CHAPTEE YIII. 



THE EATON MOTXTAIXS. 



Passes in the Eaton Mountains. 



Head of the Purgatoire Canon. 



Phot' 



graphic Difficulties there. — Colonel Burgeman and the Guide/ Prancisc 

 sent by the Merchants of Santa Pe to Trelcome and assist us. — We surpri 



-Tho Chase.- 



an Indian Camp. 



■The Plight. 



The Parley. 



Trinche: 



Pass, Origin of its Name, Trap Dyke. — Fertility of Eaton Mountaiuj 

 Trees, Plowers, and Game. — Arrival of General Palmer. — Antelope Ter 

 Abundant, how to kill them. — Discover Cimarron Pass.^ — -A Night m' 

 the Eanche-men in the Mountains. — Head Valleys of the Cimarron Eive: 



■Extinct Volcanoes. 



tliroiigli tlie Eaton 



Mountains; twi 



Theee are four passes 



are practicable for wagons^ and two are not. 



The most western is Eaton Pass^ tlirongli wliich the Sant^ 

 Te road runs. This is the travelled highway over the mou: 

 tains. It passes aronnd Eisher's Peak, the most lofty pile 

 basaltic rocks in the range, is 7,169 feet above the sea, an 

 twenty-two miles in length. 



The next pass is that known as the Manco del Purro (tl 

 Pass of the Lame Donkey). Coal was discovered here b 

 Mr. Eicholtz, bnt Captain W. F. Colton, on making a secon 

 examinationj conld only find three narrow veins, separated b 

 thick beds of sandstone. The pass is rngged, and the wor; 

 of the fonr. 



Next comes Trinchera Pass, sitnated abont the centre 

 the mountains, and thirty-five miles east of Trinidad. It 



by far the best 



natm-al highway 

 althongh it had not been used for 

 passed through 



across 



tu 



range ; 



an 



wagons until our trai: 

 it, there is no doubt that a very sma 

 outlay would make it, not only a shorter, but a better rout 



