EL SANGRE DE CRISTO PASS. 
37 
depressions in the mountains also went on to-day, to ascertain their elevations and practicability 
for roads. The scenery around us is very fine—the views from various points extending 
far back over the plains, buttes, ridges, and streams, on which we have for so many days 
laboriously pursued our march. The bold, rocky mountain peaks tower loftily above us—whi¬ 
tened here and there with lines of snow—around which, at mid-day, dark masses of clouds gather 
and the lightning plays, while torrents of rain pour down their sides with irresistible fury. The 
mountain valleys are small, but unsurpassed in luxuriant grass; and the mountain sides are 
plentifully supplied with aspen and small pine, and all around us, and under our feet, covered 
with exquisitely beautiful flowers. Here, too, the geologist finds an interesting field, and sports¬ 
men’s spirits are excited by grouse and pheasants, deer and grizzly bear, in every valley and glen, 
and the streams are alive with the finest mountain trout. 
August 13.—The labor of crossing the ridge was completed this morning, and just in advance 
of the 1 o’clock shower we encamped in, but near, the head of the southern descent of the pass, 
on the Sangre de Cristo, which is a small stream of clear, cold water, in a beautiful little park or 
valley. The labor of crossing this summit has been very considerable, which is partly owing, 
however, to the rarified atmosphere at so great an elevation. Both men and animals were soon 
exhausted and obliged constantly to stop and rest, where at a lower altitude no rest would have 
been required. Our teams were all doubled, without being then able to do the ordinary work of 
a single one, and the strongest men sat down out of breath after a few moments’ exertion. Astro¬ 
nomical observations gave us for the latitude of this camp, which is 2£ miles from the summit 
passed by the wagons, 37° 36' 52" N. 
From the Arkansas river, at the mouth of the Apishpa, it is eighty miles by the route we 
travelled to the Huerfano butte; but this distance is at least one-fourth greater than is neces¬ 
sary in the construction of a railroad between these points. Taking the shorter distance our 
ascent was 28 feet 10 inches, in whole numbers, to the mile, the elevation of the butte being 
6,099 feet above the sea. We ascended the Huerfano river 14£ miles above this point, ascending 
nearly 52 feet 10 inches per mile. The ascent during the first day’s march from the Huerfano 
river to the base of the Sierra Blanca, 7.59 miles, was 603 feet, or 79 feet 5 inches per mile. 
On the following day we advanced 5.12 miles, ascending in that distance 1,289 feet, or over 251 
feet per mile; and from thence to the summit of El Sangre de Cristo Pass, seven tenths of a mile, 
the ascent was 647 feet, developing a line entirely impracticable for a railroad. But the Huerfano 
river, west of the gorge through which we passed on the 9th instant, drains a large circular 
amphitheatre, surrounded on the north, west, and south, and partly on the east, by elevated 
mountain ranges, with large, irregular spurs extending into this valley, and sending down numer¬ 
ous tributaries to the river. Twelve miles above this gorge stands the Black butte, an immense 
mass of rocks with irregular points shooting up 100 and 200 feet. Here comes in a fine stream 
from the northwest, two miles beyond which another enters from the west from near Williams’ 
Pass. At this point the Huerfano, whose general course from the gorge is N. 70° W., bends 
towards Roubideau’s Pass on a curve for some three miles, where it receives the waters of Gun¬ 
nison’s creek, a small stream from the south, but which towards its source descends-more from 
the east. This little creek continues the curve, until it reaches the point whence it issues from the 
mountains at the foot of the declining ridge, near which, but on the opposite side, our wagons passed, 
at the head of a small valley on leaving the Huerfano. Following this stream above this point, it 
is, by chain, five and one-fourth miles to the summit, the water descending on an inclined plane 
without falls, with an equable, swift current. Four miles and a half from the summit the creek 
flows through a narrow passage in the rocks, which slope up to the top at a small angle from the 
vertical, the width at bottom being one hundred and fifty feet, affording abundant room for the 
stream and a road. Above this gorge or canon there is a small park, such as are found on the 
heads of many of the streams in this part of the country, abounding in deer, elk, and bear, and 
affording luxuriant pasturage for thousands of head of cattle: indeed, few more inviting spots for 
