Volume 042-2 - April 1988 (8 pages)

away, on the East. Down the mountain we could see a green spot, at the further end of a beautiful lake, which spread out in a broad crystal sheet below us. But although this was so pleasing to us, as it was now the third day since our animals had had any nourishment, we could not but remain, for a moment, to admire and enjoy the vastness of the prospect around us. On either side, there was no limit to the vision, save the thickening air of the distant horizon, which bent down, and rested upon the far off hills, like the bending sky, upon the bosom of the great deep. Within this wide range, was a succession of mountain after mountain, increasing in height, as they approached the summit, upon which we stood. To the West, from where 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 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 fatigued, from hunger, and plunging through the snow. The distance from the forks of the Juba River to the lake, is about ten miles; and in this lake the South branch of the 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 lizards, crickets and muscles. Having crossed the Burnt Mountains, we found that it would be necessary for us to leave Truckies River, as it now bore too much to the North; and accordingly, we remained one day encamped, in order to rest our animals, for a hard travel, across a sandy, unproductive plain, thirty five miles, to the sink of Marie’s River; which distance was without drinkable water. We passed three springs in the plain, but the first was salt, and the other two, which were close together, were both hot; the largest one, which was ten feet in diameter, was boiling furiously; and we could see the steam arising from it, several miles. These springs rise through volcanic rock; and large fragments of the same are scattered over the ground, around them. At the sink of Marie’s River, the stream is lost in the sand. This sink is a large sandy marsh, about three miles wide, and ten miles long, full of buil-rushes, and very miry; the water which it contains, is also warm, and has a very disagreeable taste. [From the Sink, Winter and his companions followed Marie’s River (the Humboldt), past the City of Rocks and traveled along the Raft River and the Snake River to Fort Hall, where they joined a party, coming from Oregon. Winter’s companion from the 1843 crossing, Overton Johnson, was in this party.] Eastward traffic was perhaps heaviest in the years 1847 and 1848. On July 31, 1846, a group of 238 Mormons had arrived in San Francisco under the leadership of Sam Brannan. They had come to California to start a Mormon colony in a territory which was still Mexican when they started from New York, traveling around Cape Horn. In January 1847, the Mormon Battalion arrived in Los Angeles, commanded by Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke. This Battalion, numbering about 500 men came too late to see action; they were mustered out in July. In the mean time, Brigham Young had decided that the Mormon settlement would be near the Great Salt Lake in Utah and recalled all Mormons who were in California at the time. And a large number of them responded. For them, travel via the Panama route was, of course, impractical; all of them returned via the Overland Route. However, few of the returning Mormons used the Truckee River Route, they preferred the Carson River Route, part of which had been improved by a group of Mormons. The years 1846 and 1847 saw the conquest of California by the U.S. It will not be necessary to summarize the events of that winter and spring; we will only point out the presence of some of the main actors in this event. Captain Frénont had arrived in California with his Company of Topographical Engineers, in time to follow up on the Bear Flag Revolt in Sonoma on June 26, 1846 and play a role in the conquest thereafter. On July 15, 1846, Commodore Stockton arrived in Monterey to join and soon take over the command of the Squadron of Commodore Sloat. And in December 1846, General Kearny entered southern California with his small army. The Mormon Battalion has already nm been mentioned. Most of the principal participants in the conquest of California, Kearny, Stockton, Cooke and (although involuntarily) Frénont returned East as soon as possible. The book of TS. Turner'2, from which the following diary fragment is taken, lists the party as follows. “The party to escort the Gen'l [Kearny] was organized as follows: Brig.-Gen’l S.W. Kearny & two servants Capt. H.S. Turner Ist Dragoons, one servant & four discharged men of the party, recently under Lieut. Emory, Top Engs, the latter constituting the body-guard of the General. Lt. Col. J.C. Frénont Rifle Regt. Five servants, three citizens and nineteen men belonging to his old Topographical party. Maj. Thomas Swords, Quarter Master U.S.A., one servant & one employed man. Maj. PSt.G.Cooke, 2nd Dragoons, one servant, two discharged Dragoons & fifteen men of the Mor. Battalion. Lt. W. Radford of the Navy & one servant, Mr. Murphy, guide.” Lt. W. Redford was a Navy officer and brother-in-law of Kearny. Willard Prebble Hall was a congressman for Missouri. He had marched as a private in the First Missouri Mounted Volunteers under Col. Doniphan and had helped Kearny to draft the Kearny Code, which became the basis for the laws of New Mexico. He learned of his election to the House of Representatives ~ while in the field, joined Cooke's Battalion to California and returned home in the Kearny party. At Johnson's Ranch, Edwin Bryant, author of a widely read book on California, joined the party. In total, the party consisted of 66 persons and 172 public horses and mules, besides privately owned animals. Kearny started his journey at Monterey but, the first part being irrelevant to us, our extract of the diary will start at Sutter's Fort. The start at this location is mentioned in the California Star for July 24, 1947 as follows: “General Kearny arrived at this fort on the thirteenth of June, and was saluted with the big guns of Lieut. Anderson of the New York Legion, in command of the garrison. Gen. Kearny and suite arrived at the fort with Capt. Sutter on the 14th, he moved camp for the United States on the 16th of June, Capt. Sutter and the gentlemen of the fort accompanied them a few miles on the road and took leave of them, wishing them a safe journey; it was decidedly the best arranged camp I ever saw; the General said he would make the trip in seventy days, he has an excellent pilot, Mr. Falion, an old mountain man, they are now beyond Fort Hall and will reach the States in September.” The reader will notice that two different pilots are mentioned. The difference has not yet been explained.

away, on the East. Down the mountain we could see a green spot, at the further end of a beautiful lake, which spread out in a broad crystal sheet below us. But although this was so pleasing to us, as it was now the third day since our animals had had any nourishment, we could not but remain, for a moment, to admire and enjoy the vastness of the prospect around us. On either side, there was no limit to the vision, save the thickening air of the distant horizon, which bent down, and rested upon the far off hills, like the bending sky, upon the bosom of the great deep. Within this wide range, was a succession of mountain after mountain, increasing in height, as they approached the summit, upon which we stood. To the West, from where 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 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 fatigued, from hunger, and plunging through the snow. The distance from the forks of the Juba River to the lake, is about ten miles; and in this lake the South branch of the 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 lizards, crickets and muscles. Having crossed the Burnt Mountains, we found that it would be necessary for us to leave Truckies River, as it now bore too much to the North; and accordingly, we remained one day encamped, in order to rest our animals, for a hard travel, across a sandy, unproductive plain, thirty five miles, to the sink of Marie’s River; which distance was without drinkable water. We passed three springs in the plain, but the first was salt, and the other two, which were close together, were both hot; the largest one, which was ten feet in diameter, was boiling furiously; and we could see the steam arising from it, several miles. These springs rise through volcanic rock; and large fragments of the same are scattered over the ground, around them. At the sink of Marie’s River, the stream is lost in the sand. This sink is a large sandy marsh, about three miles wide, and ten miles long, full of buil-rushes, and very miry; the water which it contains, is also warm, and has a very disagreeable taste. [From the Sink, Winter and his companions followed Marie’s River (the Humboldt), past the City of Rocks and traveled along the Raft River

and the Snake River to Fort Hall, where they joined a party, coming from Oregon. Winter’s companion from the 1843 crossing, Overton Johnson, was in this party.] Eastward traffic was perhaps heaviest in the years 1847 and 1848. On July 31, 1846, a group of 238 Mormons had arrived in San Francisco under the leadership of Sam Brannan. They had come to California to start a Mormon colony in a territory which was still Mexican when they started from New York, traveling around Cape Horn. In January 1847, the Mormon Battalion arrived in Los Angeles, commanded by Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke. This Battalion, numbering about 500 men came too late to see action; they were mustered out in July. In the mean time, Brigham Young had decided that the Mormon settlement would be near the Great Salt Lake in Utah and recalled all Mormons who were in California at the time. And a large number of them responded. For them, travel via the Panama route was, of course, impractical; all of them returned via the Overland Route. However, few of the returning Mormons used the Truckee River Route, they preferred the Carson River Route, part of which had been improved by a group of Mormons. The years 1846 and 1847 saw the conquest of California by the U.S. It will not be necessary to summarize the events of that winter and spring; we will only point out the presence of some of the main actors in this event. Captain Frénont had arrived in California with his Company of Topographical Engineers, in time to follow up on the Bear Flag Revolt in Sonoma on June 26, 1846 and play a role in the conquest thereafter. On July 15, 1846, Commodore Stockton arrived in Monterey to join and soon take over the command of the Squadron of Commodore Sloat. And in December 1846, General Kearny entered southern California with his small army. The Mormon Battalion has already nm been mentioned. Most of the principal participants in the conquest of California, Kearny, Stockton, Cooke and (although involuntarily) Frénont returned East as soon as possible. The book of TS. Turner'2, from which the following diary fragment is taken, lists the party as follows. “The party to escort the Gen'l [Kearny] was organized as follows: Brig.-Gen’l S.W. Kearny & two servants Capt. H.S. Turner Ist Dragoons, one servant & four discharged men of the party, recently under Lieut. Emory, Top Engs, the latter constituting the body-guard of the General. Lt. Col. J.C. Frénont Rifle Regt. Five servants, three citizens and nineteen men belonging to his old Topographical party. Maj. Thomas Swords, Quarter Master U.S.A., one servant & one employed man. Maj. PSt.G.Cooke, 2nd Dragoons, one servant, two discharged Dragoons & fifteen men of the Mor. Battalion. Lt. W. Radford of the Navy & one servant, Mr. Murphy, guide.” Lt. W. Redford was a Navy officer and brother-in-law of Kearny. Willard Prebble Hall was a congressman for Missouri. He had marched as a private in the First Missouri Mounted Volunteers under Col. Doniphan and had helped Kearny to draft the Kearny Code, which became the basis for the laws of New Mexico. He learned of his election to the House of Representatives ~ while in the field, joined Cooke's Battalion to California and returned home in the Kearny party. At Johnson's Ranch, Edwin Bryant, author of a widely read book on California, joined the party. In total, the party consisted of 66 persons and 172 public horses and mules, besides privately owned animals. Kearny started his journey at Monterey but, the first part being irrelevant to us, our extract of the diary will start at Sutter's Fort. The start at this location is mentioned in the California Star for July 24, 1947 as follows: “General Kearny arrived at this fort on the thirteenth of June, and was saluted with the big guns of Lieut. Anderson of the New York Legion, in command of the garrison. Gen. Kearny and suite arrived at the fort with Capt. Sutter on the 14th, he moved camp for the United States on the 16th of June, Capt. Sutter and the gentlemen of the fort accompanied them a few miles on the road and took leave of them, wishing them a safe journey; it was decidedly the best arranged camp I ever saw; the General said he would make the trip in seventy days, he has an excellent pilot, Mr. Falion, an old mountain man, they are now beyond Fort Hall and will reach the States in September.” The reader will notice that two different pilots are mentioned. The difference has not yet been explained.