Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-12-28
GENERAL ASHLEY'S EXPEDITION

N.
The recent expedition Of General Ashley to
the country west o. the Rocky Mountains has
been productive Of information on subjects Of
no small interest to The people Of the union
1t has proved that the over land expeditions. in
large bodies, may be made TO that remote. re-
giou, without the necessity Of transporting pro-
visions for man or beast. Gen. Ashley left st.
Louis in March last and returned in September.
His return caravan consisted Of upwards Of one
hundred horses and mules. and more than half
that number of men He went to the station of
the party he had left beyond the mountains,
when he came in year ago, and thence descend
&c river, believed 10 be the Buenaventura, a.
bout one hundred and fifty miles to the Great
Lake.
His return march TO ST.. Louis occupied about
70 days, each mule and horse carrying nearly
two hundred pounds Of beaver fur-the ami
mails keeping their strength and flesh on The
grass which they found and without losing
any time OH this long journey. The men also
found an abundance of food they say there was
no day in which they could not have subsisted
a thousand men, and often ten thousand Buff
faloe furnished the principal food-water Of the
best quality was met with every day ThS
whole route lay through level and open coun-
try, better for carriages than any turnpike road
in the United States. Wagons and carriages
could go with ease as far as General Ashley
went, crossing the Rocky Mountains at the
source Of the north fork Of the Platte, and de.
scending the valley of the Buenaventura to-
ward. lie Pacific ocean. The lake which ter
minated the expedition westward, is & most re.
markable body of water, and heretofore un-
known, unless from vague accounts 1t is es-
tima,ed to be one hundred miles long and six
ty or eighty wide. 1t was crossed last spring
by party of Gen. a shley's men in canoes,
who were occupied four and twenty days in
making its circuit. They did not exactly as
certain its outlet, but passed place where they
supposed it must have been. The water Of this
lake is much salter than that Of the sea. Some
Of the salt obtained from this water by boiling,
has been brough, in by Gen. Ashley-he has
also brought some specimens Of rock salt,
found in strata several feet thick at the SUR
face of the ground, with streams Of water run
ming through it in numerous little channels.
The people in the mountains plentifuly supply
themselves with salt at this spot, ant carry it
home in bags.
In the whole expedition, Gen. Ashley did
not lose man, nor had any one Of those did
whom he left behind last year, many OF hJm
have been out four or five years. and are too
happy in the freedom OF those wild regions 20
think OF returning to the comparative thral-
dom Of civilized life. 1t would seem that nc
attempt has been made to ascertain the precise
latitude and longitude Of the point al which
Gen. Ashley crossed the mountains. Il is 10
be hoped that this will not be neglected on the
next expedition. From all that we can learn.
the elevation is exceedingly small where the
passage Of The mountain was effected-so small
as hardly to affect the rate Of going Of the Ca
ravan, and forming al the most, an angle of three
degrees, being two degrees less than the steep
est ascent on the Cumberland road:
Missouri HerdC.
DR.. Comstock, Of Hartford, has found oui
chemical process by which to render leather,
cloth, and divers other things imperyious &c
water. The editor Of the Connecticut Mirror
was shown a pair Of prunella shoes which did
not differ at all in appearance from ordinary
shoes Of that kind, that had been soaked in the
water for days Without the least dampness on
The inside. 10 what purposes, or how exten-
sively the DR.. means 10 apply his discovery is
hat hnL o1c -.