ssduchJ ITINERARY. 37 



along the crest of the ridge, "jumping" elk, deer, and antelope every 

 few minutes. The entire hill appeared to he alive with game. In the 

 distance we saw a large green tract covered with a great number of dark 

 spots. With the aid onr field-glasses, we found these latter to be elk. 

 Having ridden on for about 5 miles in the timber, we found ourselves 

 literally surrounded by these animals. On every side they crashed 

 through the bushes, presenting a noble sight. As we emerged from the 

 forest, near the western end of the hills, we saw a large band of them 

 slowly filing across it. Our mules had become very nervous by this 

 time, the presence of so many animals seeming to disturb them greatly. 

 We watched the solemn procession, without being seen, from behind 

 some bushes. Just as we turned to leave, another band came up, fol- 

 lowing in the trail of the first. This one was larger. Bucks, cows, and 

 calves all marched in a long hue, the first-named uttering their melodious 

 but piercing " squeal." With the heads thrown forward, the horns far 

 back, and the perfect wilderness of prongs, where half a dozen or more 

 animals were near together they presented a sight never to be forgotten. 

 As we wanted some meat, we shot a young cow. She dropped, but was 

 evidently not hurt very much, as several bucks urged her to get up, by 

 using their horns, and she complied with their wishes. One old elk was 

 the object of our ambition; his height reached about a foot above any 

 of the others, and his horns, thrown back, extended nearly to his tail. 

 Irregular prongs produced an effect resembling the horns of a moose. 

 A shot in the neck dropped him, but he recovered before we could reach 

 him, and disappeared in the timber. As the afternoon was advancing, 

 we could only make a short search, and reluctantly abandoned the place, 

 leaving him to his fate. A moderate estimate of the number of elk in 

 the second band would place it at over four hundred. 



Descending from the summit of the ridge, we returned to the camp 

 which we had left in the morning, and from there followed the trail of 

 the pack-train. Taking advantage of short game-trails we passed over 

 the ground rapidly. A number of streams, which contain water at this 

 elevation, were crossed, and were recognized as the continuations of dry 

 "washes" in the valleys northward. Quaking asp, cottonwood, willows, 

 and some pine were found on them. Toward evening we reached a 

 very pretty little valley where we found a log cabin, and some men en- 

 gaged in hay-making. They had seen our pack-train during the morn- 

 ing, and by pointing out to us the place where it had crossed the west 

 ridge, enabled us to make a short "cut-off." Before long it grew dark, 

 but the mules kept the trail. After having ascended a high ridge, trust- 

 ing entirely to our animals, as we could not see enough to guide them, 

 we discerned a light of apparently the size of a candle. Keeping the 

 direction, which we fixed by the position of a few stars, we rode on for 

 several hours longer, and finally, at eleven o'clock in the evening, reached 

 our camp, on the east side of Whisky Gap, after a day's ride of 45 miles. 



During the following day camp remained stationary in this famous 

 pass. In the morning the wind was so violent that it seemed doubtful 

 whether we could make any successful stations. While one party 

 ascended the hill to the east of the gap, we rode on that to the west. 

 Whisky Gap forms the boundary between the Sweetwater Hills and 

 those farther east the Seminole Bange. Geologically and structur- 

 ally the two belong to one system, but the mind of the early settler has 

 seen fit to separate them. About 12 miles west of the gap the wagon- 

 road, following along Sweetwater Biver, forks, and the one branch leads 

 through the pass, on the east side of Muddy Creek. From the gap it runs 

 in a southerly direction, passing Bell's Springs, and eventually reaches 



