Fitzpatrick, 

 with another party, remained behind, to form an in- 

 termediate station between us and the animals. 



8th. The night has been extremely eold, but per- 

 fectly still and beautifully clear. Scenery and 

 weather combined must render these mountains 

 beautiful in summer; the purity and deep- blue color 

 of the sky are singularly beautiful; the days are 

 sunny and bright, and even warm in the noon hours ; 

 and if we could be free from the many anxieties that 

 oppress us, even now we would he delighted here ; 

 but our provisions are getting fearfully scant. Sleighs 

 arrived with baggage about ten o'clock ; andj leaving 

 a portion of it here^ we continued on for a mile and a 



