No Enjoyments Have
Greater Zest Than These, Snatched In The Very Midst Of Difficulty
And Danger; And It Is Probable The Poor Wayworn And Weather-
Beaten Travellers Relished These Creature Comforts The More
Highly From The Surrounding Desolation, And The Dangerous
Proximity Of The Crows.
The snow which had fallen in the night made it late in the
morning before the party loaded their solitary packhorse, and
resumed their march.
They had not gone far before the Crow trace
which they were following changed its direction, and bore to the
north of east. They had already begun to feel themselves on
dangerous ground in keeping along it, as they might be descried
by some scouts and spies of that race of Ishmaelites, whose
predatory life required them to be constantly on the alert. On
seeing the trace turn so much to the north, therefore, they
abandoned it, and kept on their course to the southeast for
eighteen miles, through a beautifully undulating country, having
the main chain of mountains on the left, and a considerably
elevated ridge on the right. Here the mountain ridge which
divides Wind River from the head waters of the Columbia and
Spanish Rivers, ends abruptly, and winding to the north of east,
becomes the dividing barrier between a branch of the Big Horn and
Cheyenne Rivers, and those head waters which flow into the
Missouri below the Sioux country.
The ridge which lay on the right of the travellers having now
become very low, they passed over it, and came into a level
plain, about ten miles in circumference, and incrusted to the
depth of a foot or eighteen inches with salt as white as snow.
This is furnished by numerous salt springs of limpid water, which
are continually welling up, overflowing their borders, and
forming beautiful crystallizations. The Indian tribes of the
interior are excessively fond of this salt, and repair to the
valley to collect it, but it is held in distaste by the tribes of
the sea-coast, who will eat nothing that has been cured or
seasoned by it.
This evening they encamped on the banks of a small stream, in the
open prairie. The northeast wind was keen and cutting; they had
nothing wherewith to make a fire, but a scanty growth of sage, or
wormwood, and were fain to wrap themselves up in their blankets,
and huddle themselves in their "nests," at an early hour. In the
course of the evening, Mr. M'Lellan, who had now regained his
strength, killed a buffalo, but it was some distance from the
camp, and they postponed supplying themselves from the carcass
until the following morning.
The next day (October 21st) , the cold continued, accompanied by
snow. They set forward on their bleak and toilsome way, keeping
to the east northeast, towards the lofty summit of a mountain,
which it was necessary for them to cross. Before they reached its
base they passed another large trail, steering a little to the
right of the point of the mountain. This they presumed to have
been made by another band of Crows, who had probably been hunting
lower down on the Spanish River.
The severity of the weather compelled them to encamp at the end
of fifteen miles, on the skirts of the mountain, where they found
sufficient dry aspen trees to supply them with fire, but they
sought in vain about the neighborhood for a spring or rill of
water.
At daybreak they were up and on the march, scrambling up the
mountain side for the distance of eight painful miles. From the
casual hints given in the travelling memoranda of Mr. Stuart,
this mountain would seem to offer a rich field of speculation for
the geologist. Here was a plain three miles in diameter, strewed
with pumice stones and other volcanic reliques, with a lake in
the centre, occupying what had probably been the crater. Here
were also, in some places, deposits of marine shells, indicating
that this mountain crest had at some remote period been below the
waves.
After pausing to repose, and to enjoy these grand but savage and
awful scenes, they began to descend the eastern side of the
mountain. The descent was rugged and romantic, along deep ravines
and defiles, overhung with crags and cliffs, among which they
beheld numbers of the ahsahta or bighorn, skipping fearlessly
from rock to rock. Two of them they succeeded in bringing down
with their rifles, as they peered fearlessly from the brow of
their airy precipices.
Arrived at the foot of the mountain, the travellers found a rill
of water oozing out of the earth, and resembling in look and
taste, the water of the Missouri. Here they encamped for the
night, and supped sumptuously upon their mountain mutton, which
they found in good condition, and extremely well tasted.
The morning was bright, and intensely cold. Early in the day they
came upon a stream running to the east, between low hills of
bluish earth, strongly impregnated with copperas. Mr. Stuart
supposed this to be one of the head waters of the Missouri, and
determined to follow its banks. After a march of twenty-six
miles, however, he arrived at the summit of a hill, the prospect
of which induced him to alter his intention. He beheld, in every
direction south of east, a vast plain, bounded only by the
horizon, through which wandered the stream in question, in a
south-south-east direction. It could not, therefore, be a branch
of the Missouri. He now gave up all idea of taking the stream for
his guide, and shaped his course towards a range of mountains in
the east, about sixty miles distant, near which he hoped to find
another stream.
The weather was now so severe, and the hardships of travelling so
great, that he resolved to halt for the winter, at the first
eligible place. That night they had to encamp on the open
prairie, near a scanty pool of water, and without any wood to
make a fire.
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