They Were To Make The Complete
Circuit Of It, Trapping On All The Streams Which Should Fall In
Their Way, And To Keep Journals And Make Charts, Calculated To
Impart A Knowledge Of The Lake And The Surrounding Country.
All
the resources of Captain Bonneville had been tasked to fit out
this favorite expedition.
The country lying to the southwest of
the mountains, and ranging down to California, was as yet almost
unknown; being out of the buffalo range, it was untraversed by
the trapper, who preferred those parts of the wilderness where
the roaming herds of that species of animal gave him
comparatively an abundant and luxurious life. Still it was said
the deer, the elk, and the bighorn were to be found there, so
that, with a little diligence and economy, there was no danger of
lacking food. As a precaution, however, the party halted on Bear
River and hunted for a few days, until they had laid in a supply
of dried buffalo meat and venison; they then passed by the head
waters of the Cassie River, and soon found themselves launched on
an immense sandy desert. Southwardly, on their left, they beheld
the Great Salt Lake, spread out like a sea, but they found no
stream running into it. A desert extended around them, and
stretched to the southwest, as far as the eye could reach,
rivalling the deserts of Asia and Africa in sterility. There was
neither tree, nor herbage, nor spring, nor pool, nor running
stream, nothing but parched wastes of sand, where horse and rider
were in danger of perishing.
Their sufferings, at length, became so great that they abandoned
their intended course, and made towards a range of snowy
mountains, brightening in the north, where they hoped to find
water. After a time, they came upon a small stream leading
directly towards these mountains. Having quenched their burning
thirst, and refreshed themselves and their weary horses for a
time, they kept along this stream, which gradually increased in
size, being fed by numerous brooks. After approaching the
mountains, it took a sweep toward the southwest, and the
travellers still kept along it, trapping beaver as they went, on
the flesh of which they subsisted for the present, husbanding
their dried meat for future necessities.
The stream on which they had thus fallen is called by some, Mary
River, but is more generally known as Ogden's River, from Mr.
Peter Ogden, an enterprising and intrepid leader of the Hudson's
Bay Company, who first explored it. The wild and half-desert
region through which the travellers were passing, is wandered
over by hordes of Shoshokoes, or Root Diggers, the forlorn branch
of the Snake tribe. They are a shy people, prone to keep aloof
from the stranger. The travellers frequently met with their
trails, and saw the smoke of their fires rising in various parts
of the vast landscape, so that they knew there were great numbers
in the neighborhood, but scarcely ever were any of them to be met
with.
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