APPROACHES FROM THE GREAT BASIN. 
19 
in the direction we wished to go, and the next morning we proceeded onward without difficulty. 
Our trail led over a series of spurs from the main mountain ridge, which we crossed twice during 
the day. Our altitude on one of these ridges was 5,500, feet and on our left was a high peak, 
towering above us from two to three thousand feet more. From this ridge was a steep and 
continuous descent for eight or nine miles, when we found ourselves in a beautiful prairie, appa¬ 
rently completely surrounded by high mountains, and, as far as the eye could tell, it was a 
horizontal plain. It was ten miles long, and from three to four broad. We came to an Indian 
rancheria, where we learned that there was a stream of water and good grass two or three miles 
further on. We proceeded to the place, and here found an excellent camping ground. This 
afternoon (August 17) we had a heavy thunder-shower, which lasted between two and three 
hours, and we all came into camp as wet as if we had been in a river. I could see no appreciable 
effect from it on the barometer. This is the only shower we had from the time of starting till 
late in November. There was another rancheria close to the place selected for our camp, and 
from the Indians we learned that their name for the creek was Tah-ee-chay-pah. It is the one 
called Pass creek by Colonel Fremont, and is the same one he ascended when he crossed the 
mountains in 1844. This camp was not removed for three days, the time being occupied in 
making examinations in the vicinity. We knew that the creek (upon whose headwaters we 
were encamped) flowed towards the Tulare valley, hut we did not know at what point it entered 
it. We first went down the creek with the barometer, and found it emerged from the mountains 
about midway between Kern river and the Tejon. We descended the stream for 15| miles, and 
found the average descent to he 157 feet. The creek was narrow, and, in many places, the 
mountains closed in, forming precipitous hanks, while in others there was a valley half a mile 
wide. The hills, in many places, afford side-slopes favorable for making detours to gain distance 
and decrease the grade. The steepest grade ’.found in any part was for a distance of 1^ mile, 
where it was at the rate of 192 feet to the mile. Timber was abundant. 
From our camp, looking to the east and southeast, the hills (which we took to be the main 
ridge of the Sierra Nevada) looked quite low, and there seemed to he several depressions, which 
led us to hope we should find one, at least, favorable for railroad purposes. Being satisfied with 
regard to the creek flowing westward, we commenced an examination of the approaches from 
the Great Basin. We went first to a gap in the hills nearly east of our camp, and found it to 
present steep slopes on both sides; hut pursuing our examination further, we were agreeably 
surprised to find that only a mile north of this gap was a break through the hills, through which 
the waters, collected in the eastern end of the prairie, discharge themselves into the basin; so 
that, in fact, the water-shed or divide of the Sierra was actually in the prairie itself, and the 
range of hills, mistaken for the main ridge, was, in fact, only a spur. A small lake-bed covered 
with an incrustation of salt is immediately at the entrance of this creek, and two miles further 
down we found springs of fresh water. There was a continuous bed of a stream, now dry, 
continuing into the basin, and the bases of the hills, on either side, were a quarter of a mile 
apart. The descent, for the first six miles, from the prairie, was at the rate of less than 80 feet 
to the mile, and further down it was more gradual. The height of the summit was 4,020 feet, 
and was the lowest point of the Sierra that I found. Altogether, the position and grades of 
this pass are more favorable than those of Walker’s, and eventually proved to he more favorable 
than those of any other in the Sierra. 
We next proceeded to examine the place where Colonel Fremont passed, and which was pointed 
out to me by Mr. Preuss, who was with him at the time, and subsequently plotted his notes. 
