WESTERN STATES. 



327 



Longitude IS'W.from Unshirx^to 



O irii 



Vct7ida.l{ia Or 



Yo2-h\ 



{ )3ard3 



^ ^ ./j 



tlTTLC rock\ 

 .fv^^lrf Arhan sets' 



" ^Tv- .- -,■ 



"WE S T ERN 

 STATES 



30 



* We are indebted to the Missouri Advocate for the fol- 

 lowing account of General Ashley's discoveries in this 

 quarter. He considers it quite possible to form a route 

 across this formidable barrier to the Pacific Ocean. Tiie 

 route proposed after leaving St. Louis, and passing gene- 

 rally on the north side of Missouri river, strikes the river 

 Platte, a short distance above its junction witli the Mis- 

 souri ; then passpi the waters of liie Platte to their sour- 

 ces, and in contij nation, crosses (he head waters of what 

 General Ashley believes to be the Colorado of the West, 

 and strikes for the first time, a ridge or single connectincr 

 cliain of mountains running from north to south. This, 

 however, presents no diflicuUy, as a wide gap is found, 

 apparently prepared for tlie purpose of a passage ; after 

 passing this gap, the route proposed falls directly on a 

 river, called by George Ashley the Buenaventura, and 

 runs from that river to the Pacific Ocean. Tiie face of 

 the country in general is a continuance of high, rugged, 

 and barren mountains, the summits of which are either 

 timbered with pine, quaking asii, or ced:ir; or, in part 

 almost entirely destitute of vegetation. Oilier parts are 

 hilly and undulating ; and flie valleys and table lands 

 (except on the borders of water-courses, which are more 

 or less timbered with cotton-wood and willows) are desti- 

 tute of wood ; but this indispensable article is substituted 

 by an herb called by the liunters wild sage, whicli grows 

 from 1 to 5 feet high, and is found in great abundance in 

 most parts of the country. The sterility of the country 

 is almost incredible. Thai part of it bounded by the 



was 10 feet deep. Captain Pike 

 and his company in attempting 

 to explore tiie soutliern parts 

 were completely bewildered 

 among snows, torrents, and 

 precipices, and many of the 

 party were lost.* 



Little is known of the geo 

 logical structure of these moun 

 tains, but they seem to bt 

 chiefly granitic. Whether they 

 contain any volcanoes is un- 

 certain ; when Lewis ano 

 Clarke's party were above 

 the falls of the Missouri, 

 they heard remarkable sounds 

 among the mountains, which 

 are described in the following 

 language " Since our arrival 

 at the iills, we have repeat- 

 edly heard a strange noise 

 coming from the mountains, a 

 httle to the north of west. It 

 is heard at difierent periods 

 of the day and night, some- 

 times when the air is perfectly 

 still and unclouded, and con- 

 sists of one stroke only, or of 

 five or six discharges in quick 

 succession. It is loud and re- 

 sembles precisely the sound of 

 a six pounder at the distance 

 of 3 miles. The Indians had 

 before mentioned this noise 

 like thunder, but we had 

 paid no attention to it. The 



three ranges of mountains, and watered by the sources of 

 the supposed Buenaventura, is less sterile ; yet the pro- 

 portion of arable land even within those limits is compar- 

 atively small, and no district of the country visited by 

 General Ashley, or of which he obtained satisfactory in- 

 formation, offers inducements to civilized people sufficient 

 to justify an expectation of permanent settlement. The 

 river visited by General Ashley, and which he believes to 

 be the Rio Colorado of the West, is at about 50 miles 

 from its most northern source tO yards wide. At this 

 point General Asjiley embarked, and descended the river 

 whicl) gradually increased in width to 180 yards. In 

 passing through tlie mountains the channel is contracted 

 to r)0 or tiO yards, and so mucli obstructed by rocks as to 

 make its descent extremely dangerous, and its ascent im- 

 practicable. After descending this river about 400 miles, 

 (j'eneral Ashley shaped his course northward, and fell 

 upon wliat he supposed to be the sources of the Buena- 

 ventura, and represents those branches as bold streams, 

 from 20 to 50 yards wide, forming a junction a few miles 

 below where he crossed them, and then emptying into a 

 lake called Grand Lake, represented by the Indians as 

 being 00 or 70 miles long, and <J0 or 50 wide. This in- 

 formation is strengthened by that of the white hunters, 

 who have explored parts of the lake. The Indians repre- 

 sent that at the extreme west end of this lake a large riv- 

 er flows out and runs westward. General Ashley, when 

 on those waters, at first thought it probable they were the 

 sources of the Multnomali, but the account given by the 



