The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Volume 2 (of 3) / To Headwaters of the Mississippi River Through Louisiana Territory, and in New Spain, During the Years 1805-6-7.

by Zebulon Montgomery Pike; Elliott Coues

The terrible trip Pike now ventures to make should not have been attempted in the dead of winter, with his miserable outfit. Pike was brave to excess, as we know; that and the mysterious crux of the orders he had from Wilkinson about the Spanish business must excuse this particular piece of foolhardihood. A more experienced mountaineer, with any concern for his own life, to say nothing of the lives of his men, would not have bucked up against those mountains under such circumstances. If he had had to hunt for the unknown sources of a river which came eastward from there, he would have backed out of the mountains, gone down the Arkansaw a piece, struck south at his convenience till he found his river, and then considered the chances of being able to follow it up to its source. That Red r. of which Pike is supposed to have gone in search was never found, for the simple reason that there is no such river in that part of the world—as probably Pike himself knew. He had a chip on each shoulder for some Spaniard to please knock off; his coat-tails were dragging all over the R. mts. for some Spaniard to please step on; and he would rather have broken some Spanish heads than have discovered the head of any river.

[III-29] This "18" is a misprint for 12. There were but 16 persons all told, of whom 2 are left when Pike, Robinson, and 12 soldiers proceed to tempt fate. The 12 were: Sergeant Meek, Corporal Jackson, Privates Brown, Carter, Dougherty, Gorden, Menaugh, Miller, Mountjoy, Roy, Sparks, Stoute.

[III-30] The "South fork" of the Arkansaw, afterward sometimes called Pike's fork, as for example on Gregg's map, 1844, and which he now proceeds to ascend, is Grape cr. This considerable stream arises on the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo range, waters the Wet Mountain valley, receives various tributaries from the western slope of the Wet mts., and traverses a gorge in the latter to fall into the Arkansaw from the S. W., about a mile above Cañon City. The general course is about N. from its uttermost head in the S. de C. range, in the vicinity of Music Pass. Here its watershed is separated, on the E. side of the range, by a divide, on the other side of which are certain sources of the Huerfano r.; while on the west of the S. de C. range the connection is with "Meadow" (qu. Medano?) cr., a tributary of San Luis cr., in the valley of the latter name, and consequently in the basin of the Rio Grande—that "Red river" which Pike seeks in vain. To-day he strikes Grape cr. at or near present site of Williamsburg, a station on the railroad which once meandered Grape cr. to Silver Cliff, but was washed out and abandoned. This is a good way below the entrance of Pine cr., a branch which falls into Grape cr. from the W. This may seem short for the "13" m. of the text; but if anyone should think so, he has only to start from Cañon City to change his mind by the time he finds himself on Grape cr. by the present best trail. Besides, we shall soon see that we have to shorten up all of Pike's mileages in this rough country.

[III-31] Past Pine cr., to some point on Grape cr. short of the boundary between Frémont and Custer cos., probably in the vicinity of Soda Springs or the station Grape. Pike is flanking a mountain as well as meandering a crooked creek; and, aside from any question of typographical error, we have to adjust his whole set of ostensible mileages by the topography of the country. If we should apply the figures he gives to the flat face of the map, we should run him clear over into New Mexico before he reaches his camp on the Conejos in Colorado.

[III-32] Over the line from Frémont into Custer Co., past Grape and Blackburn, to camp about the mouth of Silver cr. This heads about Mt. Tyndall and Mt. Herring, and by another branch N. of these; it runs N. W. and then N. to fall into Grape cr., between Blackburn and Gove. Camp is 6 or 8 m. (air-line) due N. of Round mt. and town of Silver Cliff; but much further by the meanders of the creek or either of the roads through the mountains.

[III-33] "White" and "Snow" are Pike's names for what he regarded as a continuous chain from as far N. as he knew anything about it, to the Sierra Blanca of New Mexico. That is to say, the names cover the whole Sawatch range, along the Continental Divide, and the Sangre de Cristo range; which latter separates the Arkansaw from the Rio Grande basin, and ends on the S. with the bold elevations of the Sierra Blanca, or White mts. of modern geography. In saying that the "great White mountain presented itself," Pike means that he has reached a point in the Wet Mountain valley where he has the Sangre de Cristo range immediately before him, on the W. In this direction are the heads of the Texas cr., already mentioned (p. 475), and of Swift or Dutch cr., draining eastern slopes of the mountains, two of the nearest points of which are Electric Peak and Monte Rito Alto, the latter 12,863 or 12,989 feet high, according to whether Lieut. Wheeler or Dr. Hayden made the most accurate determination.

[III-34] This is the most difficult itinerary of the whole trip, and much depends upon its correct recovery. It is out of the question to take "28 miles" at its face value; the difficulty must be adjusted. Pike's trail shows with substantial accuracy his three camps of the 14th, 15th, and 16th, along Grape cr.; then a long loop S. E. and back S. W. to a point on Grape cr. again, above two creeks coming down from the Sangre range. I think these creeks can be identified; this would fix to-day's camp with sufficient precision. I base my conclusions on Pike's whole set of mileages for this trip, as applied to the topography of the route. Thus we have, going up Grape cr., 13 + 19 + 18 = 50 m.; with 4 more miles on the 17th, making 54 to the point where this creek is left. Further on come (28 - 4 =) 24 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 8 + 8 + 9 + 0 + 0 + 14 = 63 m., which puts Pike over the Sand Hill Pass on the 27th. Finally, we have 15 + 17 + 24 + 18 = 74 m., in the San Luis valley to the stockade on the Rio Conejos; total, 191 m. The three sections of this route—the Grape Creek course, the Wet Mountain Valley course, the San Luis Valley course—are practically, therefore, in the ratio of 5 : 6 : 7; and such figures must be made to fit the known geography of the route. I make the journey of the 17th as follows: Pike proceeds up Grape cr. a short distance, leaves it, flanks Round mt., and passes by or near the present site of Silver Cliff, seat of Custer Co.; continues S. E. across the valley or prairie to the base of the Wet mts., in the vicinity, not immediate, of Mt. Robinson, Mt. Brinley, and Rosita, where the mines of the latter name were or are; where, not liking the place, as there was no fuel, he turns about S. W. and repasses the valley at a right angle to his other course through it, recrosses Grape cr. a little below the confluence of Rosita cr., and camps under the Sangre de Cristo range, somewhere about Spring cr. or Horse cr. This day was disastrous, as a culmination of misery already endured by the handful of half-naked and more than half-starved adventurers, for whom still more acute suffering was in store. The wonder is not at any error in distances, but that any intelligible itinerary of such a journey has reached us from the splendidly brave young fellow, who so rashly led his companions into a death-trap. But for the buffalo which were wintering in the Wet Mountain valley, not a man would have escaped with his life. Whatever the exact spot, this is the place where poor Sparks and Dougherty were abandoned with frozen feet. What they endured may be imagined from the mute messages Pike afterward received from them—a present of some of the bones which came away from their gangrenous feet after sphacelus had set in.

[III-35] By Pike's map, this should be the next to the last creek before Grape cr. is headed—the first one above Horse cr. If so, the party are in the vicinity of the place now called Blumenau.

[III-36] About to the ultimate forks of Grape cr. The S. end of the Wet Mountain valley is a sort of pocket where the Wet mts. connect with the Sangre range by intermediate elevations (as Promontory Bluffs, etc.). Creeks come into the valley from the E., S., and W., converging to compose Grape cr., the ultimate tributary of which is now known as Cottonwood cr. The border of this pocket, on the S., is the boundary between Custer and Huerfano cos.—an irregular line continuing on the W. along the main ridge of the Sangre range, and on the E. along that ridge of the Wet mts. which divides sources of Hardscrabble cr. and St. Charles and Greenhorn rivers from those of the Huerfano.

[III-37] Taking the party over the low divide mentioned in the last note, from Custer into Huerfano Co., and from the Grape Creek watershed to that of the Huerfano. The exact spot is perhaps not determinable, but it was not far from Bradford, a place on Muddy cr., one of the first two forks of the Huerfano. The map shows that Pike has headed Grape cr. and got into another basin, from which he starts a river running out on the prairie to the Arkansaw. This is by mistake made out to be his "3d Fork," i. e., the St. Charles and Greenhorn; it is really his "2d Fork," i. e., the Huerfano.