The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-13
FIRST WHITE MANS TRIP TO COAST
Strange Experiences and Agonng HardshipS Of Sylvester
Patte and Party, as Told In Musty Old Manuscript.

they would be obliged to leave behind,
should the trip over the mountains to
Santa Fe be decided upon
First they determined to build fort
for defense against any attacks of saw
ages, and, second, to build canoes for a
journey down stream. They confidently
expected to find a Spanish settlement
of considerable size before reaching the
mouth of the Colorado.
1t was now the. End of December. Day
after day the forest resounded with the
strokes of. the AK, one of the men being
constantly on the lookout for hostile
Indians The boats completed, they
were dashed together by twos, connect
ed by means of platforms and the furs,
representing months of labor, were
piled upon them. The little fleet was
the first commerce of white men on the
Colorado river. After floating down the
stream for 80 miles, signs of beaver
were discovered, and the party went
into camp, first setting 40 traps. The
next morning SO beaver We're found in
the traps. The next day, as the boats
descended two Indians were deserted
perched in a treetop, preparing to
shoot as the boats hoated below. Pre-
tending not to notice the Indians. Pat
tie and one of his men prepared for in
slant use of their rifles The hunters
were dead shots, and at distance Of
100 yards they fired. The two Indians
dropped to the ground Their bodies
We're swung to limb of a tree as a,
warning to their tribe to beware of the
vengeance OF the white men, and the
little flotilla moved or.
To describe all the adventures of the
travellers would require pages of news
paper The furs accumulated so fast that
ltwa necessary to build additional boats
to carry them. Occasionally villages of
nc h1rt Loot
IN attempting to open communications
! with the half-naked and wretcbed irha b
itants. One day the village of the head
chief was reached. Opportunity to in
quire concerning Spanish settlements now
presented itself. and the travellers held a
pOWWow with the chief and his council
me chief pointed westward, and initiated
the sound of the surf as it broke upon the
shore.
On the 18th of January the boats
reached backWatef. remaining stationary
| ton and the boats We're carried forward
at a rate of SIX miles an hour
The men began TO suspect vaguely that
they were upon tidewater. but as none of
the party had ever lived on the ocean
shore, it was conjecture, All was strange
lonely and quiet. Suddenly sound pen
etrated the air as though the far-off roar
of waves. 1t grew louder and louder:
then came a mad rush of water uD
stream. 1t was the rising of the tide. Not
breath of air stirred. The boats were
landed high and dry in the forest. and
after several visitations of the tide the
men grew accustomed to it's movements.
and at intervals for nine days their Jour
ney towards the mouth of the river was
resumed. At length they reached the end
of the tidewater. a.
No settlement appeared and the disan-
| pointed adventures resolved to try their
fortunes in the deserts and the noun
tains The furs were cached and the
| struggles on foot We're undertaken
The travellers became sore and stiff
they suffered untold agony on account of
lack of food and water. and had it not