[III-38] If we call the roll to-day we find: Vasquez and Smith left at Cañon City on the 14th; Sparks and Dougherty left at camp of the 22d; Menaugh left at camp of the 26th; present on the 27th, Pike, Robinson, Meek, Jackson, Brown, Carter, Gorden, Miller, Mountjoy, Roy, Stoute = 11.
[III-39] The Expedition crosses the Sangre de Cristo range to the basin of the Rio Grande, and is about to enter the San Luis valley. The matter of the pass by which they came has been much mooted and left in doubt. Thus we find Maguire saying in the preface to the Denver ed. of Pike, p. xi: "Whether this pass was the Mosca or the Medano (known also as 'Sandhill') or whether it was one still farther to the north as thought by some, cannot be definitely established." Governor Adams in his Address, p. 17, says "Medano or Music Pass." I think it is certain that the Expedition made the Sand Hill Pass, and I hope to be able to settle the question. The three passes to which Maguire refers, and the only ones to be considered for a moment, are the following, in order from N. to S.
1. A pass from Antelope cr., one of the heads of Grape cr., in Custer Co., over to a tributary of San Luis r. in Saguache Co., not traversing any portion of Huerfano Co., or barely touching the extreme N. W. corner of this county—in fact, Custer, Huerfano, and Saguache cos. meet in this pass, and Muddy as well as Antelope cr. heads there. This is the "one still farther to the north" to which Maguire alludes. It is the one marked "Music Pass" on the G. L. O. and U. S. G. S. maps of 1892 (but not the Music Pass of Hayden's map). This seems to me so far N. as to be out of the question, if any reliance is to be placed on either Pike's mileages or his map. Even after the utmost reduction of his distances that can be made with any regard to the topography of the region, we fetch him out of the Grape Creek basin, into that of the Huerfano, and thus well along in Huerfano Co. His map bears this out completely. Observe that on the 24th he has crossed the head of Grape cr., left it a good way behind him, and marked his camp near the head of the other stream—the Huerfano. Notice also that from this camp of the 24th-26th the trail makes a sharp elbow west, and goes through the Sangre range in a gap next below that one in which he makes Grape cr. head. Again, if he had made this northernmost pass he would have come out N. of the Sand Dunes, and had these on his left as he went S. in the San Luis valley; whereas, we find them on his right as he comes down from the mountains to the S. of them. Finally, the mileages of the San Luis Valley route do not fit so well from this pass as from the next one. These facts seem to me to prove that Pike made no pass N. of the sand-hills.
2. The Sand Hill Pass, also rightly Medano and wrongly Modenos Pass, called Music Pass by Hayden, and Williams' Pass by Gunnison and Beckwith, is that which connects Navajo or Greaser cr. (br. of Muddy cr.) with a certain tributary (Medano or Sand cr.) of the San Luis r. This is on the boundary between Huerfano and Saguache cos., about 5 m. (air-line) S. of Music Pass. The Huerfano gathers its waters in the valley called Huerfano Park. The three principal tributaries, from the N. to N. W., are Turkey, Wilson's, and Muddy creeks. The place Bradford, already named as that to the vicinity of which we traced the Expedition, without reference to any question of a pass, is on Muddy cr., and a road goes direct from this place through this pass. That branch of Muddy cr. by some called Navajo cr. drains from this pass, and Greaser cr. also heads in its immediate vicinity. Across the divide, which sinks to an altitude of about 9,800 feet at the pass, Medano or Sand cr. drains S. W. and then S. between the Sand Dunes and the mountains, in the San Luis basin (Saguache Co.). That Pike took this route I have no question. There seems also to have been no doubt in the minds of Captain Gunnison and Lieutenant Beckwith, who quote Pike on their approach to this pass, Aug. 25th, 1853, and add: "The course of Williams' Pass as we entered it [from the sand-hills] is N. 58° E., but it soon bends to the left to N. 27° E. We passed up it only about three-fourths of a mile. Its width is about 250 yards, rising gradually as far as we could see. Its walls of rock rise on either side to a height of some hundreds of feet, and are nearly vertical. Our guides represent it as continuing for 14 miles, both in character and direction as here described; beyond that it is more abrupt, terminating at its summit less favorably for a road than Roubideau's Pass. It is followed by a large Indian trail." (P. R. R. Rep. II., 1855, p. 43.)
3. Mosca or Musca Pass, also called Fly Pass by some, translating the Spanish, and by others Robideau's Pass, 6 or 8 m. in an air-line S. of the Sand Hill Pass, is a lower and better one. It connects the Bear Creek branch of May cr. (the latter a tributary to the Huerfano) with the branch of Mosca cr. on the other side of the divide. There is a place called Sharpsdale on Bear or May cr., whence a road goes W. up to the pass, and others N. to Bradford, E. through Poison cañon to Gardner on the Huerfano at the mouth of Muddy cr., and also E. down May cr. and along the Huerfano to Point of Rocks and Malachite, and so on to Gardner. On the subject of Mosca Pass Maguire's remarks seem to me judicious, and I transcribe them to express my concurrence in his decision: "In the early days of the settlement of the country the Mosca was well travelled by the Southern Utes on their journeys to the Plains, and their 'hieroglyphics,' of which Pike speaks, were to be seen cut in the bark of the aspen trees; but from the fact that on reaching San Luis valley on January 28th, 1807, the party marched some considerable distance on a course lying between the sand dunes and the mountains, the evidence would seem to warrant the belief that the pass used was north of the Mosca."
There are other passes of this range, as the one called Sangre de Cristo, and the Veta Pass (which latter is now utilized by the D. and R. G. R. R.). But these are altogether too far S., and have never been brought in question. There seems to be no named or used pass from the head of the Huerfano itself. The ultimate heads of this river drain N. from Cerro Blanco and Baldy Peak, with collateral sources thence along the line between Huerfano and Costello cos. to Grayback and Iron mts., etc., besides those from the W. on the line between Huerfano and Saguache cos. in the direction of Mosca Pass.
In view of the above considerations, we will proceed with Pike through Medano or Sand Hill Pass into San Luis valley (or Park). This is a plain between the Sangre de Cristo range on the E. and N. E., and on the W. and N. W. the San Juan and Sawatch ranges. It has a total length of about 110 m. from Poncho Pass on the N. to Taos valley on the S., with a maximum breadth of about 45 m., and an area of upward of 3,000 square miles. The general elevation is between 7,500 and 8,000 feet. The Rio Grande enters this valley at about the middle of its W. side, running E. and then sweeping in a long curve S.
[III-40] The billows of sand which Pike has on his right as he comes down Sand cr. from Sand Hill (Music, Medano) Pass are very remarkable formations, which alone would fix his position in the lack of any other data. West of these Dunes are several streams of the San Luis system, flowing southward to form sinks called the San Luis lakes, though Pike's map runs them into the Rio Grande. His camp is on or near Sand cr., at about the point where this and Mosca cr. join, or perhaps a little further along. Mosca cr. is the one that comes down from Mosca Pass, and if Pike had made this pass he would have fetched out in the valley at about the same spot—at or near Montville.
[III-41] About S., along the W. base of the Sierra Blanca, which is simply the continuation of the Sangre de Cristo range. Some of the summits Pike has on his left are: Grayback Peak, 12,387 feet; Bald, Baldy, or Old Baldy mt., 14,125 feet; and Cerro Blanco itself, 14,431 feet, giving name to the group. Pike goes from the vicinity of Montville past Zapato cr., probably on the present road through the town of the latter name on the creek, and camps in the valley at the place where timber reaches furthest from the mountains. A present road curves S. E. from this point, around to the S. of the range, where was built Fort Garland, probably 12 or 15 m. S. E. of to-night's camp. This was a sort of focal point to which roads converged from various points, and especially was it on the most direct route from any place in the lower part of the San Luis valley through Sangre de Cristo Pass to the Huerfano, and so on. Garland was on Ute cr., a branch of Trinchera cr., which latter falls into the Rio Grande about 3 m. above the Rio Conejos.
[III-42] Pike reaches the Rio Grande on a S. W. course, about the present position of the town of Alamosa, whence railroads now radiate in or converge from four directions. These branches of the Denver and Rio Grande system come from the E. through the Veta Pass, from the N. directly down the San Luis valley, from the N. W. down the Rio Grande, and from the S. up the same river. A few miles S. of Alamosa, Alamosa and La Jara creeks fall in close together, from the W. These are both indicated by a single unlettered trace on Pike's map. Next below Trinchera cr. falls in on the E. This is the one called Rio de la Culebra on Pike's map, which correctly brings it in above the one from the W. (Rio Conejos) on which he established himself. The Rio Culebra is the next one, from the E., below Trinchera and Conejos, and above Rio Costilla. Pike lays down the Costilla by its proper name, omits the Culebra, and calls the Trinchera by the name of the latter. In English, Rio Conejos would be Rabbit r.; Culebra, Snake r.; Costilla, Rib r.; and Trinchera, Cut-bank r. Alamosa should imply that the river so called were shaded with elms, though cottonwood (Populus angustifolia) is the actual growth. La Jara is properly the rock-rose (Cistus creticus), but as a name of this creek it refers to willow-brush.