furnish a guide. They appeared to have a confused idea of whites who lived on the other side of the mountains, and once they told us, about two years ago, a party of twelve men like ourselves had ascended their river and crossed to the other waters. They pointed out to us where they had crossed; but then, they said, it was summer time, while now it would be impossible. I believe this was a party led by Mr. Chiles, one of the only two men whom I know to have passed through the California mountains from the interior of the basin, Walker being the other, and both were engaged upward of twenty days, in the summer time, in getting over. Chiles' destination was the bay of San Francisco, to which he descended by the Stanislaus river. Both were western men, animated with the spirit of exploratory enterprise which characterizes that people.

camped on the low river bottom, where there was no
snow but a great deal of ice, and we cut piles of long
grass to lay under our blankets, and fires were made
of large dry willows, groves of which wooded the
stream. The river here took a northeasterly direc-
tion, and through a spur from the mountains, on the
left, was the gap where we were to pass the next day.
January 31st-We took our way over a gently
rising ground, the dividing ridge being tolerably low,
and traveling easily along a broad trail, in twelve or
fourteen miles reached the upper part of the pass,
when it began to snow thickly, with very cold weather.
The Indians had only the usual scanty covering, and
appeared to suffer greatly from cold.
All left us ex-
cept our guide. Half hidden by the storm, the moun-
tains looked dreary; and as night began to approach
the guide began to show great reluctance to go for-
ward. I placed him between two rifles, for the way
began to be difficult. Traveling a little farther we
struck a ravine which the Indian said would conduct
us to the river; and as the poor fellow suffered greatly,
shivering in the snow which fell upon his naked skin,
I would not detain him any longer, and he ran off to
the mountain. He had kept the blue and scarlet
cloth I had given him tightly rolled up, preferring
rather to endure the cold than to get them wet.
About dark we had the satisfaction of reaching the
foot of a stream timbered with large trees, among
which we found a sheltered camp with an abund-

The Indians brought in during the evening an abundant supply of pine-nuts, for which we traded with them. When roasted, their pleasant flavor made them an agreeable addition to our now scanty store of provisions, which were reduced to a very low ebb. Our principal stock was in peas, which contained scarcely any nutriment. We had still a little flour left, some coffee, and a quantity of sugar, which I reserved as a defense against starvation. The Indians informed us that at a certain season they have fish in their waters which we supposed to be salmon-trout; for the remainder of the year they live on pine-nuts, which form their great winter subsistence, a portion being ance of such grass as the season afforded for the anialways at hand, shut up in the natural storehouse of the cones. They were presented to us as a whole people, living upon this simple vegetable.

The other division of the party did not come in that night, but encamped in the upper meadow and arrived next morning. They had not succeeded in getting the howitzer beyond the place mentioned, and there it had been left in obedience to my orders. It was of the kind invented by the French for the mountain part of their war in Algiers. We left it to the great sorrow of the whole party, who were grieved to part with a companion which had made the whole distance from St. Louis, and commanded respect for us on some critical occasions, and which might be needed for the same purpose again.

January 30th-Our guide, who was a young man, joined us this morning, and leaving our encampment late in the day, we descended the river which immediately opened out into a broad valley, furnishing good traveling ground. In a short distance we passed the village, a collection of straw huts; and a few miles below the guide pointed out the place where the whites had camped before entering the mountains. With our late start we made but ten miles, and en

mals. We saw before us in descending from the pass, a great, continuous range, along which stretched the valley of the river, the lower parts steep and dark with pines, while above it was hidden with clouds of snow. This we instantly felt satisfied was the central ridge of the Sierra Nevada, the great California mountain, which only now intervened between us and the waters of the bay. We had made a forced march of twenty-six miles, and three mules had given out on the road; we have now sixty-seven animals in the band.

We gathered together a few of the most intelligent of the Indians—that had come into camp nearly naked and held this evening an interesting council. I explained to them my intentions. I told them that we had come from a very far country, having been traveling now nearly a year, and that we were desirous simply to go across the mountain into the country of the other whites. There were two who appeared particularly intelligent-one, a somewhat old man. He told me that before the snows fell, it was six sleeps to the place where the whites lived, but that now it was impossible to cross the mountains on account of the deep snow; and showing us, as the others had done,

the best we could for him. Leggings, moccasins, some articles of clothing and a large green blanket, in addition to the blue and scarlet cloth, were lavished upon him, and to his great and evident contentment. He arrayed himself in all his colors, and clad in green, blue and scarlet, he made a gay looking Indian; and with his various presents, was probably richer and bet ter clothed than any of his tribe had ever been before. The river was forty to seventy feet wide, and entirely frozen over. It was wooded with large cottonwood, willow and grain de boeuf. By observation, the latitude of the encampment was 38° 37′ 18′′.

February 2.-It had ceased snowing, and this morning the lower air was clear and frosty; and six or seven thousand feet above, the peaks of the Sierra now and then appeared among the rolling clouds, which were rapidly dispersing before the sun. Crossing the river on the ice, and leaving it immediately, we commenced the ascent of the mountain along the valley of a tributary stream. The people were unusually silent, for every man knew that our enterprise was hazardous, and the issue doubtful.

that it was over our heads, he urged us strongly to follow the course of the river, which, he said, would conduct us to a lake in which there were many large fish. There, he said, were many people, there was no snow on the ground, and we might remain in there until spring. From their description, we judged that we had encamped on the upper waters of the SalmonTrout river (Upper Truckee.) I told him that the men and horses were strong; that we would break a road through the snow, and spreading before him our bales of scarlet cloth and trinkets, showed him what we would give for a guide. It was necessary to obtain one, if possible, for I had determined here to attempt the passage of the mountains. Pulling a branch of grass from the ground, after a short discussion among themselves, the old man made us comprehend that if we could break through the snow, at the end of three days we would come down upon grass, which he showed us would be about six inches high, and where the ground was entirely free. So far, he said, he had been hunting for elk, but beyond that (and he closed his eyes) he had seen nothing; but there was one among them who had been to the whites, and going The snow deepened rapidly, and it soon became out of the lodge, he returned with a young man of necessary to break a road. For this service a party of very intelligent appearance. Here, he said, is a young ten was formed, mounted on the strongest horses, each man who has seen the whites with his own eyes; and man in succeession opening the road on foot, or on he swore, first by the sky, and then by the ground, horseback, until himself and his horse became fatigued, that what he said was true. With a large present of when he stepped aside and the remaining number goods, we prevailed upon this young man to be our passing ahead, he took his station in the rear. Leavguide, and he acquired among us the name of Melo-ing this stream, and pursuing a very direct course, we a word signifying friend, which they used very fre- passed over an intervening ridge to the river we had quently. We gave him skins to make a new pair of left. On the way we passed two low huts entirely moccasins, he being nearly barefooted, and to enable covered with snow, which might very easily have him to perform his undertaking with us. The Indians remained in the camp during the night, and we kept the guide and two others to sleep in the lodge with us Carson lying across the door, and having made them comprehend the use of our fire-arms.

escaped observation. A family was living in each. We found two similar huts on the creek where we next arrived; and, traveling a little higher up, encamped on its banks in about four feet depth of snow. Carson found near an open hill-side, where the wind and the sun had melted the snow, leaving exposed sufficient bunch-grass for the animals to-night.

vation above the sea was 6,760 feet.

February 1.-The snow, which had intermitted in the evening, commenced falling again in the course of the night, and it snowed steadily all day. In the The nut-pines were now giving way to heavy timmorning I acquainted the men with my decision, and ber, and there were some immense pines on the bottom, explained to them that necessity required me to make around the roots of which the sun had melted away a great effort to clear the mountains. I reminded the snow-here we made our camp and built huge them of the beautiful valley of the Sacramento river, fires To-day we had traveled 16 miles, and our elewith which they were familiar from the description of Carson (Kit Carson), who had been there some fifteen years ago, and who in our late privations had delighted us in speaking of its rich pastures and abounding game. I assured them that from the heights of the mountain be-issues from a mountain to the south. The snow was fore us, we should doubtless see the valley of the Sacramento, and with one effort place ourselves again in the midst of plenty. Our guide was not neglected, extremity of suffering might make him desert, we therefore did

February 3.Turning our faces directly towards the main chain, we ascended an open hollow along a small tributary to the river, which, according to the Indians,

so deep in the hollow that we were obliged to travel along the steep hill-sides, and over spurs where the wind and sun had in places lessened the snow, and where the grass, which appeared to be in good quality

RESIDENCE & RANCH OF P.D.BROWN PILOT HILL.PO. ELDO CO CAL

along the sides of the mountains, was exposed. We opened our read in the same way as yesterday, but made only seven miles, and encamped by some springs at the foot of a high and steep hill, by which the hollow ascended to another basin in the mountain. The litte stream below was entirely buried in snow. The springs were shaded by the boughs of a lofty cedar, which here made its first appearance; the usual height was from 120 to 130 feet, and one that was measured near by was six feet in diameter. There being no grass exposed here, the horses were sent back to that we had seen a few miles below. During the day several Indians joined us on snow-shoes. These were made of a circular hoop, about a foot in diameter, the interior space being filled with an open network of bark.

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, saying 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

February 4.—I went ahead early with two or three men, each with a led horse to break the road. We were obliged to abandon the hollow entirely, and even more readily than ourselves, and believed our work along the mountain-side, which was very steep situation hopeless, covered his head with his blanket and the snow covered with an icy crust. We cut a and began to weep and lament. "I wanted to see footing as we advanced, and trampled a road through the whites," said he; "I came away from my own for the animals; but occasionally one plunged outside people to see the whites, and I don't care to die the trail, and slid along the field to the bottom, a among them, but here "--and he looked around in hundred yards below. Late in the day we reached the cold night and gloomy forest, and, drawing his another bench in the hollow, where, in summer, the blankets over his head, began again to lament. stream passed over a small precipice. Here was a short distance of dividing ground between the two ridges, and beyond an open basin, some ten miles across, whose bottom presented a field of snow. At the further or western side rose the middle crest of the mountain, a dark-looking ridge of volcanic rock.

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 intercourse with this people had gradually forced upon my 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. The mountains here consisted wholly of a white micaceous granite. The day was perfectly clear, warm and pleasant, while the sun was in the sky. By

The summit line presented a range of naked peaks, apparently destitute of snow and vegetation; but the face of the whole country was covered with timber of extraordinary size. Toward a pass which the guide indicated here, we attempted in the afternoon to force a road; but after a laborious plunging through two or three hundred yards our best horses gave out, entirely refusing to make any further effort, and, for the time, we were brought to a stand. The camp had been occupied all day in endeavoring to ascend the hill, but only the best horses had succeeded; the animals generally not having strength enough to bring observation our latitude was 38°, 42', 26′′; and elevathemselves up without the packs; and all the line of road between this and the springs was strewed with camp-stores and equipage, and horses floundering in the snow. To-night we had no shelter, but we made a large fire around the trunk of one of the huge pines, and covering the snow with small boughs, on which to spread our blankets, soon made ourselves comfortable. The night was very bright and clear, though the thermometer was only 10°. A strong wind which sprung up at sundown made it intensely cold, and

tion by the boiling point, 7,400 feet.

February 6.--Accompanied by Mr. Fitzpatrick, I set out to-day with a reconnoitering party on snowshoes. We marched all in single file, trampling the snow as heavily as we could. Crossing the open basin, in a march of about ten miles we reached the top of one of the peaks, to the left of the pass indicated by our guide. Far below us, dimmed by the distance, was a large snowless valley, bounded on the western side at the distance of about a hundred miles, by