Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1873-1877, 1876-11-17
Notes ofSome Movements OF Part
Of the wheeler Expedition.
lcsALES1CATED

LVAAS S.SA--o
Lieut.. 5. E. Tii!nan's party has just
| returned to Carson, after side trip OF
three days. The object OF this journey
was 10 ascend Mount Rose. which is one
of the primary triansulation stations OF
the Wheeler survey. On the first night
out from Carson camp was pitched about
six miles west o: Wsshoe City. by the
side of a flnme. Fire-wood was abnnd.
ant and the surveyors passed pleasant
evening with big fire in front OF each
shelter tent. The mex. morning that i'm
portant personage. the camp cook. arose
before day break to prepare breakfast as
soon as possible. in order to enable the
party to make an early start for the
mountain. Taking cup and pail and
threading has way in tho dark through
uanzspi,i underbrusil, snd owe. fallen
timber towards the fuIne, our cook
found to his great establishment that the
water had been turned off the night be-
| fore. But he was not to be dishesrtened
| by such luck. Remembering brook q
mile distant our culinary friend walked
down and back in very short time, and
By 8 O'Clock We had finished breakfast
aud were under way with the transit
packed on a mule for Mount Rose. The
party numbered four: Mr.. Thompson,
tepoxrapher; Mr.. Lee, baromet,ic OBJ
server; Mr.. Conklins. gsolosist. and a
packer. The first par! Of the journey
was easy, because our route lay along
the wagon road. But after crossing
creek the work of climbing began in
earnest. The tail was steep and wind
ing. 1t was with great difficulty that
the mules could get e footing in some
places. One of the party lost confidence
in the sure footed qualities OF bis mule
and walked nearly ell the way. thereby
wearing out "swell" pair of boots.
Soon tie snow clad slopes of Mount
Rose were reached and henceforth the
climbing became very laborious. The
snow averaged foot in depth. Taking
| q zigzag course over steep slope We
Travelled on mile after milo until the
summit of the ridge was gained. 1t was
| necessary TO pick our steps with great
care, for q single slip would have re-
suited in rolling down TO the bottom of
ths canyon hundreds of feet below. We
adhered strictly to the invariable rule of
| mountsineers IN ascending snow slopes,
/. e., never to move without firm foot
| ing. Tying our animals to rocks on the
| ridge inst below the summit OF the
monntain, for there vas no timber at
hand, we climbed slowly over the irreg-
| ular masses Of igneous rock. now rising
| now descending, skirting projecting
| knobs. across unbroken SLOW fields
! until the highest peak was reached.
Setting up the transit our topographer at
once proceeded to triangulate and make
detailed sketches of the topography of
the surrounding country. The meteor
olocist suspended his barometer and
Thermometers from projecting tripod
fastened in . crevice OF rock. willie the
geologist amused himself by cracking
rocks, pondesine over the petrozraph-
ical structure OF the neigh boripg hills.
and writing ont description OF the
scenery. Blu: our packer was not idle
all this time. The temperature on the
mouufnin was not unlike that of Green
land. and the wind was blowing With
tremendous foice. Alter an absence of
half an hour We noticed the packer re-
turning with something on bis shoulder.
It proved to be log of dry wood which
our energetic friend had carried for
nearly q mile. After using up half box
of matches be succeeded in starting a
fire. which was taken advantage of, for
our feet were not ya. dry after having
walked through 80 much deep snow. TIE
view from the summit of Mount Rose is
very grand. One sees nearly the whole
State of Nevada. On the north. Mount
Jefferson, in Oregon. and Lassen's
Butte, in California, with its majestic
snow clad slopes were visible. On the
west We could almost see the Sacramento |
Valley. while on the south the Inyo |
mountains and the lofty chain of the !
southern Sierra Nevada. whose snowy |
summit glistened in the sunlit sky, |
doomed up in the distant horizon more |
than $50 miles from us. After spending |
four hours in taking the necessary OBJ
servations and shivering in the almost |
erected q monument with coarse stones
to mark the spot of our labors as we'll rs
to be used in sighting from other peaks
On the way home our party took /. short
cut down the almost perpendicular
slope OF the mountain. 1t was "allow-
ed" on all sides that our mules never
got over ground faster under such cir.
cumstances than or this occasion. I.
was impossible to ride, SO our animals
we're led at rapid pace until the bottom
of the ravine was arrived st. The re-
mainder of the journey was over a wagon
route and just before dusk We reached
camp where our faithful cook had an
excellent supper awaiting US. The ell
suing day our route was over the same
road that we took in starting out. The
pack mules, knowing that they were on
their homeward march, trotted nearly
all the way, and by l O'Clock we had
won the spacious ranch of Mr.. Tread
way after having made upwards of 20
miles in S hours. A. Il. CoNKLING.