34 
PROOF OF SINKIJVG OF MOHAVE RIVER-MR. SMITH’S REPORT. 
long and three broad. The character of the second lake was entirely different from that of the 
first. It was a dry, hard clay-bed, on which the shoes of the mules scarcely made an impres¬ 
sion ; while the other was covered with salt, and in many places too soft to travel over. The 
bases of the hills on the west, and the mountains on the east, were immediate on the lake 
bank, and as we crossed it we could see there was no outlet in either of these directions ; but to 
the northward the hills were low, and we expected to find here a passage where water could 
flow. On arriving at the north end of the lake, we found a very low ridge, connecting the hills 
on either side. We searched for a passage through this ridge, but could find none ; but every¬ 
where saw, in the gullies, that the water from rains flowed towards the lake. I hence con¬ 
cluded that the true sink of the Mohave river was in the salt lake, and that the second lake was 
formed principally from water flowing from the surrounding hills after heavy rains; but that 
in time of very high water in the salt lake, its surplus flowed through the ditch before mentioned 
into it. 
We crossed this ridge, and at once descended into another valley some two hundred feet 
lower than the bed of the lake. After travelling four or five miles, we came suddenly upon a 
wagon-road. We knew it could be no other than the old Spanish trail, and this at once 
afforded proof that the Mohave river of the maps is a fiction. It was universally supposed by 
emigrants and others, that when the Spanish trail left the Mohave above the canon, it never 
was on it again. The valley in which we struck the trail extended to the northward twenty or 
thirty miles, bounded on all sides by mountains. 
We were now, according to our estimates, over 100 miles in a direct line from the Colorado, 
with a mountainous country between, and neither wood, water, nor grass that we knew of. To 
attempt to reach that river would have been madness. Our only alternative was to turn back. 
We took the wagon-road, and at midnight reached Agua de Tomaso, having travelled fifty-five 
miles without water. 
Agua de Tomaso, (or, as I am told, more properly Agua de Tio Mes,) is simply a spring of 
bitter water, which does not flow more than a hundred yards, and i& quite different from what 
maps generally represent it to be ; for they often make it a stream 20 miles long. There was 
not enough grass here to subsist our animals, and we were, therefore, obliged to push on early 
in the morning to where the trail strikes the Mohave. From here we went by the usually 
travelled roads through the settlements to join Lieutenant Parke, whom we found near 
Warner’s rancho, at Agua Caliente. We joined him on the 29th of November, and once more 
all the party was together. 
MR. SMITH’S SURVEY. 
I have deferred until now a report of the results of the survey intrusted to Mr. Smith, because 
I did not wish to interrupt the detail of facts connected with the Mohave river. 
Mr. Smith left Depot camp on the 21st of October, with the spring-wagon and a small survey¬ 
ing party. Instead of following our circuitous trail, he attempted to go in a direct line to the 
entrance of New Pass, but found the ground cut up by gullies, and the yucca trees and brush 
very thick. He therefore regained the road, and, proceeding without further difficulty, arrived 
at and went through the New Pass. A full description af this pass has already been given. 
On the south of the Santa Clara valley is a spur of the Coast range, running obliquely 
towards the sea, and known as the Susannah range. In order to pass from this valley to the 
valley of Los Angeles, this range must be crossed or turned. The lattej course is easily 
pursued, as the range degenerates into low hills as the sea is approached ; but this would greatly 
