DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 
37 
is crossed. From camp to station A, between stations 6 and 7, tbe ascent is nearly continuous. 
There is a steep descent into a canon from station 8 to station 9 ; and the trail from stations 9 
to 15 is in the dry bed of a tributary to White Cliff creek. Passing into another branch at 
station 16, the trail then ascends its valley to Camp 110, near Cactus Pass. There is water in 
this branch of the creek, and cedar trees are still abundant upon all the hill-slopes in the 
vicinity. Cactus Pass is not practicable for the location of a railway ; and it is proposed to 
make the profile for that line, as before stated, from Camp 108 down the valley of White Cliff 
creek. Measurements for that purpose were made upon a reconnoissance, and will be referred 
to hereafter. 
Cactus Pass is formed by a deep gorge in a high range of granitic mountains. From the 
summit, about 300 feet above the pass, an extensive panoramic view is obtained. Tbe Hamook- 
habi, or Blue Ridge, is seen bordering the Colorado, and a lesser range intermediate. The 
latter terminates nearly in the latitude of this place, and, after an intervening gap, the Cerbat 
range is prolonged in the same southerly direction. Toward the northwest there is a vast 
plain, leading apparently to Yampa creek, and bounded upon the east by broken ranges of low 
mountains. East of the Cactus mountains may be seen the extensive broken plains already 
traversed—Cross mountain, 800 feet high, and the Aquarius range, 1,000 feet high, being tbe 
principal of the peaks and ranges that break tbe general level of its surface. 
The ascent from Camp 110 to station 1, at the summit of Cactus Pass, is about 100 feet in 
little more than half a mile. Thence, down the first portion of the ravine, the declivity is 
nearly precipitous, and in one mile and three-quarters, to station 3, the descent is 830 feet. 
Here the valley becomes wide and sandy, and the trail keeps to the left of it, crossing a gently 
swelling slope that comes down from a southerly spur of the Cactus mountains. Near station 5 
there are springs, in the vicinity of which the reconnoitring party bivouacked, January 28. 
Station 6 is 560 feet beloAv station 3. Thence to Camp 111, near the mouth of White Cliff 
creek, the descent is 350 feet more ; making a total, from Cactus Pass, of 1,640 feet in a dis¬ 
tance of eight miles. White Cliff creek is a clear and rapid stream, with a strip of fertile soil 
upon its banks for eight or nine miles up the valley, to the bivouac of the exploring party, 
January 27. Its principal tributary is about four miles below that point, and both streams are 
bordered by a dense growth of cotton-wood. The altitude of the bivouac, from the readings of 
the barometers, is 4,480 feet, or 950 feet above Camp 111; giving the descent of the stream above 
100 feet per mile. But, as it contained no steep rapids, to tbe eye the declivity seemed much 
less, and possibly an error may have been made in the record of the observations. The dis¬ 
tance from the bivouac to Camp 108, near the head of this stream, is about 8.5 miles ; 
and the altitude of that camp being 4,814 feet, the fall of the rivulet between those points 
would be nearly forty feet per mile. Its valley, with the deflection indicated upon the profile 
from Camp 108 to Camp 111, may be considered practicable for the location of the railroad 
line. White Cliff creek is bounded upon the north by high gravelly slopes and mesas, which 
terminate the mountain spur south of Cactus Pass. It is therefore believed feasible to locate 
the line upon this ridge, so as to turn the southwest point of the high mountains, and avoid 
the descent to the bed of the lower portion of the creek. This line would strike the trail, from 
Camp 110 to 111, at station 9 ; which, being about 200 feet above the latter camp, would cause 
an improvement in the grade. Station 9 is in a valley leading, by a gentle ascent, to the wide 
prairie which has been described as seen from Cactus Pass. It is apparently nearly level to the 
gap north of the Cerbat range, and thence inclines, by broad slopes, to the Colorado river. From 
an examination of our topographical sketches and views, and a comparison with the heights of 
relative points, both upon our own exploration and upon that of Captain Stitgreaves, the ele¬ 
vation of the gap is estimated at 3,900 feet above the sea ; giving for the ascent, from Camp 111, 
374 feet, and an ascending grade of 11.5 feet per mile. From this summit a broad plain slopes 
the Colorado river, and a spur of it impinges upon that stream between the mountain ridge, 
called “ The Needles,” and the Mojave villages. The elevation of the bluff is 450 feet above 
