470 GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF THE TEERITORIES. 



comrade's first attempt, slie " made the riffle" with little trouble. Other 

 experiences of a little less exciting nature served to heighten our dislike 

 for this creek. Having climbed over 2,000 feet in the morning, and 

 made two stations, we felt very tired, and our mules walked slowly. 

 After a while darkness began to come on, and camp did not appear. 

 " Bones" began to take on that pitiful look engendered by her horror of 

 having to stay out. Every time that such a contingency seemed prob- 

 able her lower lip would fall and hang down in a strangely sorrowful 

 way. She seemed to recall that awful night in the Greenhorn Moun- 

 tains, in 1873, when she slept out away from her companions, and where, 

 after several months of unceasing labor, that one night broke her down 

 and made her lip hang down as it never hung before and never did 

 again. Soon, however, we came again upon the tracks of the train, and 

 her long ears pricked up and she became so excited over it that I could 

 scarcely keep her in a walk. When the camp-fire appeared and she got 

 the scent of her companions, she seemed perfectly happy and contented, 

 as we were also. For some distance below camp the stream-bed had 

 widened out into quite a little valley, which continued above camp up 

 to the head of the stream. 



The next day, August 22, we made the ascent of the Eio Grande 

 Pyramid. The day was beautiful to its close, a remarkable circumstance 

 for this season of the year in these mountains. As we were camped at 

 the foot of the mountain we had plenty of time. Wishing to give the 

 mules a little rest, Mr. Wilson directed Ford, one of the packers, to fol- 

 low after and bring them back to camj^. We rode up the west slope of 

 the mountain to near 13,000 feet elevation. Taking off our instruments, 

 we threw the stirrups over the saddles, and fixed the bridles and ropes 

 so that they could not get caught in the timber. We then tried to start 

 the mules back to camp by throwing stones at them. They would move 

 off a little, but if we tried to drive them farther they would dodge back. 

 The reason seemed to be that they had noticed that camp always was 

 made in a different place each day, and they were afraid of getting lost 

 if they strayed off'. Their great horror of getting lost was very notice- 

 able in many cases. In every case where we had to hunt for the camp 

 after dark, they seemed to give up entirely and put their whole trust in 

 their riders. Often have we left them loose, at elevations ranging from 

 12,000 to 13,000 feet, far above the timber-line, but they never at- 

 tempted to stray away^ although they would crop whatever grass they 

 could find near. At times when they could not be tied so as to get 

 enough grass, we would take oft* saddle and bridle, and leave them per- 

 fectly lo se, but it seemed to make no difference. 



The climb on foot was quite easy, and was not more than about 

 1,000 feet vertical. On the top we found a nicely-built monument 

 of stones, which we increased in height to about 6 feet. Some 

 enterprising climber seems to have taken a just pride in leaving his 

 mark on this beautiful peak. The fact that the monument was on the 

 vrue summit indicated the fact that its builder was something else than 

 a common miner. The height of this peak (station 21) is 13,773 feet 

 above the sea. The view from here is very fine. The whole mass of 

 the quartzite peaks, so often mentioned as prominent features in the 

 views from previous stations, from here stand out clearer than from 

 any point yet visited. Almost all of the higher points are clearly vis- 

 ible, but they are massed together in such a way that from this point 

 the drainage of the system cannot be made out at all. In one place, 

 to the south of us, we could see low rolling couutr3% indicating that we 

 were near the southern termination of the high mountains. To the 



