- 
96 MOJAVE VALLEY TO BIG CANON-——CERBAT RANGE. 
broad valley, but which turned out to be a basin formed by the chain we had passed, and spurs 
extending from it. There was a low divide on the rim of the basin nearly opposite the eastern 
entrance to the Railroad Pass. The altitudes of these opposite edges are about the same. 
Lieutenant Whipple, while locating a railroad line near the 35th parallel, had reached a point 
a short distance east of this divide, where he struck the headwaters of Bill Williams’s Fork, at 
that time an unexplored stream. Supposing that it would conduct directly to the Colorado, he 
followed it till it was too late to return, and was compelled to pursue a difficult and circuitous 
route to its mouth. He was confident, however, from a careful study of the country at either 
end, that the direct route from the divide to the Colorado would be practicable for a railroad, 
besides greatly shortening the distance. The observations of the past two days have demon- 
strated the accuracy of his judgment. A uniform slope extends from the foot of Cactus Pass, 
a point on Lieutenant Whipple’s line, to the divide, the altitude of which has been stated. 
From the divide the road can follow the rim of the basin along an unbroken ridge to Railroad 
Pass, from which place there is a smooth slope to the Colorado. The distance from Cactus 
Pass to the Colorado, by this line, is about eighty miles. For the whole of this distance there 
scarcely exists an irregularity upon the surface of the ground. 
Instead of crossing the basin, Ireteba took us north, for ten or fifteen miles along the eastern 
base of the Cerbat range, to an excellent grazing camp, but where there was only a small 
i u)} 
Fig. 29. - Gerhas Basin. 
spring of sulphurous water. This he told me was the last water we should have for two days. 
The mules had become so much weakened that I found it again necessary to remain a day in 
camp to permit them to graze. A violent hail-storm, followed by a raw and piercing sleet 
that kept them huddled all day with bent backs, shivering in the blast, Stiiinaledanial the 
good effects that might have otherwise resulted from the delay. 
=m 
