USA > California > El Dorado County > Historical souvenir of El Dorado County, California : with illustrations and biographical setches of its prominent men & pioneers > Part 12
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this was one of the bitterest nights during the journey. Two Indians joined our party here, and one of them, an old man, immediately began to harangue us, say- ing that ourselves and animals would perish in the snow ; and that if we would go back, he would show us another and better way across the mountains. He spoke in a very loud voice, and there was a singular repetition of phrases and arrangement of words, which rendered his speech striking and not unmusical.
We had now begun to understand some words, and with the aid of signs, easily comprehended the old man's simple idea: "Rock upon rock-rock upon rock ; snow upon snow," said he; "even if you get over the snow, you will not be able to get down from the mountains." He made us the sign of precipices, and showed us how the feet of the horses would slip, and throw them off from the narrow trails that led along their sides. Our Chinook, who comprehended even more readily than ourselves, and believed our situation hopeless, covered his head with his blanket and began to weep and lament. "I wanted to see the whites," said he ; " I came away from my own people to see the whites, and I don't care to die among them, but here "-and he looked around in the cold night and gloomy forest, and, drawing his blankets over his head, began again to lament.
February 5 .- The night had been too cold to sleep, and we were up very early. Our guide was standing by the fire with all his finery on, and seeing him shiver in the cold, I threw on his shoulders one of my blankets. We missed him a few minutes afterwards, and never saw him again; he had deserted us. His bad faith and treachery were in perfect keeping with the estimate of Indian character, which a long inter- mind. While a portion of the camp were occupied in bringing up the baggage to this point, the remainder were busied in making sledges and snow-shoes. I had determined to explore the mountain ahead, and the sledges were to be used in transporting the baggage.
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HISTORY OF EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
a low range of mountains, which Carson recognized with delight as the mountains bordering the coast. "There,"said he, " is the little mountain, (Mt. Diablo,) it is fifteen years since I saw it ; but I am just as sure as if I had seen it yesterday." Between us and this low coast range, then, there was the valley of the Sac- ramento ; and no one who had not accompanied us through the incidents of our life for the last few months, could realize the delight with which at last we looked down upon it. At the distance of apparently 30 miles beyond us were distinguished spots of prairie, and a dark line, which could be traced with the glass, was imagined to be the course of the river ; but we were evidently at a great height above the valley, and between us and the plains extended miles of snowy fields and broken ridges of pine-covered mountains. After a march of 20 miles we straggled into the camp, one after another, at nightfall ; the greater number ex- cessively fatigued, only two of the party having ever traveled on snow-shoes. All our energies were now di- rected to getting our animals across the snow ; and it was supposed that after all the baggage had been drawn with the sleighs over the trail we had made, it would be sufficiently hard to bear our animals. At several places between this point and the ridge we had discovered some grassy spots, where the wind and sun had dispersed the snow from the sides of the hills, and these were to form resting places to support the animals for a night in their passage across. With one party drawing the sleighs loaded with baggage, I advanced to-day about four miles along the trail, and encamped at the first grassy spot, where we expected to bring our horses; Mr. Fitzpatrick, with another party, remained behind, to form an intermediate station be- tween us and the animals.
February 8 .- The night has been extremely cold, but perfectly still and beautifully clear. Before the sun appeared, the thermometer was 3º below zero ; 1º higher when his rays struck the lofty peaks, and 0º when they reached our camp. Scenery and weather combined must render these mountains beautiful in summer ; the purity and deep blue color of the sky are singularly beautiful. The day was sunny and bright, and even warm in the noon-hours; and if we could be free from the many anxieties that oppressed us, even now we could be delighted here; but our pro- visions are getting fearfully scant. Sleighs arrived with baggage about 10 o'clock, and leaving a portion of it here we continued on for a mile and a half, and encamped at the foot of a long hill on this side of the open bottom. Elevation of the camp, by the boiling point, is 7,920 feet.
February 9 .- During the night the weather changed, the wind rising to a gale, and commencing to snow
hefore daylight ; before morning the trail was covered. We remained quiet in camp all day, in the course of which the weather improved. Four sleighs arrived towards evening, with the bedding of the men. We suffer much from the want of salt, and all the men are becoming weak from insufficient food.
February 10 .- Continuing on with three sleighs, carrying a portion of the baggage, we had the satis- faction to encamp within two and a half miles of the head of the hollow, and at the foot of the last moun- tain range. Here two large trees had been set on fire, and in the holes, where the snow had melted away, we found a comfortable camp. The wind kept the air filled with snow during the day, the sky was very dark in the southwest, though elsewhere very clear. The forest here has a noble appearance, and tall cedar is abundant, its greatest height heing 130 feet, and circumference 20 feet, three or four feet above the ground ; and here I see for the first time the white pine, of which there are some magnificent trees. Hemlock spruce is among the timber, occasionally as large as eight feet in diameter, four feet above the ground ; but in ascending it tapers rapidly to less than one foot at the height of eighty feet. I have not seen any higher than 130 feet, and the slight upper part is frequently broken off by the wind. The white spruce is frequent, and the red pine, which constitutes the beautiful forests along the banks of the Sierra Nevada to the northward, is here the principal tree, not attaining a greater height than 140 feet, though with sometimes a diameter of 10 feet. Most of these trees appear to differ slightly from those of the same kind on the other side of the continent. We are now 1,000 feet above the level of the South Pass in the Rocky Mountains ; and still we are not done ascend- ing. The top of a flat ridge near us was bare of snow, and very well sprinkled with bunch-grass, sufficient to pasture the animals for two or three days ; and this was to be their main point of support. This ridge is composed of a compact trap, or basalt of a columnar structure ; over the surface are scattered large boul- ders of porous trap. The hills are in many places entirely covered with small fragments of volcanic rock. Putting on our snow-shoes, we spent the after- noon in exploring a road ahead. The glare of the snow, combined with great fatigue, had rendered many of the people nearly blind ; but we were fortunate in having some black silk handkerchiefs, which worn as veils, very much relieved the eye.
February 11 .- High wind continued, and our trail this morning was nearly invisible-here and there in- dicated by a little ridge of snow. Our situation became tiresome and dreary, requiring a strong exercise of patience and resolution. In the evening I received
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EARLY CONDITION. INHABITANTS. EXPLORATIONS.
a message from Mr. Fitzpatrick, acquainting me with the utter failure of his attempt to get our mules and horses over the snow,-the half-hidden trail had proved entirely too slight to support them, and they had broken through, and were plunging about or lying half buried in snow. I wrote him to send the animals immediately back to their old pastures ; and after hav- ing made mauls and shovels, turn in all the strength of his party to open and beat a road through the snow, strengthening it with boughs and branches of the pines.
· February 12 .- We made mauls and worked hard at our end of the road all day. The wind was high, but the sun bright and the snow thawing. We worked down the face of the hill to meet the people at the other end. Towards sundown it began to grow cold and we shouldered our mauls and trudged back to camp.
February 13 .- We continued to labor on the road, and in the course of the day had the satisfaction to see the people working down the face of the opposite hill, about three miles distant. During the morning we had the pleasure of a visit from Mr. Fitzpatrick, with the information that all was going on well. A party of Indians had passed on snow shoes, who said they were going to the western side of the mountains after fish. This was an indication that the salmon were coming up the streams; and we could hardly restrain our impatience as we thought of them, and worked with increased vigor. The meat train did not arrive this evening, and I gave Godey leave to kill our little dog ('Tlamath), which he prepared in Indian fashion-scorching off the hair and washing the skin with soap and snow, and then cutting it into pieces, which were laid on the snow. Shortly afterward the sleigh arrived with a supply of horse meat, and we had to-night an extraordinary dinner-pea-soup, mule and dog.
February 14 .- The dividing ridge of the Sierra is in sight from this encampment. Accompanied by Mr. Preuss, I ascended to-day the highest peak to the right, from which we had a beautiful view of a moun- tain lake at our feet about fifteen miles in length, and so entirely surrounded by mountains that we could not discover an outlet. We had taken with us a glass, and though we enjoyed an extended view, the valley was hidden in mist, as when we had seen it before. Snow could be distinguished on the higher parts of the coast mountains: Eastward, as far as the eye could extend, it ranged over a terrible mass of broken snowy mountains, fading off blue in the distance. The rock composing the summit consists of a very coarse, dark, volcanic conglomerate ; the lower parts appeared to be of slaty structure. The highest trees
were a few scattering cedars and aspens. From the immediate foot of the peak we were two hours reach- ing the summit, and one hour and a quarter in descending. The day had been very bright, still and clear, and Spring seemed to be advancing rapidly. While the sun is in the sky the snow melts rapidly, and gushing springs cover the face of the mountain in all the exposed places; but their surface freezes instantly with the disappearance of the sun. I ob- tained to-night some observations, and the result from these, and others made during our stay gives, for the latitude, 38° 41' 57"; longitude, 120° 25' 57"; and rate of the chronometer, 25, 82".
February 16 .- We had succeeded in getting our animals safely to the first grassy hill, and this morning I started with Jacob on a reconnoitering expedition beyond the mountain. We traveled along the crests of narrow ridges, extending down from the mountain in the direction of the valley, from which the snow was fast melting away. On the open spots was tolerably good grass, and I judged we should succeed in getting the camp down by the way of these. Towards sundown we discovered some icy spots in a deep hollow, and descending the mountain we en- camped on the headwater of a little creek, where, at last, the water found its way to the Pacific. The night was clear and very long. We heard the cries of some wild animals which had been attracted by our fire, and a flock of geese passed over us during the night. Even these strange sounds had something pleasant to our senses in this region of silence and desolation. The creek acquired a regular breadth of about twenty feet, and we soon began to hear the rushing of the water below the icy surface, over which we traveled to avoid the snow. A few miles below we broke through, where the water was several feet deep, and halted to make a fire and dry our clothes. We continued a few miles farther, walking being very laborious without snow-shoes. I was now perfectly satisfied that we had struck the stream on which Mr. Sutter lived, and, turning about, made a hard push and reached the camp at dark. Here we had the pleasure of finding all the remaining animals, 57 in number, safely arrived at the grassy hill near the camp; and here also we were agreeably surprised with the signt of an abundance of salt.
On February 19th the people were occupied in making a road and bringing up the baggage, and on the afternoon of the next day,
February 20th, we encamped, with the animals and all the materiel of the camp, on the summit of the pass in the dividing ridge, 1,000 miles by our traveled road from the Dalles on the Columbia. The people, who had not yet been to this point, climbed the neigh-
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HISTORY OF EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
boring peak to enjoy a look at the valley. The tem- perature of boiling water gave for the elevation of the camp 9,338 feet above the sea. This was 2,000 feet higher than the South Pass in the Rocky Mountains, and several peaks in view rose several thousand feet still higher. Thus, the pass in the Sierra Nevada, which so well deserves its name of Snowy Mountains, is eleven degrees west and about four degrees south of the South Pass.
February 21 .- We now considered ourselves vic- torious over the mountain ; having only the descent before us and the valley under our eyes, we felt strong hope that we should force our way down. But this was a case in which the descent was not facile. Still deep fields of snow lay between them, and there was a large intervening space of rough looking mountains, through which we had yet to wind our way. Carson roused me this morning with an early fire, and we were all up long before day, in order to pass the snow- fields before the sun should render the crust soft. We enjoyed this morning a scene at sunrise, which even here was unusually glorious and beautiful. Passing along a ridge which commanded the lake on our right, of which we began to discover an outlet through a chasm on the west, we passed over alternating open ground and hard-crusted snow-fields which supported the animals, and encamped on the ridge, after a jour- ney of six miles. The grass was better than we had yet seen, and we were encamped in a clump of trees twenty or thirty feet high, resembling white pine. With the exception of these small clumps the ridges were bare ; and where the snow found the support of the trees the wind had blown it up into banks ten or fifteen feet high. It required much care to hunt out a practicable way, as the most open places frequently led to impassable banks. The day had been one of April-gusty, with a few occasional flakes of snow, which in the afternoon enveloped the upper mountain in clouds. We watched them anxiously, as now we dreaded a snowstorm. Shortly afterwards we heard the roll of thunder, and looking towards the valley found it enveloped in a thunder-storm. For us, as connected with the idea of Summer, it had a singular charm, and we watched its progress with excited fecl- ings until nearly sunset, when the sky cleared off brightly, and we saw a shining line of water directing its course towards another, a broader and larger sheet. On the southern shore of what appeared to be the bay could be traced the gleaming line where entered another large stream .* We had the satisfaction to know that at least there were people below. Fires were lit up in the valley just at night, appearing to be
in answer of ours; and these signs of life renewed, in some measure, the gayety of the camp.
February 22 .- Our breakfast was over long before day. We took advantage of the coolness of the early morning to get over the snow, which to-day occurred in very deep banks among the timber ; but we searched for the coldest places, and the animals passed success- fully with their loads over the hard crust. In the after part of the day we saw before us a handsome grassy ridge point, and making a desperate push over a snowfield ten to fifteen feet deep, we happily suc- ceeded in getting the camp across, and encamped on the ridge after a march of three miles. We had again the prospect of a thunder-storm below, and to-night we killed another mule-now our only resource from starvation. We continued to enjoy the same delightful weather ; the sky of the same beautiful blue, and such a sunset and sunrise as on our Atlantic coast we could scarcely imagine. And here among the mountains, 9,000 feet above the level of the sea, we have the deep blue sky and sunny climate of Smyrna and Palermo, which a little map before me shows are in the same latitude.
February 23 .- This was our most difficult day. We were enforced off the ridges by the quantity of snow among the timber, and obliged to take to the moun- tain sides, where, occasionally, rocks and a southern exposure afforded us a chance to scramble along ; but these were steep and slippery with snow and ice. and the tough evergreens of the mountain impeded our way, tore our skin, and exhausted our patience. Going ahead with Carson to reconnoitre the road, we reached, in the afternoon, the river which made an outlet of the lake. Carson sprang over, clear across a place where the stream was compressed among rocks, but the parfleche sole of my moccasin glanced from the icy rock and precipitated me into the river. It was some few seconds before I could recover myself in the current, and Carson, thinking me hurt, jumped in after me, and we both had an icy bath. We tried to search awhile for my gun, which had been lost in the fall, but the cold drove us out. We afterwards found that the gun had been slung under the ice which lined the banks of the creek.
February 24 .- We rose at three in the morning for an astronomical observation, and obtained for the place a latitude of 38° 46' 58"; longitude, 120° 34 20". The sky was clear and pure, with a sharp wind from the northeast, and the thermometer 2º below the freezing point. In the course of the morning we struck a footpath, which we were generally able to keep, and the ground was soft to our animals' feet, being sandy, or covered with mould. Green grass began to make its appearance, and occasionally we
* This observation indicated the Sacramento river and Suisun bay, with the San Joaquin river emptying into it.
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EARLY CONDITION. INHABITANTS. EXPLORATIONS.
passed a hill scatteringly covered with it. The charac- ter of the forest continued the same, and among the trees the pine, with sharp leaves and very large cones, was abundant, some of them being noble trees. We measured one that was 10 feet in diameter, though its height was not more than 130 feet. All along the river was a roaring torrent, its fall very great, and des- cending with a rapidity to which we had long been strangers. To our great pleasure oak trees appeared on the ridge, and soon became very frequent ; on these I remarked great quantities of mistletoe. Rushes began to make their appearance, and at a small creek, where they were abundant, one of the messes was left with the weakest horses, while we continued on. When we had traveled about ten miles, the valley opened a little to an oak and pine bottom, through which ran rivulets closely bordered with rushes, on which our half-starved horses fell with avidity; and here we made our encampment. Here the roaring torrent has already become a river, and we had des- cended to an elevation of 3,864 feet. Along our road to-day the rock was a white granite, which appears to constitute the upper part of the mountains on both eastern and western slopes, while between, the central, is volcanic rock.
February 25 -Believing that the difficulties of the road were passed, and leaving Mr. Fitzpatrick to follow slowly, as the condition of the animals required, I started ahead this morning with a party of eight. We took with us some of the best animals, and my inten- tion was to proceed, as rapidly as possible, to the house of Mr. Sutter, and return to meet the party with a sup- ply of provisions and fresh animals. The forest was imposing to-day in the magnificence of its trees ; some of the pines, bearing large cones, were 10 feet in diameter. Cedars also abounded, and we measured one 2812 feet in circumference four feet from the ground. Here this noble tree seemed to be in its proper soil and climate. We found it on both sides of the Sierra, but most abundant on the west.
February 26 .-- We continued to follow the stream, the mountains on either hand increasing in height as we descended, and shutting up the river narrowly in precipices, along which we had great difficulty to get our horses. It rained heavily during the afternoon, and we were forced off the river to the heights above, whence we descended at nightfall, the point of a spur between the river and a fork of nearly equal size, com- ing in from the right.
February 27 .- We succeeded in fording the stream, and made a trail by which we crossed the point of the opposite hill, which, on the southern exposure, was prettily covered with green grass, and we halted a mile from our last encampment. The river was only which we momentarily expected to discover, to halt for
about 60 feet wide, but rapid, and occasionally deep, foaming among boulders, and the water beautifully clear. We encamped on the hill-slope, as there was no bottom level, and the opposite ridge is continuous, affording no streams. Below, the precipices on the river forced us to the heights, which we ascended by a steep spur 2,000 feet high-(Pilot Hill). My favor- ite horse, Proveau, had become very weak, and was scarcely able to bring himself to the top. Traveling here was good except in crossing the ravines, which were narrow, steep and frequent. We caught a glimpse of a deer, the first animal we had seen, but did not succeed in approaching him. Every hour we had been expecting to see open out before us the val- ley, which, from the mountain above, seemed almost at our feet. A new and singular shrub, which had made its appearance since crossing the mountain, was very frequent to-day. (Fremont here gives a minute description of the manzanita or red bark). Near nightfall we descended into the steep ravine of a handsome creek 30 feet wide, and I was engaged in getting the horses up the opposite hill when I heard a shout from Carson, who had gone ahead a few hundred yards. " Life yet," said he, "life yet ; I have found a hill-side sprinkled with grass enough for the night !" We drove along our horses and encamped at the place about dark, and there was just room enough to make a place for shelter on the edge of the stream.
March 3 .- At every step the country improved in beauty. The pines were rapidly disappearing and oaks became the principal trees of the forest. Among these the prevailing tree was the evergreen oak, (which by way of distinction we called the live-oak), and with these occurred frequently a new species of oak bearing a long slender acorn, from an inch to an inch and a half in length, which we now began to see formed the principal vegetable food of the inhabitants of this region. We had called up some straggling Indians, the first we had met, although for two days back we had seen tracks, who, mistaking us for his fellows, had been only undeceived on getting close up. It would have been pleasant to witness his astonishment. He would not have been more frightened had some of the old mountain spirits, they are so much afraid of, sud- denly appeared in his path.
March 6 .- We continued on our road through the same surpassingly beautiful country, entirely uneqalled for the pasturage of stock by anything we had ever seen. Our horses had now become so strong that they were able to carry us, and we traveled rapidly-over four miles an hour, four of us riding every alternate hour. Every few hundred yards we came upon a little band of deer, but we were too eager to reach the settlement,
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HISTORY OF EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
any other than a passing shot. In a few hours we reached a large fork, the northern branch of the river, and equal in size to that which we had descended. Together they formed a beautiful stream, 60 to 100 yards wide ; which at first, ignorant of the country through which that river ran, we took to be the Sacra- mento. We continued down the right bank of the river, traveling for a while through a wooded upland, where we had the delight to discover tracks of cattle. To the southwest was visible a black column of smoke, which we had frequently noticed in descending, arising from the fires we had seen from the top of the Sierra. From the upland we descended into broad groves on the river, consisting of the evergreen and a new species of a white-oak, with a large tufted tor. Among these was no brush wood, and the grassy surface gave to it the appearance of parks in an old settled country. Following the tracks of the horses and cat- tle, in search of people, we discovered a small village of Indians. Some of these had on shirts of civilized manufacture, but were otherwise naked, and we could understand nothing of them ; they appeared entirely astonished at seeing us. Shortly afterwards we gave a shout at the appearance, on a little bluff, of a neatly- built adobe house, with glass windows. We rode up, but to our disappointment found only Indians. There was no appearance of cultivation, and we could see no cattle, and we supposed the place to have been aband- oned. We now pressed on more eagerly than ever; the river swept around a large bend to the right ; the hills lowered down entirely, and gradually entering a broad valley, we came unexpectedly on a large Indian village, where the people looked clean, and wore cot- ton shirts and various other articles of dress. They immediately crowded around us, and we had the inex- pressible delight to find one who spoke a little indiffer- ent Spanish, but who at first confounded us by saying there were no whites in the country; but just then a well-dressed Indian came up, and made his salutations in very well spoken Spanish. In answer to our inqui- ries, he informed us that we were upon the Rio de los Americanos, (the river of the Americans,) and that it joined the Sacramento about ten miles below. Never did a name sound more sweetly ! We felt ourselves among our countrymen ; for the name of American, in these distant parts, is applied to the citizens of the United States. To our eager inquiries he answered : "I am a vaquero (cow-herd) in the service of Cap- tain Sutter, and the people of the rancheria work for him." Our evident satisfaction made him communi- cative ; and he went on to say that Captain Sutter was a very rich man, and always glad to see his country people. We asked for his house. He answered that it was just over the hill before us, and offered, if we
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