Magnificent scenery--Wind River Mountains--Treasury of waters--A stray horse--AnIndian trail-- Trout streams--The Great Green River Valley-- An alarm--A band oftrappers--Fontenelle, his information--Sufferings of thirst--Encampment on theSeeds-ke-dee--Strategy of rival traders-- Fortification of the camp--The Blackfeet--Bandittiof the mountains--Their character and habits IT WAS ON THE 20TH of July that Captain Bonneville first came in sight of the grandregion of his hopes and anticipations, the Rocky Mountains. He had been making abend to the south, to avoid some obstacles along the river, and had attained a high,rocky ridge, when a magnificent prospect burst upon his sight. To the west rose theWind River Mountains, with their bleached and snowy summits towering into the clouds.
These stretched far to the north-northwest, until they melted away into what appearedto be faint clouds, but which the experienced eyes of the veteran hunters of the partyrecognized for the rugged mountains of the Yellowstone; at the feet of which extendedthe wild Crow country: a perilous, though profitable region for the trapper.
To the southwest, the eye ranged over an immense extent of wilderness, with whatappeared to be a snowy vapor resting upon its horizon. This, however, was pointed outas another branch of the Great Chippewyan, or Rocky chain; being the EutawMountains, at whose basis the wandering tribe of hunters of the same name pitch theirtents. We can imagine the enthusiasm of the worthy captain when he beheld the vastand mountainous scene of his adventurous enterprise thus suddenly unveiled beforehim. We can imagine with what feelings of awe and admiration he must havecontemplated the Wind River Sierra, or bed of mountains; that great fountainhead fromwhose springs, and lakes, and melted snows some of those mighty rivers take theirrise, which wander over hundreds of miles of varied country and clime, and find theirway to the opposite waves of the Atlantic and the Pacific.
The Wind River Mountains are, in fact, among the most remarkable of the whole Rockychain; and would appear to be among the loftiest. They form, as it were, a great bed ofmountains, about eighty miles in length, and from twenty to thirty in breadth; withrugged peaks, covered with eternal snows, and deep, narrow valleys full of springs, andbrooks, and rock-bound lakes. From this great treasury of waters issue forth limpidstreams, which, augmenting as they descend, become main tributaries of the Missourion the one side, and the Columbia on the other; and give rise to the Seeds-ke-deeAgie, or Green River, the great Colorado of the West, that empties its current into theGulf of California.
The Wind River Mountains are notorious in hunters' and trappers' stories: their ruggeddefiles, and the rough tracts about their neighborhood, having been lurking places forthe predatory hordes of the mountains, and scenes of rough encounter with Crows andBlackfeet. It was to the west of these mountains, in the valley of the Seeds-ke-dee Agie,or Green River, that Captain Bonneville intended to make a halt for the purpose ofgiving repose to his people and his horses after their weary journeying; and of collectinginformation as to his future course. This Green River valley, and its immediateneighborhood, as we have already observed, formed the main point of rendezvous, forthe present year, of the rival fur companies, and the motley populace, civilized andsavage, connected with them. Several days of rugged travel, however, yet remained forthe captain and his men before they should encamp in this desired resting-place.
On the 21st of July, as they were pursuing their course through one of the meadows ofthe Sweet Water, they beheld a horse grazing at a little distance. He showed no alarmat their approach, but suffered himself quietly to be taken, evincing a perfect state oftameness. The scouts of the party were instantly on the look-out for the owners of thisanimal; lest some dangerous band of savages might be lurking in the vicinity. After anarrow search, they discovered the trail of an Indian party, which had evidently passedthrough that neighborhood but recently. The horse was accordingly taken possessionof, as an estray; but a more vigilant watch than usual was kept round the camp atnights, lest his former owners should be upon the prowl.
The travellers had now attained so high an elevation that on the 23d of July, atdaybreak, there was considerable ice in the waterbuckets, and the thermometer stoodat twenty-two degrees. The rarefy of the atmosphere continued to affect the wood-workof the wagons, and the wheels were incessantly falling to pieces. A remedy was atlength devised. The tire of each wheel was taken off; a band of wood was nailed roundthe exterior of the felloes, the tire was then made red hot, replaced round the wheel,and suddenly cooled with water. By this means, the whole was bound together withgreat compactness.
The extreme elevation of these great steppes, which range along the feet of the RockyMountains, takes away from the seeming height of their peaks, which yield to few in theknown world in point of altitude above the level of the sea.
On the 24th, the travellers took final leave of the Sweet Water, and keeping westwardly,over a low and very rocky ridge, one of the most southern spurs of the Wind RiverMountains, they encamped, after a march of seven hours and a half, on the banks of asmall clear stream, running to the south, in which they caught a number of fine trout.
The sight of these fish was hailed with pleasure, as a sign that they had reached thewaters which flow into the Pacific; for it is only on the western streams of the RockyMountains that trout are to be taken. The stream on which they had thus encampedproved, in effect, to be tributary to the Seeds-ke-dee Agie, or Green River, into which itflowed at some distance to the south.
