Page:Route Across the Rocky Mountains with a Description of Oregon and California.djvu/112



approached the summit, upon which we stood. To the West, from whence we came, wherever we could see through the tall forests, all was wrapped in one unbroken sheet of snow; to the East, whither we were going, we looked down, down, until the eye was lost among the dimly descried, crowded, and confused objects in the distance. Descending the Eastern declivity, we came to the lake, and passed around on the Northern side, to the further extremity, where we found the grass, which we had seen from the summit of the mountain, in abundance, and of a very good quality. We remained at this place the rest of the day, in order to refresh our animals, which were by this time much exhausted, and fatigues, from hunger, and plunging through the snow. The distance from the forks of Juba River to the lake, is about ten miles; and in this lake the South branck of Truckies River has its source. This stream was called, by the emigrating party that went into California, in the Fall of 1844, after the name of an Indian, who piloted them across the mountains. Leaving the lake, and the river which flows from it, to the right, we bore off to the North East, for a wide, deep gap, through which we supposed that we could both pass, and leave the mountains. At ten miles, we crossed the North branch of Truckies River, a stream of considerable size. We traveled eight miles further, to the head of a stream, running to the North West, which we called Snow River; as a heavy fall of snow, here obscuring our course, compelled us to halt. Snow continued to fall during this, and the succeeding day; and we remained in camp. When it ceased, we again proceeded on our journey, leaving the gap for which we had been steering, and bearing to the East, through a break in the mountain which follows the course of Truckies River, and which is a spur of the main California chain. Having crossed this mountain, we again came, at five miles, to Truckies River, which we crossed and traveled down on the South side—passed across a barren plain, ten miles in width, and at fifteen miles, came to the Burnt Mountains. These are a succession of several high, perfectly barren, and very rocky ridges. The distance across, is about thirty-five miles, and the way was very tedious and toilsome. We found the Indians on Truckies River, generally, very wild, entirely naked, and miserably poor. They live in floating houses, constructed of long, coarse grass, on rafts of dry willow brush. They are armed with bows and arrows, and subsist, almost entirely, on lizzards, crickets, and muscles. 106