CHAPTER XXIV.
Continuation of Fremont's Account of the Passage Through the Mountains.
"We had hard and doubtful labor yet before us, as the snow appeared tobe heavier where the timber began further down, with few open spots.Ascending a height, we traced out the best line we could discover forthe next day's march, and had at least the consolation to see that themountain descended rapidly. The day had been one of April; gusty, witha few occasional flakes of snow; which, in the afternoon enveloped theupper mountains in clouds. We watched them anxiously, as now we dreadeda snow storm. Shortly afterwards we heard the roll of thunder, andlooking toward the valley, found it all enveloped in a thunderstorm. Forus, as connected with the idea of summer, it had a singular charm; andwe watched its progress with excited feelings until nearly sunset,when the sky cleared off brightly, and we saw a shining line of waterdirecting its course towards another, a broader and larger sheet. Weknew that these could be no other than the Sacramento and the bay of SanFrancisco; but, after our long wandering in rugged mountains, where sofrequently we had met with disappointments, and where the crossing ofevery ridge displayed some unknown lake or river, we were yet almostafraid to believe that we were at last to escape into the genial countryof which we have heard so many glowing descriptions, and dreaded againto find some vast interior lake, whose bitter waters would bring usdisappointment. On the southern shore of what appeared to be the bay,could be traced the gleaming line where entered another large stream;and again the Buenaventura rose up in our mind.
"Carson had entered the valley along the southern side of the bay, butthe country then was so entirely covered with water from snow and rain,that he had been able to form no correct impression of watercourses.
"We had the satisfaction to know that at least there were people below.Fires were lit up in the valley just at night, appearing to be in answerto ours; and these signs of life renewed, in some measure, the gayetyof the camp. They appeared so near, that we judged them to be among thetimber of some of the neighboring ridges; but, having them constantly inview day after day, and night after night, we afterwards found them tobe fires that had been kindled by the Indians among the tulares, on theshore of the bay, eighty miles distant.
"Axes and mauls were necessary today to make a road through the snow.Going ahead with Carson to reconnoitre the road, we reached in theafternoon the river which made the outlet of the lake. Carson sprangover, clear across a place where the stream was compressed among rocks,but the parfleche sole of my moccasin glanced from the icy rock, andprecipitated me into the river. It was some few seconds before I couldrecover myself in the current, and Carson, thinking me hurt, jumped inafter me, and we both had an icy bath. We tried to search a while formy gun, which had been lost in the fall, but the cold drove us out; andmaking a large fire on the bank, after we had partially dried ourselveswe went back to meet the camp. We afterwards found that the gun had beenslung under the ice which lined the banks of the creek.
"The sky was clear and pure, with a sharp wind from the northeast, andthe thermometer 20 below the freezing point.
"We continued down the south face of the mountain; our road leadingover dry ground, we were able to avoid the snow almost entirely. In thecourse of the morning we struck a foot path, which we were generallyable to keep; and the ground was soft to our animals feet, being sandyor covered with mould. Green grass began to make its appearance,and occasionally we passed a hill scatteringly covered with it. Thecharacter of the forest continued the same; and, among the trees, thepine with sharp leaves and very large cones was abundant, some of thembeing noble trees. We measured one that had ten feet diameter, thoughthe height was not more than one hundred and thirty feet. All along, theriver was a roaring torrent, its fall very great; and, descending with arapidity to which we had long been strangers, to our great pleasure oaktrees appeared on the ridge, and soon became very frequent; on these Iremarked unusually great quantities of mistletoe.
"The opposite mountain side was very steep and continuous--unbrokenby ravines, and covered with pines and snow; while on the side we weretravelling, innumerable rivulets poured down from the ridge. Continuingon, we halted a moment at one of these rivulets, to admire somebeautiful evergreen trees, resembling live oak, which shaded the littlestream. They were forty to fifty feet high, and two in diameter, witha uniform tufted top; and the summer green of their beautiful foliage,with the singing birds, and the sweet summer wind which was whirlingabout the dry oak leaves, nearly intoxicated us with delight; and wehurried on, filled with excitement, to escape entirely from the horridregion of inhospitable snow, to the perpetual spring of the Sacramento.
"February 25.--Believing that the difficulties of the road were passed,and leaving Mr. Fitzpatrick to follow slowly, as the condition of theanimals required, I started ahead this morning with a party of eight,consisting (with myself) of Mr. Preuss, and Mr. Talbot, Carson,Derosier, Towns, Proue, and Jacob. We took with us some of the bestanimals, and my intention was to proceed as rapidly as possible tothe house of Mr. Sutter, and return to meet the party with a supply ofprovisions and fresh animals.
"Near night fall we descended into the steep ravine of a handsomecreek thirty feet wide, and I was engaged in getting the horses up theopposite hill, when I heard a shout from Carson, who had gone ahead afew hundred yards. 'Life yet,' said he, as he came up, 'life yet; I havefound a hillside sprinkled with grass enough for the night.' We drovealong our horses, and encamped at the place about dark, and there wasjust room enough to make a place for shelter on the edge of the stream.Three horses were lost today--Proveau; a fine young horse from theColumbia, belonging to Charles Towns; and another Indian horse whichcarried our cooking utensils; the two former gave out, and the latterstrayed off into the woods as we reached the camp: and Derosier knowingmy attachment to Proveau, volunteered to go and bring him in.
"Carson and I climbed one of the nearest mountains; the forest landstill extended ahead, and the valley appeared as far as ever. The packhorse was found near the camp, but Derosier did not get in.
"We began to be uneasy at Derosier's absence, fearing he might have beenbewildered in the woods. Charles Towns, who had not yet recovered hismind, went to swim in the river, as if it was summer, and the streamplacid, when it was a cold mountain torrent foaming among the rocks.We were happy to see Derosier appear in the evening. He came in,and sitting down by the fire, began to tell us where he had been. Heimagined he had been gone several days, and thought we were still at thecamp where he had left us; and we were pained to see that his mind wasderanged. It appeared that he had been lost in the mountain, and hungerand fatigue, joined to weakness of body, and fear of perishing in themountains had crazed him. The times were severe when stout men losttheir minds from extremity of suffering--when horses died--and whenmules and horses, ready to die of starvation, were killed for food.Yet there was no murmuring or hesitation. In the meantime Mr. Preusscontinued on down the river, and unaware that we had encamped so earlyin the day, was lost. When night arrived and he did not come in, webegan to understand what had happened to him; but it was too late tomake any search.
"March 3.--We followed Mr. Preuss's trail for a considerable distancealong the river, until we reached a place where he had descended to thestream below and encamped. Here we shouted and fired guns, but receivedno answer; and we concluded that he had pushed on down the stream.I determined to keep out from the river, along which it was nearlyimpracticable to travel with animals, until it should form a valley.At every step the country improved in beauty; the pines were rapidlydisappearing, and oaks became the principal trees of the forest. Amongthese, the prevailing tree was the evergreen oak (which, by way ofdistinction, we shall call the live oak); and with these, occurredfrequently a new species of oak, bearing a long, slender acorn, from aninch to an inch and a half in length, which we now began to see formedthe principal vegetable food of the inhabitants of this region. In ashort distance we crossed a little rivulet, where were two old huts andnear by were hea
ps of acorn hulls. The ground round about was very rich,covered with an exuberant sward of grass; and we sat down for a whilein the shade of the oaks to let the animals feed. We repeated our shoutsfor Mr. Preuss; and this time we were gratified with an answer. Thevoice grew rapidly nearer, ascending from the river, but when weexpected to see him emerge, it ceased entirely. We had called up somestraggling Indian--the first we had met, although for two days backwe had seen tracks--who, mistaking us for his fellows, had been onlyundeceived by getting close up. It would have been pleasant to witnesshis astonishment; he would not have been more frightened had some of theold mountain spirits they are so much afraid of suddenly appeared in hispath. Ignorant of the character of these people, we had now additionalcause of uneasiness in regard to Mr. Preuss; he had no arms with him,and we began to think his chance doubtful. Occasionally we met deer, buthad not the necessary time for hunting. At one of these orchard grounds,we encamped about noon to make an effort for Mr. Preuss. One man tookhis way along a spur leading into the river, in hope to cross histrail, and another took our own back. Both were volunteers; and to thesuccessful man was promised a pair of pistols--not as a reward, but asa token of gratitude for a service which would free us all from muchanxiety."
At the end of four days, Mr. Preuss surprised and delighted his friendsby walking into camp. He had lived on roots and acorns and was in thelast stages of exhaustion.
Shortly the advance party reached Sutter's Fort where they received themost hospitable treatment. All their wants were abundantly supplied, andprovisions were sent back to Fitzpatrick and his party.
The Life of Kit Carson: Hunter, Trapper, Guide, Indian Agent and Colonel U.S.A. Page 24
