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just below the junctiou of Godwin Creek and Lake Fork we made 

 station 8 on a point about iive miles east of Uncompaligre i)eak. The 

 next station to be made was on the great peak itself. In order to 

 accomplish this, it became necessary to move with our pack-train about 

 five miles u]) Godwin Creek, to a point where it is joined by a small 

 stream comiug- in from the north. Leaving the train at this point, and 

 taking an extra mule with us to carry our blankets and food, we rode 

 with great difficulty up the side gulch, and camped at an elevation of 

 11,900 feet, near the timber-line. We started out early the next morn- 

 ing, expecting to have a very difficult climb. We were terribly taken 

 aback, however, when, at an elevation of over 13,000 feet, a she grizzly, 

 with her two cubs, came rushing past us from the top of the peak. 

 Contrary to all expectations, we found the ascent very easy, and arrived 

 on the summit at 7.30 a. m,, having been two hours and a half in climb- 

 ing up 2,100 feet. We found that the bears aforesaid had been all over 

 the summit of the peak, though how they got up over one or two short 

 but steep passages in the ascent puzzled us not a little. The summit 

 of the mountain is quite smooth, and slopes from the brink of the great 

 precipice toward the south. It is composed of several successive flows 

 of lava, in horizontal position, which gives it a stratified appearance, 

 and causes the slope to the south to appear terraced in profile. On the 

 north the edge is sharp and definite, and the precipice so perfectly 

 vertical, that by dropping a stone a few feet from the edge it fell 1,000 

 feet before striking an obstacle, as we determined by li ning the descent. 

 The bluff surrounds the peak on all sides except the narrow strip on the 

 south end, and is about the same height all around, but not nearly so 

 vertical as on the north side. 



From here, for the first time, we were able to see the great massive- 

 ness of the mountains in our district. To the south the peaks appeared 

 in great numbers, and in the distance appeared a group of very scraggy 

 mountains, about which the clouds were circling, as if it was their home. 

 Subsequently we found that they were most of the time thus enveloped. 

 The high mountains near us covered the horizon from the east around 

 by the south to the west. Nearly due west of us appeared a very high, 

 sharp peak, which was afterward ascended as Mount Sneffels, and just 

 to the south of it another high mass, bearing in its center a large, flaring 

 patch of snow. The culminating point of this was later station 35, or 

 Mount Wilson. Southeast of us, and about eight or ten miles distant, 

 was a mass of peaks, filling the whole space between Lake Fork and 

 Godwin Creek, all of a bright red color. The highest of these points is 

 over 11,000 feet above the sea. Ten or fifteen miles to the southwest was 

 another smaller mass of lower peaks of the same color, while in vari- 

 ous places appeared mountains of white, yellow, and blue, all the colors 

 being very well defined and clear. They were caused by the oxidiza- 

 tion of iron and other ingredients of the rocks. To the north the mount- 

 ains fall very suddenly down to the bed of the Gunnison; in fact, the 

 peak is situated on the extreme north line of the Uncompahgre Mount- 

 ains. Just before we left the summit, clouds came along, and we were 

 soon enveloped. It was at this time that we exj)erieuced, for the first 

 time in the season, the electrical phenomena which later interfered so 

 much with the topographical work. Asat this timethese phenomena were 

 not very marked, and as our experiences on all the peaks were very similar, 

 the detailed account of them is reserved for another place. We made the 

 entire descent that evening from the summit to Godwin Creek, where the 

 pack-train had been left, getting the benefit of a rain before reaching camp. 

 Up to the second day before this the weather had been very fine, but 



