Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1872-02-08
Helena, Montana, Thursday, February 8, 1872.

Up 10 It's, peak the last half mile was over
broken, fragmentary blocks or clay-slate,
with here and there a shrub to relieve their
dark monotony. The last couple of hundred
yards was under the edge of an overhanging
precipice, the summit of which we attained
by creeping up cliff in its rocky face; and
when we left this wild scene, all bathed in
the warm light of July sun, we stepped, as
it were, in one step up to eternal winter. '
From the edge of the precipice level
plain extended for half a mile, covered with
glittering, pure snow. The stunted pines
protruded through it, just as if it had fallen
but yesterday, and we involuntarily looked to
see the boughs covered with it also. III
Behind this snow-feld, the serrated ridge
forming the divide between us and Pen d
Oreille Lake raised its line of pinnacles and
buttresses for miles, and so near that we
wanted to go and see still beyond. We walk
ed on the snow, our boots hardly leaving
mark upon its surface, and turning our backs
to the winter scere, filed our eyes with the
panorama that surrounded us. The range to
the north curved around to the west, and the
its clearly defined ridges and shaded ravines,
shows us plainly the head, some twelve miles
distant, of the stream we dad discovered the
day before. To the south, the mountain
crossed by our trail rose lofty and alone, its
crest bare of timber, spotted and streaked
with snow. To the east and for sixty miles,
vistas of peaks raised their, projecting tops,
and once in a while one rising over the rest
marked some one of more mighty proper
tions. The green pines and frs covered the
greater part of the landscape. giving 1t that
peculiar tinge of the evergreen, which faded
into the purple distance, shaded by diminu-
ton until it lost its distnctiveness in the blue
horizon. Below, at our feet, the silvery river
shone in the sunlight, meandering around
the canyons, peeping out here and there, or
glancing in long sheets for miles at the base
of these rocky mountains. ...
: We sat upon the states and gazed with nev-
er-tiring eyes upon this most marvellously
sublime, extended scene; and here, in the
summit of this peak, vanished from our hearts
the castles in Spain which we had erected
SO much hope. .sr aa..' O.. y
Our toll-road, instead of an avenue of
wealth, increasing in its supply, dwindled
away as only an avenue of egress. The
''basin" we had travelled so far to find, dis
appeared into a thinness which surpassed
even the air we breathed. So, raisinga mon
ument, upon which we carved our names
without inscribing our hopes, we descended
and looked-and descended and looked, until
we reached the tree-line, and then Fastening
our steps, reached the river, worried up our
pathless ravine, and at dark % p. m, regained
our camp, after tramp of nearly fourteen
miles, quite exhausted. '9''
We told, as we rested, of the scene we had
beheld; that there was no basin to hold our
gold in all these hills; that the only thing
was the river itself, and to search in that
were useless, 7a i... u... ..... =.
J. From enthusiasts, our party changed to
grumblers; the larger part proposed to return;
and by daylight in the morning only eight
men were left to continue our explorations.
We led our horses. by steep side hill, over
which we made a trail down to the river;
crossed over it, forced our way up for mile
through alders and willows, and found q pFail
rie of about four acres, covered with most
luxuriant grass. Here we rested. Three of
the men, dissatisfied with. OUT. report, desired
to push higher up the stream, to search for
the spot in whose existence they still believed,
while the rest concluded to remain and cele-
brate the Fourth of July. We celebrated by
digging hole about six feet deep In the,
gravel, when we struck water, which run in
faster than we could throw it out with gold
pans, SO we ceased our labors, swore there
was no gold there anyhow, and then throw
ing down our picks and shovels, laid our
selves down in the shades of the frs and
snoozed away, to enjoy in dreams the reali-
ties that had been denied us. i~s
In the evening our advance explorers re-
turned, wearied and disheartened, to add their
confirmation to cur experience. We unani-
mously resolved that the object of our labors
was accomplished, and voted to return; to
leave these mountains to rejoice forever in
their solitude; to grant a new lease of undis-
turbed repose to the bear, the elk and the deer,
the panther; to publish to the world the alb
sence of all mineral wealth, that no more ef-
forts should be made to stir its soil, to de-
stroy its forests, or to defile its fountains of
water. :.. ..
The next question was, how to return. A
surveyor suggested that some of us build
raft and go down the river. So he and two
farmers and an ex-member of the California