281 p14] 
Yesterday and to-day we have had before our eyes the high mountains 
which divide the Pacific from the Mississippi waters; and entering here 
safe to encamp in the bottoms, which were wooded only with willow thick- 
ets, we ascended to the spurs above, and forted strongly in a small aspen 
grove, hear to which was a spring of cold water. The hunters killed two 
fine cows near the camp. A band of elk broke out of a neighboring grove; 
antelopes were running over the hills; and on the opposite river plains, 
herds of buffalo were raising clouds of dust. The country here appearéd 
more variously stocked with game than any part of the Rocky mountains 
we had visited; and its abundance is owing to the excellent pasturage; 
and its dangerous character as a war ground. 
June 13.—There was snow here near our mountain camp, and the morn- 
ing was beautiful and cool. Leaving St. Vrain’s fork, we took our way di- 
rectly towards the summit of the dividing ridge. The bottoms of the streams 
and level places were wooded with aspens; and as we neared the summit, 
we entered again the piney region. We had a delightful morning’s ride, 
the ground affording us an excellent bridle path, and reached the summit 
towards midday, at an elevation of 8,000 feet. With joy and exultation we 
Saw ourselves once more on the top of the Rocky mountains, and beheld a ~ 
little stream taking its course towards the rising sun. It was an affluent of 5 
the Platte, called Pudlam’s fork, and we descended to noon upon it. It is 
a pretty stream, twenty yards broad, and bears the name of a trapper who, 
some years since, was killed here by the Gros Ventre Indi 
Issuing from the pines in the afternoon, we saw spread out before us the 
valley of the Platte, with the pass of the Medicine Butte beyond, and some 
of the Sweet Water mountains; but a smoky haziness in the air entirely 
obscured the Wind River chain. 
We were now about two degrees south of the South Pass, and our course 
home would have been eastwardly ; but that would have taken us over 
ground already examined, and therefore without the interest which w 
excite curiosity. Southwardly there were objects worthy to be explored, to 
Wit: the approximation of the head waters of three different rivers—the 
Platte, the Arkansas, and the Grand River fork of the Rio Colorado of the 
gulf of California ; the Passes at the heads of these rivers; and the three» 
remarkable mountain coves, called Parks, in which they took their rise. 
One of these Parks was, of course, on the western side of the dividing ridge; 
and a visit to it would require us once more to cross the summit of the 
tocky mountains to the west, and then to re-cross to the east ; making, in 
all, with the transit we had just aplished, three crossings of that moun- 
tain in this section of its course. But, no matter. The coves, the heads of 
the rivers, the approximation of their waters, the practicability of the moun- 
tain passes, and the locality of the rorer Parxs, were all objects. 
of inter- 
— est, and, although well known to hunters and trappers, were unknown to 
