Life Of Kit Carson Part 9

Roughly evaporated over the fire, the five gallons of water from this lake yielded fourteen pints of very fine-grained and very white salt, of which the whole lake may be regarded as a saturated solution.

On the 12th they resumed their journey, returning by the same route, and at night had a supper of sea gulls, which Carson killed near the lake.

The next day they continued up the river, hunger making them very quiet and peaceable; and there was rarely an oath to be heard in the camp--not even a solitary _enfant de garce_. It was time for the men with an expected supply of provisions from Fitzpatrick to be in the neighborhood; and the gun was fired at evening, to give notice of their locality, but met with no response.

They killed to-day a fat young horse, purchased from the Indians, and were very soon restored to gaiety and good humor. Fremont and Mr.

Preuss, not having yet overcome the prejudices of civilization, did not partake, preferring to turn in supperless.

The large number of emigrants constantly encamping here, had driven the game into the mountains, so that not an elk or antelope was seen upon the route; but an antelope was purchased from an Indian, for a little powder and some ball, and they camped early to enjoy an abundant supper; which, while not yet prepared, was interrupted by the arrival of a trapper, who startled and rejoiced all by announcing the glad news, that Mr. Fitzpatrick was in camp a little way from them, with a plentiful supply of provisions, flour, rice, dried meat, and even b.u.t.ter.

CHAPTER XXI.

The difficulty, in view of the approaching winter season, of supporting a large party, determined Fremont to send back a number of the men who had become satisfied that they were not fitted for the laborious service and frequent privation to which they were necessarily exposed, and which there was reason to believe would become more severe in the further extension of the voyage. They were accordingly called together, and after being fully informed as to the nature of the duties imposed upon them, and the hardships they would have to undergo, eleven of the party consented to abandon Fremont, and return; but Carson was not one of these.

Taking leave of the homeward party, they resumed their journey down the valley, the weather being very cold, and the rain coming in hard gusts, which the wind blew directly in their faces. They forded the Portneuf in a storm of rain, the water in the river being frequently up to the axles.

Fremont in his official report thus enumerates some of the difficulties and sufferings the party had to encounter:

"_September 27._--It was now no longer possible, as in our previous journey, to travel regularly every day, and find at any moment a convenient place for repose at noon, or a camp at night; but the halting places were now generally fixed along the road, by the nature of the country, at places where, with water, there was a little scanty gra.s.s.

Since leaving the American falls, the road had frequently been very bad; the many short, steep ascents exhausting the strength of our worn out animals, requiring always at such places the a.s.sistance of the men to get up each cart, one by one; and our progress with twelve or fourteen wheeled carriages, though light and made for the purpose, in such a rocky country, was extremely slow.

"Carson had met here three or four buffalo bulls, two of which were killed. They were among the pioneers which had made the experiment of colonizing in the valley of the Columbia.

"Opposite to the encampment, a subterranean river bursts out directly from the face of the escarpment, and falls in white foam to the river below. The main river is enclosed with mural precipices, which form its characteristic feature, along a great portion of its course. A melancholy and strange-looking country--one of fracture, and violence, and fire.

"We had brought with us, when we separated from the camp, a large gaunt ox, in appearance very poor; but, being killed to-night, to the great joy of the people, he was found to be remarkably fat. As usual at such occurrences, the evening was devoted to gaiety and feasting; abundant fare now made an epoch among us; and in this laborious life, in such a country as this, our men had but little else to enjoy."

On arriving at the ford where the road crosses to the right bank of Snake River, an Indian was hired to conduct them through the ford, which proved impracticable; the water sweeping away the howitzer and nearly drowning the mules. Fortunately they had a resource in a boat, which was filled with air and launched; and at seven o'clock were safely encamped on the opposite bank, the animals swimming across, and the carriage, howitzer, and baggage of the camp being carried over in the boat.

It was while at Fort Boise where Fremont first met Mons. Payette, an employee of the Hudson Bay Co., that he came across the "Fish-eating Indians," a cla.s.s lower if possible in the scale of humanity than the "Diggers." He says:

"Many little accounts and scattered histories, together with an acquaintance which I gradually acquired of their modes of life, had left the aboriginal inhabitants of this vast region pictured in my mind as a race of people whose great and constant occupation was the means of procuring a subsistence.

"While the summer weather and the salmon lasted, they lived contentedly and happily, scattered along the different streams where the fish were to be found; and as soon as the winter snows began to fall, little smokes would be seen rising among the mountains, where they would be found in miserable groups, starving out the winter; and sometimes, according to the general belief, reduced to the horror of cannibalism--the strong, of course, preying on the weak. Certain it is, they are driven to an extremity for food, and eat every insect, and every creeping thing, however loathsome and repulsive. Snails, lizards, ants--all are devoured with the readiness and greediness of mere animals."

The remainder of the overland journey, until they reached Nez Perce, one of the trading establishments of the Hudson Bay Company, was not marked by any incident bringing Carson into special notice.

Having now completed the connection of his explorations with those of Commander Wilkes, and which was the limit of his instructions, Fremont commenced preparations for his return, Carson being left at the _Dalles_ with directions to occupy the people in making pack-saddles, and refitting the equippage; while Fremont continued his journey to the Mission, a few miles down the Columbia River, where he pa.s.sed a few days in comparative luxury.

The few days of rest, added to an abundance of wholesome food, had so far recruited the party, that they were soon prepared to encounter and conquer the difficulties of this overland journey in mid-winter. Three princ.i.p.al objects were indicated by Fremont for exploration and research, and which, despite the obstacles which the season must so surely interpose, he had determined to visit.

The first of these points was the _Tlamath_ Lake, on the table-land between the head of Fall River, which comes to the Columbia, and the Sacramento, which goes to the bay of San Francisco; and from which lake a river of the same name makes its way westwardly direct to the ocean.

From this lake their course was intended to be about southeast, to a reported lake called Mary's, at some days' journey in the Great Basin; and thence, still on southeast, to the reputed _Buenaventura_ River, which has had a place in so many maps, and countenanced the belief of the existence of a great river flowing from the Rocky Mountains to the Bay of San Francisco. From the Buenaventura, the next point was intended to be in that section of the Rocky Mountains which includes the heads of Arkansas River, and of the opposite waters of the Californian Gulf; and thence down the Arkansas to Bent's Fort, and home. This was the projected line of return--a great part of it absolutely new to geographical, botanical, and geological science--and the subject of reports in relation to lakes, rivers, deserts, and savages, hardly above the condition of mere wild animals, which inflamed desire to know what this _terra incognita_ really contained.

It was a serious enterprise at the commencement of winter to undertake the traverse of such a region, and with a party consisting only of twenty-five persons, and they of many nations--American, French, German, Canadian, Indian, and colored--and most of them young, several being under twenty-one years of age. All knew that a strange country was to be explored, and dangers and hardships to be encountered; but no one blenched at the prospect. On the contrary, courage and confidence animated the whole party. Cheerfulness, readiness, subordination, prompt obedience, characterized all; nor did any extremity of peril and privation, to which they were afterwards exposed, ever belie, or derogate from, the fine spirit of this brave and generous commencement.

For the support of the party, he had provided at Vancouver a supply of provisions for not less than three months, consisting princ.i.p.ally of flour, peas, and tallow--the latter being used in cooking; and, in addition to this, they had purchased at the mission, some California cattle, which were to be driven on the hoof. They had one hundred and four mules and horses--part of the latter procured from the Indians about the mission; and for the sustenance of which, their reliance was upon the gra.s.s which might be found, and the soft porous wood, which was to be subst.i.tuted when there was no gra.s.s.

Mr. Fitzpatrick, with Mr. Talbot and the remainder of the party, arrived on the 21st; and the camp was now closely engaged in the labor of preparation. Mr. Perkins succeeded in obtaining as a guide, to the Tlamath Lake, two Indians--one of whom had been there, and bore the marks of several wounds he had received from some of the Indians in the neighborhood.

Tlamath Lake, however, on examination, proved to be simply a shallow basin, which, for a short period at the time of melting snows, is covered with water from the neighboring mountains; but this probably soon runs off, and leaves for the remainder of the year a green savannah, through the midst of which, the river Tlamath, which flows to the ocean, winds its way to the outlet on the southwestern side.

After leaving Tlamath Lake the party headed for Mary's Lake, which, however, after incredible sufferings and hardships, they failed to discover, but they found one which was appropriately christened "Pyramid Lake," and here the record of toils, dangers and sufferings, undergone by the whole party, can only be told in the language of him, who cheerfully toiled and suffered with those under his command, and it is not too much to say, that with the exception of the "Strain expedition,"

across the Isthmus of Darien, no party of men have ever lived to narrate such sad experiences. We therefore let Fremont, in his own modest way, tell the tale of his own and his companions' sufferings.

CHAPTER XXII.

"_January 3._--A fog, so dense that we could not see a hundred yards, covered the country, and the men that were sent out after the horses were bewildered and lost; and we were consequently detained at camp until late in the day. Our situation had now become a serious one. We had reached and run over the position where, according to the best maps in my possession, we should have found Mary's Lake or river. We were evidently on the verge of the desert which had been reported to us; and the appearance of the country was so forbidding, that I was afraid to enter it, and determined to bear away to the southward, keeping close along the mountains, in the full expectation of reaching the Buenaventura River. This morning I put every man in the camp on foot--myself, of course, among the rest--and in this manner lightened by distribution the loads of the animals.

"_January 4._--The fog to-day was still more dense, and the people again were bewildered. We traveled a few miles around the western point of the ridge, and encamped where there were a few tufts of gra.s.s, but no water.

Our animals now were in a very alarming state, and there was increasing anxiety in the camp.

"_January 5._--Same dense fog continued, and one of the mules died in camp this morning. We moved to a place where there was a little better gra.s.s, about two miles distant. Taplin, one of our best men, who had gone out on a scouting excursion, ascended a mountain near by, and to his great surprise emerged into a region of bright sunshine, in which the upper parts of the mountain were glowing, while below all was obscured in the darkest fog.

"_January 6._--The fog continued the same, and with Mr. Preuss and Carson, I ascended the mountain, to sketch the leading features of the country, as some indication of our future route, while Mr. Fitzpatrick explored the country below. In a very short distance we had ascended above the mist, but the view obtained was not very gratifying. The fog had partially cleared off from below when we reached the summit; and in the south-west corner of a basin communicating with that in which we had encamped, we saw a lofty column of smoke, 16 miles distant, indicating the presence of hot springs. There, also, appeared to be the outlet of those draining channels of the country; and, as such places afforded always more or less gra.s.s, I determined to steer in that direction. The ridge we had ascended appeared to be composed of fragments of white granite. We saw here traces of sheep and antelope.

"Entering the neighboring valley, and crossing the bed of another lake, after a hard day's travel over ground of yielding mud and sand, we reached the springs, where we found an abundance of gra.s.s, which, though only tolerably good, made this place, with reference to the past, a refreshing and agreeable spot.

"This is the most extraordinary locality of hot springs we had met during the journey. The basin of the largest one has a circ.u.mference of several hundred feet; but there is at one extremity a circular s.p.a.ce of about fifteen feet in diameter, entirely occupied by the boiling water.

It boils up at irregular intervals, and with much noise. The water is clear, and the spring deep; a pole about sixteen feet long was easily immersed in the centre, but we had no means of forming a good idea of the depth.

"Taking with me G.o.dey and Carson, I made to-day a thorough exploration of the neighboring valleys, and found in a ravine in the bordering mountains a good camping place, where was water in springs, and a sufficient quant.i.ty of gra.s.s for a night. Overshadowing the springs were some trees of the sweet cotton-wood, which, after a long interval of absence, we saw again with pleasure, regarding them as harbingers of a better country. To us, they were eloquent of green prairies and buffalo.

We found here a broad and plainly marked trail, on which there were tracks of horses, and we appeared to have regained one of the thoroughfares which pa.s.s by the watering places of the country. On the western mountains of the valley, with which this of the boiling spring communicates, we remarked scattered cedars--probably an indication that we were on the borders of the timbered region extending to the Pacific.

We reached the camp at sunset, after a day's ride of about forty miles.

"_January 10._--We continued our reconnoissance ahead, pursuing a south direction in the basin along the ridge; the camp following slowly after. On a large trail there is never any doubt of finding suitable places for encampments. We reached the end of the basin, where we found, in a hollow of the mountain which enclosed it, an abundance of good bunch gra.s.s. Leaving a signal for the party to encamp, we continued our way up the hollow, intending to see what lay beyond the mountain. The hollow was several miles long, forming a good pa.s.s, the snow deepening to about a foot as we neared the summit. Beyond, a defile between the mountains descended rapidly about two thousand feet; and, filling up all the lower s.p.a.ce, was a sheet of green water, some twenty miles broad. It broke upon our eyes like the ocean. The neighboring peaks rose high above us, and we ascended one of them to obtain a better view. The waves were curling in the breeze, and their dark-green color showed it to be a body of deep water. For a long time we sat enjoying the view, for we had become fatigued with mountains, and the free expanse of moving waves was very grateful. It was set like a gem in the mountains, which, from our position, seemed to enclose it almost entirely. At the western end it communicated with the line of basins we had left a few days since; and on the opposite side it swept a ridge of snowy mountains, the foot of the great Sierra. Its position at first inclined us to believe it Mary's Lake, but the rugged mountains were so entirely discordant with descriptions of its low rushy sh.o.r.es and open country, that we concluded it some unknown body of water; which it afterwards proved to be.

"We saw before us, in descending from the pa.s.s, a great continuous range, along which stretched the valley of the river; the lower parts steep, and dark with pines, while above it was hidden in clouds of snow.

This, we felt instantly satisfied was the central ridge of the Sierra Nevada, the great California mountain, which only now intervened between us and the waters of the bay. We had made a forced march of 26 miles, and three mules had given out on the road. Up to this point, with the exception of two stolen by Indians, we had lost none of the horses which had been brought from the Columbia river, and a number of these were still strong and in tolerably good order. We had now sixty-seven animals in the band.

"We had scarcely lighted our fires, when the camp was crowded with nearly naked Indians. There were two who appeared particularly intelligent--one, a somewhat old man. He told me that, before the snows fell, it was six sleeps to the place where the whites lived, but that now it was impossible to cross the mountain on account of the deep snow; and showing us, as the others had done, that it was over our heads, he urged us strongly to follow the course of the river, which he said would conduct us to a lake in which there were many large fish. There, he said, were many people; there was no snow on the ground; and we might remain there until spring. From their descriptions, we were enabled to judge that we had encamped on the upper water of the Salmon-trout River. It is hardly necessary to say that our communication was only by signs, as we understood nothing of their language; but they spoke, notwithstanding, rapidly and vehemently, explaining what they considered the folly of our intentions, and urging us to go down to the lake.

_Tah-ve_, a word signifying snow, we very soon learned to know, from its frequent repet.i.tion. I told him that the men and the horses were strong, and that we would break a road through the snow; and spreading before him our bales of scarlet cloth, and trinkets, showed him what we would give for a guide. It was necessary to obtain one, if possible; for I had determined here to attempt the pa.s.sage of the mountain. Pulling a bunch of gra.s.s from the ground, after a short discussion among themselves, the old man made us comprehend, that if we could break through the snow, at the end of three days we would come down upon gra.s.s, which he showed us would be about six inches high, and where the ground was entirely free. So far he said he had been in hunting for elk; but beyond that (and he closed his eyes) he had seen nothing; but there was one among them who had been to the whites, and, going out of the lodge, he returned with a young man of very intelligent appearance.

Here, said he, is a young man who has seen the whites with his own eyes; and he swore, first by the sky, and then by the ground, that what he said was true. With a large present of goods, we prevailed upon this young man to be our guide, and he acquired among us the name Melo--a word signifying friend, which they used very frequently. He was thinly clad, and nearly barefoot; his moccasins being about worn out. We gave him skins to make a new pair, and to enable him to perform his undertaking to us. The Indians remained in camp during the night, and we kept the guide and two others to sleep in the lodge with us--Carson lying across the door, and having made them comprehend the use of our fire-arms."

Fremont here, after a consultation with some Indians who came into his camp, made up his mind to attempt the pa.s.sage of the mountains at every hazard. He therefore, to quote his own words, called his men together, and "reminded them of the beautiful valley of the Sacramento, with which they were familiar from the descriptions of Carson, who had been there some fifteen years ago, and who, in our late privations, had delighted us in speaking of its rich pastures and abounding game, and drew a vivid contrast between its summer climate, less than a hundred miles distant, and the falling snow around us. I informed them (and long experience had given them confidence in my observations and good instruments) that almost directly west, and only about seventy miles distant, was the great farming establishment of Captain Sutter--a gentleman who had formerly lived in Missouri, and, emigrating to this country, had become the possessor of a princ.i.p.ality. I a.s.sured them that, from the heights of the mountain before us, we should doubtless see the valley of the Sacramento River, and with one effort place ourselves again in the midst of plenty. The people received this decision with the cheerful obedience which had always characterized them; and the day was immediately devoted to the preparations necessary to enable us to carry it into effect. Leggins, moccasins, clothing--all were put into the best state to resist the cold. Our guide was not neglected. Extremity of suffering might make him desert; we therefore did the best we could for him. Leggins, moccasins, some articles of clothing, and a large green blanket, in addition to the blue and scarlet cloth, were lavished upon him, and to his great and evident contentment. He arrayed himself in all his colors; and, clad in green, blue, and scarlet, he made a gay-looking Indian; and, with his various presents, was probably richer and better clothed than any of his tribe had ever been before.

"I have already said that our provisions were very low; we had neither tallow nor grease of any kind remaining, and the want of salt became one of our greatest privations. The poor dog which had been found in the Bear River valley, and which had been a _compagnon de voyage_ ever since, had now become fat, and the mess to which it belonged requested permission to kill it. Leave was granted. Spread out on the snow, the meat looked very good; and it made a strengthening meal for the greater part of the camp.

"The people were unusually silent; for every man knew that our enterprise was hazardous, and the issue doubtful.