Louisiana and Aaron Burr 373 



pasturage weakened them so that some died from 

 exhaustion ; others fell over precipices ; and the mag- 

 pies proved evil foes, picking the sore backs of the 

 wincing, saddle-galled beasts. In striving to find 

 some pass for the horses the whole party was more 

 than once strung out in detachments miles apart, 

 through the mountains. Early in January, near the 

 site of the present Canyon City, Pike found a valley 

 where deer were plentiful. Here he built .a fort of 

 logs, and left the saddle-band and pack-animals in 

 charge of two of the members of the expedition ; in- 

 tending to send back for them when he had discov- 

 ered some practicable route. 



He himself, with a dozen of the hardiest soldiers, 

 struck through the mountains toward the Rio 

 Grande. Their sufferings were terrible. They 

 were almost starved, and so cold was the weather 

 that at one time no less than nine of the men froze 

 their feet. Pike and Robinson proved on the whole 

 the hardiest, being kept up by their indomitable will, 

 though Pike mentions with gratification that but 

 once, in all their trials, did a single member of the 

 party so much as grumble. 



Pike and Robinson were also the best hunters; 

 and it was their skill and stout-heartedness, shown 

 in the time of direst need, that saved the whole party 

 from death. In the Wet Mountain Valley, which 

 they reached in mid- January, 1807, at the time that 

 nine of the men froze their feet, starvation stared 

 them in the face. There had been a heavy snow- 

 storm; no game was to be seen; and they had been 



