Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][merged small]

part as large as this on the Red River. This gypsum affects all the streams running through it to such an extent as to render the waters drinkable only under the pressure of extreme thirst, and its unavoidable use occasions constant burning pains in the stomach, attended by loss of appetite, and the most vehement and feverish thirst. A very good imitation of its taste may be made by dissolving a tea-spoonful of Epsom salts in a tumbler of water.

"We endeavored," says Colonel Marcy, "to disguise the taste of the water by making coffee with it; but it retained the same disagreeable properties

in that form that it had in its natural state. Although we were suffering most acutely from the effects of the nauseating and repulsive water in the river, we were still under the necessity of using it. in the stomach and vomiting, yet they did not murSeveral of the men were taken with violent cramps mur. On the contrary they were cheerful, and indulged in frequent jokes at the expense of those who were sick. The principal topic of conversation with them seemed to be a discussion of the relative merits of the different kinds of fancy iced drinks which could be procured in the cities, and the prices that could be obtained for some of them if they were within reach of our party. Indeed, it seems to me that we were not entirely exempt from the agitation

of a similar subject; and, from the drift of the argu- | nigh three times as high above the ocean as ment, I have no doubt that a moderate quantity of the loftiest spot which the foot of man has ever Croton water, cooled with Boston ice, would have trod, or to which he has ascended in a balloon. met with a very ready market in our little mess. As late as 1858 Colonel Marcy was told by AnIndeed, if I mistake not, one of the gentlemen offered as high as two thousand dollars for a single tony Lereux, for whom he vouches as "one of bucket of the pure element; but, unfortunately for the most reliable and best-informed guides in him, this was one of those rare occasions in which New Mexico," that he had once been at a point money was not sufficiently potent to obtain the ob- of this cañon where he estimated the walls to ject desired. We spread our blankets, and endeav-be three miles high-that is, equal to a gorge ored to obliterate the sensation of thirst in sleep; but, so far as I was concerned, my slumbers were continually disturbed by dreams, in which I fancied myself swallowing huge draughts of ice-water."

Passing the gypsum region, the expedition came, in their homeward way, by a different route, upon a country of great beauty and fertility. On the 1st day of July they reached the extreme head waters of the Ke-che-a-quiho-no ("Prairie Dog Town") River, the main branch of the Red River. It flows through a gigantic gorge, with huge escarpments of sandstone, rising on each side to the height of 800 feet; this gradually closes until the sides, only a few yards apart at the bottom, unite overhead, leaving a long narrow corridor beneath, at the base of which the head spring of the main branch takes its rise. This spring, bursting from its cavernous reservoir, leaps down over huge masses of rock, and begins its long journey to the Mississippi, of which it is one of the chief tributaries. Ten years from that day was fought the great battle of Malvern Hill.

cut from the summit of Mont Blanc down to the level of the Mediterranean. Mr. Kern, whom Colonel Marcy quotes as "a very intelligent and reliable gentleman," declares that he had a view of the cañon from a neighboring mountain, and had "no doubt that the walls were at least 5000 feet in height." From this we are prepared to make large deductions; but after these are made we imagine that nothing at all approaching it is elsewhere to be found. It is certainly well worth the cost of thorough exploration. In 1853 Colonel Marcy proposed to the Government to perform this work; but there was then no appropriation which could be applied to this object, and his suggestion was not acted upon.

66

"Imagine," he says, then, what must be the effect of a large stream like the Colorado traversing for two hundred miles a defile with the perpendicular walls towering five thousand feet above the bed contribute largely toward the formation of scenery of the river. It is impossible that it should not surpassing in sublimity and picturesque character any other in the world. Our landscape painters would here find rare subjects for their study, and I venture to hope that the day is not far distant when some of the most enterprising of them may be induced to penetrate this new field of art in our only remaining unexplored territory.

many localities both east and west of the Colorado. Is it not, therefore, probable that the walls of this gigantic crevice will exhibit many rich deposits? Companies are formed almost daily, and large amounts of money and labor expended in sinking shafts of one, two, and three hundred feet, with the confident expectation of finding mineral deposits; but here Nature has opened and exposed to view a continuous shaft two hundred miles in length and five thousand feet in depth. In the one case we

The cañon of the upper Red River is certainly one of the most remarkable of any of which we have certain accounts; and it is only one of the many to be found in the Rocky Mountain range and its collateral chains. If we can place any reliance upon bare report, the great cañon of the Colorado-that "Colo"A consideration, however, of vastly greater rado" which enters the head of the Gulf of Cali- financial and national importance than those alfornia-presents a cañon more wonderful than result from a thorough exploration of this part of luded to above, which might, and probably would any other on the globe. From vague reports the river, is the development of its mineral wealth. this chasm is well-nigh two hundred miles long, That gold and silver abound in that region is fully and of fabulous depth. More than three hun-established, as those metals have been found in dred years ago Coronado, in the course of his adventurous expedition, came upon it. He declares that for several days he traveled along the crest of a lofty bluff bordering the cañon, which he estimated to be nine miles high. That is, pile Mont Blanc upon the top of the highest peak of the Himalayas, and then cut a gorge down from the top to the level of the ocean, and it will not be within a mile as deep as this chasm. He adds, that the river flow-have a small shaft blasted out at great expense by ing at the bottom appeared to be about a fathom wide; but the Indians assured him it was half a league. Some of his men once attempted to clamber down the steep sides. They were gone nearly a day, and on their return had been able only to reach a rock, visible from the top, which seemed about six feet high; they declared that, upon reaching it, they found it to be as high as the spire of the cathedral at Seville, which rises 350 feet. These reports are, of course, simply absurd, for the ridge from which the adventurers looked down would then have been well

manual labor, showing a surface of about thirtysix hundred feet, while here Nature gratuitously exhibits ten thousand millions of feet extending into the very bowels of the earth.

"Is it, then, at all without the scope of rational conjecture to predict that such an immense development of the interior strata of the earth—such a huge gulch, if I may be allowed the expression, extending so great a distance through the heart of a country as rich as this in the precious metals, may yet prove to be the El Dorado which the early Spanish explorers so long and so fruitlessly sought for; and who knows but that the Government might

[graphic][subsumed]

here find a source of revenue sufficient to liquidate | briefly told in the Report of the Secretary of our national debt ?" War for 1858: But passing from such speculations we must "This expedition was intrusted to Captain R. B. advert briefly to a most perilous expedition Marcy, of the Fifth Infantry; and, without intendwhich was actually performed by Colonel-ing to make an invidious comparison between the then Captain-Marcy. In 1857 he was at- services of officers where all are meritorious, it is tached to the expedition sent into Utah under but just to bring the conduct of this officer and his the command of General Albert Sidney John- command to your especial notice. It may be safeston. The Mormons destroyed the army trains, ly affirmed that, in the whole catalogue of hazardous expeditions scattered so thickly through the devastated the country in front, and as winter history of our border warfare, filled as many of opened it was found necessary to send a de- them are with appalling tales of privation, hardtachment over the snowy peaks of the Rocky ship, and suffering, not one surpasses this, and in Mountains into New Mexico to find supplies some particulars it has been hardly equaled by any. for the troops. The story of the expedition is

"Captain Marcy left Fort Bridger on the 24th

CROSSING THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS IN WINTER.

day of November, 1857, with a command of forty | enlisted men, and twenty-five mountain men, besides packers and guides. Their course lay through an almost trackless wilderness, over lofty and rugged mountains, without a pathway or human habitation to guide or direct, in the very depth of winter, through snows, for many miles together, reaching to the depth of five feet. Their beasts of burden very rapidly perished until very few were left; their supplies gave out; their luggage was abandoned; they were driven to subsist upon the carcasses of their dead horses and mules; all the men became greatly emaciated; some were frost-bitten; yet not one murmur of discontent escaped the lips of a single man. Their mission was one of extreme importance to the movements of the army, and great disaster might befall the command if these devoted men failed to bring succor to the camp. They had one and all volunteered for this service, and, although they might freeze or die, yet they would not complain.

"After a march of fifty-one days they emerged from the forests, and found themselves at Fort Massachusetts, in New Mexico. During their whole march Captain Marcy shared all the privations of the common soldier, marching, sleeping, and eating as they did."

From Colonel Marcy's Narrative we shall make a few extracts describing some of the perils of the expedition. On the 11th of December they packed their mules and began the ascent of the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. They had proceeded but a few miles when the snow began to impede their progress. It soon became so deep that the mules could no longer force their way through. Up to this time they had marched with an advanced-guard, immediately followed by the pack-mules, the main party bringing up the rear. Colonel Marcy proceeds:

"I now placed the greater part of the command in front, in single rank, so as to break a track for the animals. This was, of course, very hard work upon a few of the leading men; and, in order to equalize the labor as much as possible, I directed that every man, as he came in front, should retain that position a certain length of time, after which he was permitted to turn out of the track and allow all the others to pass him, taking his place in rear. By these alternations the work was very much lightened, and after all the party had passed a good track was left for the animals. And they really required all our care, as, from the time we entered the mountains, they received no other sustenance

than what they derived from the bitter pine-leaves. The effects of this novel and unwholesome forage soon began to manifest itself upon them. They became weak and exhausted, and at length began to give out and die. I was then obliged to caché, or hide, all our surplus luggage, which reduced the weight of the packs very considerably. Notwithstanding this, they continued to perish. One day we lost five, and another day as many as eight died out of our little stock. This gave me very serious uneasiness, as our supply of provisions was becoming very small, and I knew, after these were gone, our only dependence for subsistence must be upon our famished animals. Our beef cattle had nearly all been consumed, and our stock of bread was very limited. I felt the necessity of husbanding the

strength of my men and animals as much as possible. I therefore ordered the command to throw away every article of baggage they had remaining, excepting one blanket each and their arms and ammunition. They cheerfully complied with the order, and we thus made another very material reduction in the weight of our packs, which enabled our enfeebled animals to proceed with more ease.

"The snow increased day after day as we ascended, until it was four feet deep, and was so dry and light that the men, walking in an upright position, would sink to their waists, and could not move. One of the guides made a pair of snowshoes, and attempted to walk upon them, but they sank so deep in the soft snow that it was impossible to use them.

"Our only alternative now, in the deepest snow, was for the three or four leading men of the party to lie down and crawl upon their hands and feet, each man following in the tracks of the leader, and all placing their hands and feet in the same holes. This method packed the snow so that, after a few men had passed, it bore up the others, and was sufficiently firm to sustain the mules after all the men had traversed it.

"The leading man was generally able to go about fifty yards before he became exhausted. Notwithstanding I reduced the rations one-half, our provithe top of the mountains, and we were then ensions were all exhausted long before we reached tirely dependent upon our famished animals for food.

"After this our only diet for twelve days consisted of starved mules as they became exhausted and could go no farther. Twelve of my men had frozen their feet so badly as to be unable to walk, and we were obliged to appropriate all our serviceable animals to carry them. I had given up my own horse to one of these men, and took his place in the snow with the others. We had not a single morsel of any thing left to eat except these animals. If we had had some salt we would have done better, but that was all gone. I was in the habit of sprinkling a little gunpowder upon my mule-steaks, and it did not then require a very extensive stretch of the imagination to fancy the presence of both pepper and salt. This lean meat did not, however, by any means satisfy the cravings of the appetite, and we were continually longing for fat meat. Although we consumed large quantities of the mule meat, yet within half an hour from the time we had finished our meals we would feel as hungry as before we had eaten."

of Fort Massachusetts, and had but three good They had got within about a hundred miles mules left, and were in a state bordering upon starvation. Two guides, Mariano and Miguel, were dispatched in advance to request that supplies should be sent back to meet the party. They managed to reach the fort, after killing and eating one of the mules. It was eleven days before the supplies reached them; their way had lain through a region so utterly desolate that for thirty-one days they had not seen a human being outside of their own party. At back, and soon Miguel and Mariano rode up, last two men were seen coming up on horsefiring their revolvers and making other demonstrations of joy. "We knew," says Marcy, "from their fresh horses that they had reached

[graphic]

the fort and that we were now saved; and the exhibition of joy manifest among the command exceeded any thing of the kind ever beheld. Some of the men laughed, danced, and screamed with delight; while others (and I must confess I was not among the former) cried like children. I had not slept half an hour at a time for twenty days and nights, and was reduced from 170 to 131 pounds in weight, and of course my nervous system was not under very good control." When, four days after, the expedition reached Fort Massachusetts the members appeared in sorry plight. "Not more than one half of the men," writes the com

mander, "had any caps, and but few had any remains of trowsers below the knees. Their feet were tied up with mule-hides, pieces of blankets, coat-tails, and the like. I had set out from Fort Bridger with a wardrobe of stout material; but I had divided this among my destitute men until I was myself reduced to a scanty allowance. Among other garments I had remaining was a soldier's over-coat, from the skirts of which I was in the habit of cutting off pieces to patch my pants and stockings; and as rents in these were of everyday occurrence, by the time I reached the fort there was but very little left of my original coat-tails."

ARRIVAL NEAR FORT MASSACHUSETTS

« PreviousContinue »