170 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



inches than KIT CARSON, paragon of mountaineers ? * 

 Small in stature, and slenderly limbed, but with muscles 

 of wire, with a fair complexion and quiet intelligent fea- 

 tures, to look at Kit none would suppose that the mild- 

 looking being before him was an incarnate devil in Indian 

 fight, and had raised more hair from head of Redskins than 

 any two men in the western country ; and yet, thirty win- 

 ters had scarcely planted a line or furrow on his clean- 

 shaven face. No name, however, was better known in the 

 mountains from Yellow Stone to Spanish Peaks, from 

 Missouri to Columbia River than that of Kit Carson, 

 " raised " in Boonlick, county of Missouri State, and a 

 credit to the diggins that gave him birth. 



Ori Huerfano or Orphan Creek, so called from an isolated 

 hutte which stands on a prairie near the stream, our party 

 fell in with a village of Yuta Indians, at that time hostile 

 to the whites. Both parties were preparing for battle, 

 when Killbuck, who spoke the language, went forward 

 with signs of peace, and after a talk with several chiefs, 

 entered into an armistice, each party agreeing not to 

 molest the other. After trading for a few deer-skins, 

 which the Yutas are celebrated for dressing delicately 

 fine, the trappers moved hastily on out of such danger- 

 ous company, and camped under the mountain on Oak 

 Creek, where they forted in a strong position, and con- 

 structed a corral in which to secure their animals at 

 night. At this point is a tolerable pass through the 

 mountains, where a break occurs in a range, whence they 

 gradually decrease in magnitude until they meet the sier- 

 ras of Mexico, which connect the two mighty chains of the 

 Andes and the Rocky Mountains. From the summit of 

 the dividing ridge, to the eastward, a view is had of the 



* Since the time of which we speak, Kit Carson has distin- 

 guished himself in guiding the several U.S. exploring expeditions 

 under Frdmont across the Rocky Mountains, and to all parts of 

 Oregon and California ; and for his services, the President of the 

 United States presented the gallant mountaineer with the commis- 

 sion of lieutenant in a newly-raised regiment of mounted riflemen, 

 of which his old leader Fre'mont is appointed colonel. 





