SEARCHING- FOR THE MOUNTAIN OF THE SHOW CROSS , 
BY HR. F. V. HAYDEN , DIRECTOR OF THE SURVEY . 
"Our trip down the Eagle River had for its principal 
object the discovery of some way of access to the mountain 
of the Holy Cross. A little stream joins the Eagle River 
from the west side, which rises among the group of mountain- 
peaks of which the Holy Cross is most conspecuous. The 
valley of this stream varies from one-eighth to one-fourth 
of a mile in width, and is about eight or ten miles in 
length, and so covered with the rounded glaciated forms of 
granite that it was impossible to ascend it with our pack- 
trains. We were obliged to descend the river about three 
miles and then climb the steep mountain-side over a net-work 
of fallen timber. The obstructions to traveling were very 
great. We often labored for a day or two to find some path 
to approach the mountain- peak, and were obliged to cut our 
way through the fallen timber, and finally succeeded in 
getting within about five miles of the base of the peak. 
"The most remarkable feature of this wonderful region 
is the proof of a great ancient glacier which must have filled 
up the valley from mouth to source. The bottom, extending 
high up on either side, is covered with the rounded granite 
masses, varying in size from a few feet to several hundred 
feet length; so that, looking down upon them from a high 
point, they resemble a huge flock of sheep, and from this 
fact they have received from the Alpine geologists of Europe 
the appellation of "Roches Moutonn^s." 
It is most probable 
