APPENDIX A.—DIARY OF THE EXPEDITION. 
65 
I left camp on the morning of the 15th instant at 9 o’clock, and travelled in a northeast 
direction, for the greater part of the time along the right or west hank of the river, until 6 
o’clock p. m., when I camped, having marched thirty-seven miles. About three miles from 
camp I met a party of Apache Indians, under their head chief, Negrite, who had a paper from 
the commanding officer of Fort Fillmore, giving him a good character. * * * They 
approached me with a white flag and said they were good Apaches, who wished to he at peace 
with the whites; they informed me that the Sacramento was near. 
The country over which I passed was a rolling prairie, similar in all respects to that tra¬ 
versed between the head of Delaware creek and the Pecos. The soil, a mixture of clay and 
decomposed gypsum, evidently rests on a bed of limestone and a conglomerate of limestone and 
clay, which outcrops at several points along the river. On the left or east hank of the river is 
the broad plain of Llano Estacado, which evidently has for its basis the same conglomerate rock 
mentioned above. 
On the morning of the 16th I left camp at 6 o’clock, and travelled for about a mile along the 
bank of the Pecos—passing through a grove of young ash-trees, the first and only timber I 
have seen on the river. I then ascended to the plain, and at the distance of half a mile came 
suddenly upon a stream, which I concluded to he the Sacramento. This river is about fifty 
feet wide, and six feet deep at the mouth—a slight bar forming on the right bank: the bottom 
is gravelly and hard; in some few places there are quicksands. The river varies from two to 
fifty feet in width, and in depth from one to fifteen feet. Its course is in some places zigzag, 
and there are three or four hackberry trees on the right hank, near its mouth. The water is 
clear and good, having a slight metallic taste. There is plenty of cat-fish and suckers of a 
large size near the mouth of the river. Trout can he caught higher up the stream. 
I went up this river five and a half miles due west; it then turned to the northeast. At the 
bend of the river I found an Indian town, consisting of five or six wigwams. 
I now determined to retrace my steps—not having found timber, nor seeing any probability of 
finding it within a few miles. I went hack along the bank of the river to a point half a mile 
east of the bend, and crossing the river there, I rode over an ascending plain directly north of 
the ford until I reached a round mound, about three miles from the ford, from the top of which 
I could see the G-uadalupe range sink into the valley of the Pecos. I could also perceive the 
Sacramento enter the chain of high hills which rise out of the plain about ten miles on the 
south side of, and continue until it connected with, the G-uadalupe range; also the depression in 
the Guadalupe chain, through which I supposed the Sacramento must pass. The country on 
the right hank of the river is of precisely the same nature as that described above. On the left 
the soil is a red clay, resting upon a stratum of gypsum. I passed some caverns on my way to 
and from the hill. There are several falls in the Sacramento—one of them a fall of six feet. 
In the Pecos there are six or eight rapids ; I refer you, for their locality, to the accompany¬ 
ing sketch of the route. I made a collection of such minerals and flowers as I thought would 
exhibit the character of the country. I reached camp at sundown. 
In conclusion, as far as I could see from the hill before mentioned, the timber (if there be 
any on the Sacramento) must he north of the Guadalupe chain ; and, in my opinion, it would 
be impossible to float even a small log down the Sacramento, although a very large one could 
be very easily rafted down the Pecos. 
I have the honor to he, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
L. H. MARSHALL, 
Second Lieutenant Third Infantry. 
Brevet Captain John Pope, 
Commanding Exploring Party. 
Lieutenant Marshall further reported having seen a considerable quantity of deer, antelope, 
and partridges along the route. 
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