MADELIN PASS. 
39 
direct and its ascent gradual, it was necessary to examine it still further; but it began to rain 
at an early hour of the day, and we encamped, having advanced but 3.78 miles. 
June 18.—From our last camp we left the ravine with the train, and, by a rapid ascent and 
winding course on its southern side, in two miles reached one of the broad terraces which 
characterize the formation of this portion of the Sierra Nevada. Crossing this terrace for 1.50 
miles,, we again rose to a terrace elevated considerably above the first, and then continued to the 
summit of this part of the mountain by ascending to successive terraces, approached by steep 
ascents of hut a few yards in length. These terraces are more or less broken by deep rocky 
ravines. To the north of the one we were examining, the terraces rise still higher and more 
broken. The character of the summit of the mountain is, however, broad and massive, and, 
when once gained, easily traversed in any desired direction. 
The ravine itself above our last camp soon became divided into several branches, and the 
ascent towards its termination, for considerable distances, exceeded 190 feet to the mile—a grade 
that could not be diminished by any line that we could discover, to which the labor of several 
days was devoted. We encamped six miles west of the point at which we reached the broad 
summit of the mountain, and a short distance west of the termination of the ravine examined, 
on the borders of a marshy, grassy pond, into which a few springs and small rills are discharged 
from neighboring hills. This grassy marsh—and the Sierra Nevada is covered with similar 
ponds—is a mile in width by two or three in length, from which we could nowhere discover 
water discharging. The whole mountain surface is covered with small angular stones, which 
in some places are packed in drifts and heaps, over which it is difficult to ride ; and the steep 
edges of the terraces are formed by the outcropping strata which underlie the plains above. 
Bunch-grass is abundantly scattered over the hills, and a few branching cedar-hushes are 
seen. There is in no direction more than a handful of snow visible. 
Several Indians, calling themselves Pah-Utahs, visited us and received small presents. 
June 19.—The examination of the country already described was continued to-day, while 
the train and main party, under Captain Morris, moved south and west, crossing the marsh 
spoken of yesterday, and passing over a ridge of low rocky hills, entered Madelin Pass, the 
broad valley of which sweeps off to the east, encamping after a march of 9.30 miles. Smoky 
creek, a small stream, descends to Mud lake through the valley, which is covered with sage, 
grass, and stones—the soil being as light as upon the miry portions of the Basin. Latitude of 
camp, 40° 44' 12". 
June 20.—We descended 7.25 miles towards Mud lake and encamped where the valley, 
which is ten miles wide in its broadest part above, becomes narrowed again to a mile in width, 
whence it continues to the eastward between hills rising and sloping hack to ithe height of 
a few hundred feet. Our camp is upon one of the great terraces of the mountain. This terrace 
is broken in the centre to the east by deep ravines, with steep rocky walls. It is only with 
the greatest difficulty that our animals can travel over the light soil and rocky surface of the 
valley. The day has been delightful. Altitude above the sea, 4,914 feet. 
June 21.—Captain Morris, Mr. Eglofistein, Mr. Snyder and myself examined the lower por¬ 
tion of this pass to-day. It was 13 miles to the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, in the 
plain of Mud lake, to which we approached within six miles—obtaining an unobstructed view 
hack to the point at which we turned west to leave its shore on the 16th instant. Immediately 
above the plain Smoky creek breaks through a mountain ridge, three miles in width at the base, 
in a pass varying in width from 100 to 150 yards, and at one or two narrow points not exceed¬ 
ing 50 yards. Its walls are of coarse, crumbling, metamorphic rocks, greatly cut and broken 
by small rents and side ravines. They rise, not vertically, hut at points very steep, from 50 to 
200 feet on the south side, and still higher on the north, swelling up, two miles hack, into an 
elevated mountain ridge. Thick willows are in the way of passing easily up the stream, which 
is followed, however, by a wagon-road for a mile, which then leaves it and passes over the hills 
on the south side to the head of the gorge. For two miles above this point the wagon-road 
