SKETCH OF THE EOUTE. xvli 



d 



left 



across a desert region to the Ai"kansas Eiver, and up that 

 stream to New Fort Lyon, a point close to the mouth of the 

 Purgatoire Eiver. Distance, 114 miles. 



From Fort Lyon one of our parties continued to ascend the 

 Arkansas Eiver until it reached a tributary called the 

 Huerfano, which it followed into the most elevated portion 

 of the North American continent — the centre of Colorado — 

 y where the Arkansas, Eio Colorado of the West, Platte, and 

 it Eio Grande del I^orte have their sources. Having; snrvevcd 

 ^ several passes in this region, the party descended the last- 

 named stream for about 380 miles to Fort Craig, in southern 



New J\Iexico. 



Two parties, to one of which I was attached, sm'veycd a 

 route from Fort Lyon up the Purgatoii^e Eiver, and across 

 the Eaton Mountains to Los Yegas, 230 miles ; thence 

 around the southern extremity of the Eocky Mountains into 

 the valley of the Eio Grande del I^orte, and down that valley 

 from Albuquerque to Fort Craig, 219 miles farther. In 

 ^^^^", the valley of the Eio Grande, the fast-disappearing remnants 

 0*o{ the Aztec nation — the Pueblo or Town Indians — are still 



0\ 



J 



ni! 







f 



F V 



to he found living in peaceful simplicity in their villages, and 

 raising their fi'uits and crops hy a weJl-regidated system of 

 ■ w irrigation. 



<^ ^ ^^At Fort Craig onr parties were reorganised, their numbers 

 t^ (>j,reased, and the escorts doubled, preparatory to exploring 



]it^^ 'j*more difficult country lying to the westward. 



31 



ftiT '* From the Eio Grande to the Eio Colorado of the ^^est, and 



01 ^^ mce across the desert, or Great Basin, as it is commonly 

 _^!led, into California, our parties surveyed and examined 



M^ -0 entirely different districts, lying parallel to each other, 



b 



:d i separated by lofty mountains and table-lands, and distant 

 ^^^ iially about 2°, One party, consisting of three bodies 



4^' 



b 



i 



% 



lAii 



