The Prospect From The
Summit Was Grand But Disheartening.
Directly before them towered
the loftiest peaks of Immahah, rising far higher than the
elevated ground on which they stood:
On the other hand, they were
enabled to scan the course of the river, dashing along through
deep chasms, between rocks and precipices, until lost in a
distant wilderness of mountains, which closed the savage
landscape.
They remained for a long time contemplating, with perplexed and
anxious eye, this wild congregation of mountain barriers, and
seeking to discover some practicable passage. The approach of
evening obliged them to give up the task, and to seek some
camping ground for the night. Moving briskly forward, and
plunging and tossing through a succession of deep snow-drifts,
they at length reached a valley known among trappers as the
"Grand Rond," which they found entirely free from snow.
This is a beautiful and very fertile valley, about twenty miles
long and five or six broad; a bright cold stream called the
Fourche de Glace, or Ice River, runs through it. Its sheltered
situation, embosomed in mountains, renders it good pasturaging
ground in the winter time; when the elk come down to it in great
numbers, driven out of the mountains by the snow. The Indians
then resort to it to hunt. They likewise come to it in the summer
time to dig the camash root, of which it produces immense
quantities. When this plant is in blossom, the whole valley is
tinted by its blue flowers, and looks like the ocean when
overcast by a cloud.
After passing a night in this valley, the travellers in the
morning scaled the neighboring hills, to look out for a more
eligible route than that upon which they had unluckily fallen;
and, after much reconnoitring, determined to make their way once
more to the river, and to travel upon the ice when the banks
should prove impassable.
On the second day after this determination, they were again upon
Snake River, but, contrary to their expectations, it was nearly
free from ice. A narrow riband ran along the shore, and sometimes
there was a kind of bridge across the stream, formed of old ice
and snow. For a short time, they jogged along the bank, with
tolerable facility, but at length came to where the river forced
its way into the heart of the mountains, winding between
tremendous walls of basaltic rock, that rose perpendicularly from
the water's edge, frowning in bleak and gloomy grandeur. Here
difficulties of all kinds beset their path. The snow was from two
to three feet deep, but soft and yielding, so that the horses had
no foothold, but kept plunging forward, straining themselves by
perpetual efforts. Sometimes the crags and promontories forced
them upon the narrow riband of ice that bordered the shore;
sometimes they had to scramble over vast masses of rock which had
tumbled from the impending precipices; sometimes they had to
cross the stream upon the hazardous bridges of ice and snow,
sinking to the knee at every step; sometimes they had to scale
slippery acclivities, and to pass along narrow cornices, glazed
with ice and sleet, a shouldering wall of rock on one side, a
yawning precipice on the other, where a single false step would
have been fatal. In a lower and less dangerous pass, two of their
horses actually fell into the river; one was saved with much
difficulty, but the boldness of the shore prevented their
rescuing the other, and he was swept away by the rapid current.
In this way they struggled forward, manfully braving difficulties
and dangers, until they came to where the bed of the river was
narrowed to a mere chasm, with perpendicular walls of rock that
defied all further progress. Turning their faces now to the
mountain, they endeavored to cross directly over it; but, after
clambering nearly to the summit, found their path closed by
insurmountable barriers.
Nothing now remained but to retrace their steps. To descend a
cragged mountain, however, was more difficult and dangerous than
to ascend it. They had to lower themselves cautiously and slowly,
from steep to steep; and, while they managed with difficulty to
maintain their own footing, to aid their horses by holding on
firmly to the rope halters, as the poor animals stumbled among
slippery rocks, or slid down icy declivities. Thus, after a day
of intense cold, and severe and incessant toil, amidst the
wildest of scenery, they managed, about nightfall, to reach the
camping ground, from which they had started in the morning, and
for the first time in the course of their rugged and perilous
expedition, felt their hearts quailing under their multiplied
hardships.
A hearty supper, a tranquillizing pipe, and a sound night's
sleep, put them all in better mood, and in the morning they held
a consultation as to their future movements. About four miles
behind, they had remarked a small ridge of mountains approaching
closely to the river. It was determined to scale this ridge, and
seek a passage into the valley which must lie beyond. Should they
fail in this, but one alternative remained. To kill their horses,
dry the flesh for provisions, make boats of the hides, and, in
these, commit themselves to the stream - a measure hazardous in
the extreme.
A short march brought them to the foot of the mountain, but its
steep and cragged sides almost discouraged hope. The only chance
of scaling it was by broken masses of rock, piled one upon
another, which formed a succession of crags, reaching nearly to
the summit. Up these they wrought their way with indescribable
difficulty and peril, in a zigzag course, climbing from rock to
rock, and helping their horses up after them; which scrambled
among the crags like mountain goats; now and then dislodging some
huge stone, which, the moment they had left it, would roll down
the mountain, crashing and rebounding with terrific din. It was
some time after dark before they reached a kind of platform on
the summit of the mountain, where they could venture to encamp.
The winds, which swept this naked height, had whirled all the
snow into the valley beneath, so that the horses found tolerable
winter pasturage on the dry grass which remained exposed.
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