EHODA.] GEOGRAPHY SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS. 453 



just below the junction of Godwin Creek and Lake Fork we made sta- 

 tion 8 on a point about five miles east of Uncompahgre Peak. The nest 

 station to be made was on tbe great peak itself. In order to accomplish 

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

 up Godwin Greek, to a point where it is joined by a small stream com- 

 ing 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 morning, 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 climbing op 2,400 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 tbe mountain is 

 quite smooth, and slopes from the brink of the great precipice toward 

 the soutb. It is composed of several successive flows of lava, in hori- 

 zontal position, whicb 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 lell 1,000 feet before strik- 

 ing an obstacle, as we determined by timing the descent. The bluff 

 surrounds the peak on all sides except the narrow strip on the south end, 

 and is about the same beight all around, but not so nearly 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 wbich 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 tbe west. Nearly due west of us appeared a very high, 

 sharp peak, wbich 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 culminatiug 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 14,000 feet above the sea. Ten or fifteen miles to the southwest 

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

 various places appeared mountains of white, yellow, and blue, all the 

 colors being very well defined and clear They w r ere caused by the oxi- 

 dization of iron and other ingredients of the rocks. To the north the 

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

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

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

 were soon enveloped. It was at this time that we experienced, for the 

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

 so much with the topographical work. As at this time these phenom- 

 ena were not very marked, and as our experience on all the peaks was 

 very similar, the detailed account of them is reserved for another place. 

 W r e made the entire descent that evening from the summit to Godwin 

 Creek, where the pack-train had left us, getting the benefit of a rain be- 

 fore reaching camp. Up to the second day before this the weather had 



