Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/102



(89)

had navigated  some  portions  of  them. Since Cabeza de Vaca  the  Spanish  castaway,  Monchat  Ape  the learned savage,  Lewis  and  Clarke,  Fraser,  Thompson, and the  others  first  to  traverse  different  localities,  Ste- phen Long had  ascended  the  southern  branch  of  the Nebraska or  Platte  river  to  its  source,  and  an  overland trade had  sprung  up  between  the  United  States  and Mexico. Ashley had  ascended  the  north  branch  of the  Platte,  and  had  encamped  near  the  head  waters of the  Colorado.

The year  following,  1824,  Ashley  continued  his  dis- coveries through the  South  pass  to  Great  Salt  Lake, built a  fort  in  Utah  valley  and  left  there  a  hundred men. In 1826,  a  six-pounder  cannon  was  drawn  from Missouri 1200  miles  through  the  wilderness,  and planted within  this  fort. In 1827,  many  heavily  laden wagons performed  the  same  journey,  penetrating  far- ther westward ; among  others,  Mr  Pilcher,  who  with forty-five men  and  a  hundred  horses  crossed  the  Rocky Mountains by  the  South  pass,  wintered  on  the  Colo- rado, and in  the  year  following  proceeded  to  Fort Colville, then  recently  established  by  the  Hudson's Bay  Company. From these  and  other  points  in  the Great Basin,  hundreds  of  trappers,  traders,  and  emi- grants crossed the  Sierra  at  the  several  passes  between San Bernardino  and  Shasta,  and  descended  into  the valley of  California.

Smith, Jackson,  and  Sublette,  able  and  enterprising men, continued  the  explorations  of  Ashley,  and  during the years  1828  and  1829,  they  traversed  the  whole region between  the  Columbia  river  and  the  Tulare lakes, and  down  to  the  borders  of  the  sea. Smith fell a  prey  to  the  savages,  it  will  be  remembered,  in 1829,  after  having  twice  crossed  the  continent  to  the Pacific ocean. In 1832  J.  O.  Pattie,  a  Missourian fur-hunter, published  an  account  of  his  rambles through New  Mexico,  Chihuahua,  Sonora,  and  Cali- fornia. He boated  up  and  down  the  Colorado,  crossed Sonora to  the  gulf  of  California,  and  thence  to  the