126 ON THE FRONTIER 



Sangre de Cristo Pass had, in some exceptional seasons, 

 been closed by snow ; for the summit valley through which 

 it ran had steep sides and was about six miles long, and 

 had been known to be totally filled up with light drifted 

 snow ; but that there was another pass to the San Luis 

 Valley from the Wet-mountain, one leaving its upper end 

 and going towards the north-west, that never was totally 

 closed. Even in the worst winters, men on snow-shoes 

 could always get over. It was called the Mosca Pass, but 

 being very steep and precipitous on both sides, and crossing 

 the summit at a much greater elevation than the Sangre de 

 Cristo, and being besides the direct road to nowhere, the 

 trail had from disuse become long since unperceivable. An 

 Indian trail from the north was, he believed, the only other- 

 inlet to Wet-mountain Valley. It was the route of the Utes 

 from Elk Mountains, but was in every respect a bad one, 

 and only available to enter the valley by not being prac- 

 ticable to ascend. 



