40 
JOURNEY TO TAOS. 
tributaries, skirted with bushes and a little timber, soon reached the Trenchara, which comes in 
from the mountains to the east, and is joined a few miles to the west by the Sangre de Cristo, 
whence it flows on to the Rio Grande. A ride of twenty miles further brought us to the Culebra, 
or Snake creek. There is a small settlement five miles to the east of the point where we crossed 
this stream, near the mountains; but without visiting it we continued our journey, and arrived 
a little after dark, after a ride of sixty-five miles, at the Costilla, a stream similar to the last, on 
which a new settlement is opened and a few fields are already covered with crops of corn, wheat, 
oats, and the other usual crops of a New Mexican farm. But the settlement contained no grass, 
and our Indian bred mules, not knowing the taste of corn, disdained it, much to our regret, for 
we deemed so long a ride inhuman enough to our animals, without consigning them to a night of 
abstinence, with a fifty-mile ride before us for the following day. We therefore negotiated for 
the corner of a wheat-field, the kernel being still soft, and were gratified with the avidity which 
our Comanches exhibited in feeding on this grain. During the day’s ride we had occasionally 
seen the smokes from the signal-fires of the Indians in the mountains; but they did not molest us, 
although we subsequently learned that a party of New 7 Mexicans had been robbed by them, near 
where we saw their smokes, just as we were passing them. The night was lovely and beautiful, 
succeeded by a bright, clear day. Resuming our way southward in the early morning, at 10 
o’clock we passed settlements on streams near the base of the mountains, and at noon arrived at 
the Rio Colorado, or Red River of the Rio Grande del Norte, where there is a considerable set¬ 
tlement, surrounded by fields of grain. At 3 o’clock we crossed this stream a short distance from 
the village, and ascended the low, stony, mountain range, which here extends across the broad 
valley of the Rio Grande, separating the valley of San Luis from that of Taos. 
The Rio Grande passes this low range in one of the most formidable canones existing in this 
part of the country. Our pathway was thickly shaded by a forest of pines; and the landscape 
views of the valleys and near and distant mountains, during our afternoon’s ride, were among the 
finest I have ever seen. Fifteen miles from the Rio Colorado we crossed the Arroyo Hondo, or 
Deep arroyo, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet in depth, with fine streams carried 
in irrigating trenches along its sides to the cultivated fields of the valley, which, from the crest 
in all directions, appeared, by twilight, covered with fields of grain; and, to shorten our evening 
ride, we followed on the banks of the irrigating ditches for some distance, until we reached the 
road leading to Taos, where we arrived at 10 o’clock at night. The valley of Taos is large, 
and, for New 7 Mexico, extensively cultivated, containing several small villages, of which the prin¬ 
cipal is San Fernando de Taos, and many farms. It is on all sides surrounded by high mount¬ 
ains, the Rio Grande entering it through a gigantic canon, and also leaving it through one. The 
water of the river is but little if at all used lor irrigation, the mountain streams being large and 
more favorably situated. In our ride of over a hundred miles from El Sangre de Cristo to this 
place, we saw no grass in the valleys worth naming; the vegetation being confined almost exclu¬ 
sively to artemisia and a few varieties of cacti, but chiefly the prickly pear—the pines of the 
mountains at times extending well down to the plains. In the high small valleys of the mount¬ 
ains the grass is luxuriant and the flowers beautiful. Here, too, showers are of daily occurrence, 
whilst in the broad valley but little rain falls and nothing can be cultivated except by irrigation. 
Procuring what information w r e could of the country westward over which we were to pass, and 
the services of a guide, we returned in thirty hours to our camp, (which in our absence had been 
moved but fifteen miles,) by nearly the same route we had followed in leaving it, arriving at noon 
on the 19th of August. On the following day we were joined by the experienced and well-known 
guide, Antoine Leroux. Here some half-dozen men came to ask for their discharge, refusing to 
perform further duty. One who had refused to guard the animals, while grazing in the early part 
of the day, was discharged, forfeiting arrearages of pay for a violation of his contract. Two 
others preferred their discharge on the same terms, which was granted; the others returning to 
their duty. The labors devolving upon Mr. Taplin were too great for his strength, and a due 
