Tuesday June 17th. 1806.
we collected our horses and set out early; we proceeded
down hungry creek about seven miles passing it twice; we
found it difficult and dangerous to pass the creek in consequence
of its debth and rapidity; we avoided two other
passes of the creek by ascending a very steep rocky and
difficult hill. beyond this creek[17]
the road ascends the mountain
to the hight of the main leading ridges which divides the
Waters of the Chopunnish and Kooskooske rivers.[18]
this hill
or reather mountain we ascended about 3 miles when we
found ourselves invelloped in snow from 12 to 15 feet deep
even on the south sides of the hills with the fairest exposure to
the sun; here was winter with all it's rigors; the air was cold,
my hands and feet were benumbed. we knew that it would
require five days to reach the fish wears at the entrance of
Colt Creek, provided we were so fortunate as to be enabled to
follow the proper ridges of the mountains to lead us to that
place; of this Drewyer our principal dependance as a woodman
and guide was entirely doubtfull;
[19]
short of that point we
could not hope for any food for our horses not even underwood
itself as the whole was covered many feet deep in snow.
if we proceeded and should get bewildered in these mountains
the certainty was that we should loose all our horses and consequently
our baggage inst[r]uments perhaps our papers and
thus eminently wrisk the loss of the discoveries which we had
already made if we should be so fortunate as to escape with
life. the snow boar our horses very well and the trav[e]lling
was therefore infinitely better that [n] the obstruction of rocks
and fallen timber which we met with in our passage over last
fall when the snow lay on this part of the ridge in detached
spots only. under these circumstances we conceived it madnes[s]
in this stage of the expedition to proceed without a
guide who could certainly conduct us to the fish wears on the
Kooskooske (
Travellers (Creek) Rest), as our horses could not
possibly sustain a journey of more than five days without food.
we therefore came to the resolution to return with our horses
while they were yet strong and in good order and indevour
to keep them so untill we could procure an indian to conduct
us over the snowey mountains, and again to proceed as soon
as we could procure such a guide, knowing from the appearance
of the snows that if we remained untill it had desolved
sufficiently for us to follow the road that we should not be
enabled to return to the United States within this season.
having come to this resolution, we ordered the party to make
a deposit for all the baggage which we had not immediate use
for, and also all the roots and bread of cows which they had
except an allowance for a few days to enable them to return
to some place at which we could subsist by hunting untill we
procured a guide. we left our instruments papers &c. beleiving
them safer here than to wrisk them on horseback over the
roads and creeks which we had passed. our baggage being laid
on scaffoalds
[20]
and well covered we began our retrograde march
at 1 P. M. having remained about 3 hours on this snowey
mountain. we returned by the rout we had come to hungry
creek, which we ascended about 2 miles and encamped. we
had here more grass for our horses than the proceeding evening,
yet it was but scant. the party were a good deel dejected
tho' not as much so as I had apprehended they would have
been. this is the first time since we have been on this long
tour that we have ever been compelled to retreat or make a
retrograde march. it rained on us most of this evening.
