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 the afternoon the river which made the outlet of the lake. Carson
sprang over, clear across a place where the stream was compressed
among rocks, but the parfleche sole of my moccasin glanced from
the icy rock, and precipitated me into the river. It was some few
seconds before I could recover myself in the current, and Carson,
thinking me hurt, jumped in after me, and we both had an icy bath.
We tried to search a while for my gun, which had been lost in the
fall, but the cold drove us out; and making a large fire on the
bank, after we had partially dried ourselves we went back to meet
the camp. We afterwards found that the gun had been slung under
the ice which lined the banks of the creek.

"The sky was clear and pure, with a sharp wind from the northeast,
and the thermometer 20 below the freezing point.

"We continued down the south face of the mountain; our road leading
over dry ground, we were able to avoid the snow almost entirely.
In the course of the morning we struck a foot path, which we were
generally able to keep; and the ground was soft to our animals
feet, being sandy or covered with mould. Green grass began to make
its appearance, and occasionally we passed a hill scatteringly
covered with it. The character of the forest continued the same;
and, among the trees, the pine with sharp leaves and very large
cones was abundant, some of them being noble trees. We measured
one that had ten feet diameter, though the height was not more than
one hundred and thirty feet. All along, the river was a roaring