James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 2

by Edwin James; Stephen H. Long; Thomas Say

The Platte, at the foot of the mountains, is twenty-five yards wide, having an average depth of about three feet, its water clear and cool, and its current rapid. Its descent for twenty miles below cannot be less than ten feet per mile. Its valley is narrow and serpentine, bounded by steep and elevated hills, embosoming innumerable little lawns, often of a semicircular form, ornamented by the narrow margin of shrubbery along the Platte.

The narrow valley between the ridges of sandstone is a little more fertile than the plains along the river. It is covered with fine and short grasses, and is varied with here and there a copse of small oaks or hazels. There are also some columnar masses of white sandstone, twenty or thirty feet high, standing remote from each other, having the débris around their bases covered with shrubby oaks. As we were passing near one of these, an uncommonly large and beautiful buck deer sprung out from the bushes, and stood gazing on us, until he received in his side the ball, which brought him instantly to the earth.

We observed here the obscure wren,[143] a bird more closely related to the great Carolina wren of Wilson than any other we have seen; but the characters drawn from the primaries, and from the marking of the tail, sufficiently distinguish it from that species. The bill is somewhat longer, and the general tint of the plumage of a much more sombre hue. It frequents the arid country in this vicinity, {191} and is often seen hopping about upon the branches, and singular compressed semi-procumbent trunks of the juniperus depressa. The bill of this species approaches the form which characterizes the genus certhia, in which Wilson has placed its kindred species, the Carolina wren.

On the morning of the 7th of July, the party remaining in the encampment of the preceding day, Dr. James and Mr. Peale, accompanied by two riflemen, were sent out to examine the mountains. These appeared most accessible on the north side of the river, opposite our encampment. The river was here about four feet deep, and the strength of the current such as to render it impossible for a man to keep his feet in the deepest part of the stream. As some of the party destined for the mountains could not swim, it was thought hazardous for them to attempt to cross the river by fording. To obviate this difficulty, two men were sent with a long rope, which they were directed to stretch across the river, making the ends fast on either shore. This was readily accomplished, one of the men swimming across with an end of the rope in his teeth. By the aid of this, the detachment were enabled to keep their feet in crossing, though with extreme difficulty, as the bed of the river was uneven and rocky. They all, however, arrived in safety on the left-hand bank by about sunrise.

After passing the region of inclined sandstone, which is about two miles in width, they began to rise upon what may be considered the base of the mountain. As the day advanced, the heat became oppressive, and they found themselves somewhat exhausted before they had crossed the sandstone hills, which appeared so inconsiderable from our encampment, that the labour of crossing them had been almost forgotten in estimating the toils of the day. The first range of primitive rocks they found far more abrupt and rugged than what they had already passed. Its sides are destitute of vegetation, except a few prickly {192} pears and yuccas, with here and there a stinted oak or juniper, and so steep that great exertion as well as the utmost caution, are necessary in ascending.

The rock is an aggregate of felspar and hornblende, approaching in character some of the common varieties of sienite. On the eastern side, where the felspar is in the greatest proportion, it is flesh-coloured, and its structure crystalline; the fractured surface of the mass being uneven like that of coarse granite. Advancing towards the west, hornblende was found to become more and more predominant, and so arranged as to have in the mass a laminated appearance. The natural fissures or cleavages between the lamina run nearly in a perpendicular direction, giving the rock the columnar structure of trap or greenstone.

As the detachment proceeded, a few interesting insects and plants occurred to reward their labours. But these impenetrable and naked rocks, are the abodes of few living beings, either animal or vegetable. In the crevices of the rocks where a scanty soil has accumulated, is here and there planted a hardy evergreen, whose short and gnarled trunk, recurved and inflexible branches, proclaim the storms it has withstood, and the centuries during which it has vegetated.

The design of the party had been to cross the first range of the mountains and gain the valley of the Platte beyond, but this they found themselves unable to accomplish. After climbing successively to the summit of several ridges which they had supposed to be the top of the mountain, they still found others beyond higher and more rugged. They therefore relinquished the intention of crossing, and began to look for the best way to descend to the bed of the river, which lay on their left hand. Here they halted to rest for a few moments, and exposed a thermometer in the shade of a large rock. The mercury fell to 72°; in camp, at the same hour it stood at {193} 86°. They were so much elevated above the river, that although they could see it plainly, it appeared like a small brook of two or three yards in width, and though white with foam and spray, caused by the impetuosity of its current, and the roughness of its channel, its "idle chiding could not be heard so high." They could distinguish two principal branches of the Platte—one coming from the north-west, the other from the south; a little below the confluence of these branches, the river turns abruptly to the S. E., bursting through a chasm in a vast mural precipice of naked columnar rocks.[144]

About noon the detachment commenced their descent, which cost them no less exertion than their ascent in the morning. Their fatigue was aggravated by thirst, as they met with no water, nor any shade excepting that of projecting rocks in the higher parts of the mountain.

They chose a different route from that which they had taken in ascending, intending to descend to the river, with the hope of being able to travel along its bed. They were obliged to assist each other in lowering themselves down precipices; they would have found it impossible to pass singly. On the southern declivity of the mountain, they met with a few ripe currants, but these were hard and juiceless, of a sweetish taste, and aggravated, instead of alleviating their thirst, and were probably the cause of a violent head-ache, with which several of the party were affected soon after eating them. There were also found a few large and delicious raspberries, of a species approaching the flowering raspberry (rubus odoratus), but with smaller leaves, and a more branching stem.