The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1849-02-27

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"June l6.--We pursued our way in The morn
ing through the park forming apr.nciple brancl
Of the Platte; and crossing, among many slnallc
ones, bold stream, scarcely iOrdablc, which
issues from lake in tho mountains on The rgh
ten miles long, Encanp"d in the evening nen
the upper end Of the park, latitude, 40 degrees
So minutes, " seconds, IN small sueunl."
| North Park and Pas.
| "June live continued our way among
the waters of the park, over the fool hills Of III,
bordering mountains, where we found good pms
tnrage, and surprised and killed some bslalo.>-
We fell into broad and excellent lral, made b,
Buffalo, where II wagon would pass with case
and, in the course OF the morning, we crossed
the sUMMIr OF the Rocky mountains through u
PASS which was one OF ths most beautiful that
we had ever seen. The trail i among aspcns.
| through open grounds, richly covered with grass
and carried US over an elevation Of about mn,
thousand feet above tho level Of the sta. The
country appeared TO great advantage III the de-
lightiul summer weather Of the mountains, which
We snl continued to enjoy Descending from
the pass, we found ourselves again On the west
ern waters, and hal,cd 10 noon on the edge o
another mountain valley, or cove, called the mid
die Pork, in which is formed Grand River. ont
Of the principal branches Of the Colorauo o,
California"
How contrary 10 all our ideas I'll is | eau.
tiful dcscr, p,ion of The North Park, and il.
pass from the head waters Of the Greal
Platte TO the head waters Of the Grand riv.
er fork of the Colorado of the West. A
delightful hobialion lha, cove, Instead Of
desert, savage, and drcary dcsolalion which
We Lad been taught 10 look for i'll the
Rocky Mountains. Bul lot us follow tho
explorer in The Middle PARK. lie says:
Middle Park.
"The appearance Of the count-y in the Middle
Park is interesting, though of different charac.
te, from the North Park: instead OF being
comparative plain, it is more or less broken into
hills, and surrounded by high mountains, timber.
ed on the lower parts with quaking aspen and
pines. The next morning June l9) we dcscen-
ded the river about eight rifles, and halted l.
short distance above the canon, (gnp or guls H.
the mountain.) through which Grand River is
sues from the Park. Here it was smooth ant
deep, one hundred aud fifty yards in breadth, and
at an elevation OF SIX thousand seven hundred
feet above the level OF the sea. The principal
streams, draining the whole circumference Of the
Park-whiLh is move Than double the size of the
Moth Park-come together here;a stream from
the north, which we had travelled down, and
found TO grow into volume OF one hundred
Yards wide; one from the east and still larger;
third from the south, nearly large as the north
ern stream, and up which our route lay TO the
South Park, (caled by the hunters Bayou SaiadeJ
It was known the waters went % the rising sun,
and collected either into the Arkansas or the
south fork OF the Great Platte. On the goth we
travelled up the left bank lot the South stream,
eighty Or ninety yards wide) with the prospect
of bad road, the trail here taking the opposite
side; but the stream was up and nowhere ford.
able. A pney ridge of mountains, with bare
rocky peuks, were on our right all the day, and
a snowy mountain appeared ahead. June 2l.)
We had delightful ride along good trail
among the fragrant pines, and the appearance of
buffalo in great numbers indicated thut there
were Indians in tho South Park, by whom ,hey
were driven out. We halted to noon under the
shade Of somc pines, and the weather was most
delightful. The country was literally alive with
hnfnln AMI iheconlnued echo OF the hunters'r hes
on the other side of the river Tor rnourvn, ,.ada
me uneasy, thinking perhaps TINT they were en-
gagged with Indians. The trail was good and
the country interesting, and at night. fall we en-
camped in an open place among the pines, where
we built strong fort. The mountains exhibit
their usual varied growth of flowers; and at this
place noticed, among others, Mefnaopsis monta-
ma. whose bright yellow color makes iia snowy
plant. This has been characteristic in many
parts of the country since reaching ihc L-in-tah
waters. With fields of iris were agmlegia cGr,t-
hs, viole's, esparce eite' ana strawberries. By the
temperature ol the boiIn2 water the elevation
here was io,45o Iee.. anu sun rr me plne forest
Middle Park, 60 miles.
,ha,co int, ,hc
~ ~ So, n,
.or IL. rcr, day 'v w." d.sesndcd ,% the stream bv
an excellen, buffalo trail, along the open grassy
bottom Of the rver. On our right the bayou las
called By The early French hunter huners was Dordored
NIX ny 4 neaks. and below it hod beau,itnl pa,t !.
sd omong Inv surrs ',ooJel. onrnl, with mins
All onotinu ,sn con,,ns,ino wrIl u;,b ,ho d,ns.