70 
RESULTS OF THE SURVEY. 
eastern bank, on a small field of dry scattered grass, after a march of 14.27 miles, descending 
twenty-seven feet per mile for the last 3.13 miles, from - the foot of the mountain, to the river. 
The altitude of this camp is 5,019 feet. 
The river winds from side to side of an immense ditch, with banks cut perpendicularly in the 
clay soil, from six to ten feet above the surface of the water. This channel, which may be a 
hundred yards wide, encloses also the bottom lands and all the grass of this immense valley. 
The stream is thirty-five yards wide by one deep, with a moderate current; and it winds so con¬ 
stantly in this narrow passage that it is very difficult, standing on its banks, to follow its course 
with the eye. The bottom lands are but a few inches above the surface of the water, and are 
annually overflowed. In entering this valley, Captain Gunnison, with two or three men, rode 
forward, in advance of his party, “ and enjoyed the scene extremely. On reaching this plain a 
stage is attained,” he says, “which I have so long desired to accomplish : the great mountains 
have been passed and a new wagon road open across the continent—a work which was almost 
unanimously pronounced impossible, by the men who know the mountains and this route over them. 
“ The result is, a new mail and military road to Taos, in New Mexico, by way of Fort Massa¬ 
chusetts; which, with a little work on Gunnison’s creek and a hill near Taos, will be very direct 
and easy, with excellent feed and water all the way. 
“ 2d. A road for the southern States to California, and for emigrants who are late in starting 
from the States. 
“3d. A military road to, and command of, the Utah country, passing into the centre of the 
territory of that people at Grand river, from whence radiate trails to all points of the compass. 
“ 4th. It is demonstrated that, for a railroad route, it is far inferior to the Middle Central, by 
Medicine Bow river, and Laramie plains. It passes some thousands of feet higher, and also 
lower, and is much longer from St. Louis. 
“ To the energy, zeal, and ability of Lieutenant Beckwith, and Brevet Captain Morris, in super¬ 
intending the working parties and conducting the train, the expedition is greatly indebted. That a 
road for nearly seven hundred miles should have been made over an untrodden track, (except in 
some places by pack-mules and footmen,) through a wilderness all the way, and across five 
mountain ranges, (the Sierra Blanca, San Juan, Uncompahgra, Sandstone, and Wahsatch,) and a 
dry desert of seventy miles between Grand and Green rivers, without deserting one of our nine¬ 
teen wagons, and leaving but one animal from sickness and one from straying, and this in two 
and a half months, must be my excuse for speaking highly of all the assistants on this survey.” 
October 18.—Through the negligence of the men in charge of the mules, they were allowed to 
wander entirely away from the camp, and some of them were found thirteen miles back on the 
road near our previous camp. It was half-past 12 o’clock, therefore, before we started on our 
course down the Sevier river, following the wagon track for eight miles, in the course of which 
we crossed a small creek coming in from towards the Moot-se-ne-ab Peak, which stands out high 
and clear against the eastern sky. The wagon track here leading to the northeast, we left it, 
following the course of the river, and encamped a short distance from it in a fine field of grass 
on San Pete creek, which flows from the valley containing the settlements to which I have before 
alluded. Captain Gunnison, who had been out during the day in search of a settlement, 
returned to camp without having succeeded in his object. Our progress was 11.82 miles; the 
tbemometer at sunrise standing at 28°, and in the shade, at noon, at 81° Fahrenheit. 
October 19.—After proceeding a mile and a half, we came upon another wagon trail more 
beaten than the previous one, leading from the San Pete valley directly down the river. Six 
miles from camp we crossed a small stream with miry banks, the bed of which was lined with 
a plant emitting a strong pole-cat odor. Four miles from this creek the valley of the Sevier 
river is terminated by the close proximity of the hills on either side, leaving but little bottom 
land, and no natural road-way except on the hills, where one can easily be carried. Passing 
along the hills near the river, among sage and scattered cedar-bushes, we again come to its banks 
