Schemes of Captain Bonneville—The Great Salt Lake Expedition to explore it—Preparations for a journey to the Bighorn
CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE now found himself at the head of a hardy,
well-seasoned and well-appointed company of trappers, all benefited
by at least one year's experience among the mountains, and capable of
protecting themselves from Indian wiles and stratagems, and of providing
for their subsistence wherever game was to be found. He had, also, an
excellent troop of horses, in prime condition, and fit for hard service.
He determined, therefore, to strike out into some of the bolder parts of
his scheme. One of these was to carry his expeditions into some of the
unknown tracts of the Far West, beyond what is generally termed the
buffalo range. This would have something of the merit and charm of
discovery, so dear to every brave and adventurous spirit. Another
favorite project was to establish a trading post on the lower part
of the Columbia River, near the Multnomah valley, and to endeavor to
retrieve for his country some of the lost trade of Astoria.
The first of the above mentioned views was, at present, uppermost in his
mind—the exploring of unknown regions. Among the grand features of the
wilderness about which he was roaming, one had made a vivid impression
on his mind, and been clothed by his imagination with vague and ideal
charms. This is a great lake of salt water, laving the feet of the
mountains, but extending far to the west-southwest, into one of those
vast and elevated plateaus of land, which range high above the level of
the Pacific.
Captain Bonneville gives a striking account of the lake when seen from
the land. As you ascend the mountains about its shores, says he, you
behold this immense body of water spreading itself before you, and
stretching further and further, in one wide and far-reaching expanse,
until the eye, wearied with continued and strained attention, rests
in the blue dimness of distance, upon lofty ranges of mountains,
confidently asserted to rise from the bosom of the waters. Nearer to
you, the smooth and unruffled surface is studded with little islands,
where the mountain sheep roam in considerable numbers. What extent of
lowland may be encompassed by the high peaks beyond, must remain for the
present matter of mere conjecture though from the form of the summits,
and the breaks which may be discovered among them, there can be little
doubt that they are the sources of streams calculated to water large
tracts, which are probably concealed from view by the rotundity of the
lake's surface. At some future day, in all probability, the rich harvest
of beaver fur, which may be reasonably anticipated in such a spot, will
tempt adventurers to reduce all this doubtful region to the palpable
certainty of a beaten track. At present, however, destitute of the means
of making boats, the trapper stands upon the shore, and gazes upon a
promised land which his feet are never to tread.
Such is the somewhat fanciful view which Captain Bonneville gives to
this great body of water. He has evidently taken part of his ideas
concerning it from the representations of others, who have somewhat
exaggerated its features. It is reported to be about one hundred and
fifty miles long, and fifty miles broad. The ranges of mountain peaks
which Captain Bonneville speaks of, as rising from its bosom, are
probably the summits of mountains beyond it, which may be visible at
a vast distance, when viewed from an eminence, in the transparent
atmosphere of these lofty regions. Several large islands certainly exist
in the lake; one of which is said to be mountainous, but not by any
means to the extent required to furnish the series of peaks above
mentioned.
Captain Sublette, in one of his early expeditions across the mountains,
is said to have sent four men in a skin canoe, to explore the lake,
who professed to have navigated all round it; but to have suffered
excessively from thirst, the water of the lake being extremely salt, and
there being no fresh streams running into it.
Captain Bonneville doubts this report, or that the men accomplished
the circumnavigation, because, he says, the lake receives several large
streams from the mountains which bound it to the east. In the spring,
when the streams are swollen by rain and by the melting of the snows,
the lake rises several feet above its ordinary level during the summer,
it gradually subsides again, leaving a sparkling zone of the finest salt
upon its shores.
The elevation of the vast plateau on which this lake is situated, is
estimated by Captain Bonneville at one and three-fourths of a mile above
the level of the ocean. The admirable purity and transparency of the
atmosphere in this region, allowing objects to be seen, and the report
of firearms to be heard, at an astonishing distance; and its extreme
dryness, causing the wheels of wagons to fall in pieces, as instanced
in former passages of this work, are proofs of the great altitude of the
Rocky Mountain plains. That a body of salt water should exist at such a
height is cited as a singular phenomenon by Captain Bonneville, though
the salt lake of Mexico is not much inferior in elevation.
To have this lake properly explored, and all its secrets revealed, was
the grand scheme of the captain for the present year; and while it was
one in which his imagination evidently took a leading part, he believed
it would be attended with great profit, from the numerous beaver streams
with which the lake must be fringed.
This momentous undertaking he confided to his lieutenant, Mr. Walker, in
whose experience and ability he had great confidence. He instructed him
to keep along the shores of the lake, and trap in all the streams on his
route; also to keep a journal, and minutely to record the events of his
journey, and everything curious or interesting, making maps or charts of
his route, and of the surrounding country.
No pains nor expense were spared in fitting out the party, of forty men,
which he was to command. They had complete supplies for a year, and were
to meet Captain Bonneville in the ensuing summer, in the valley of Bear
River, the largest tributary of the Salt Lake, which was to be his point
of general rendezvous.
The next care of Captain Bonneville was to arrange for the safe
transportation of the peltries which he had collected to the Atlantic
States. Mr. Robert Campbell, the partner of Sublette, was at this time
in the rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, having brought up
their supplies. He was about to set off on his return, with the peltries
collected during the year, and intended to proceed through the Crow
country, to the head of navigation on the Bighorn River, and to descend
in boats down that river, the Missouri, and the Yellowstone, to St.
Louis.
Captain Bonneville determined to forward his peltries by the same
route, under the especial care of Mr. Cerre. By way of escort, he would
accompany Cerre to the point of embarkation, and then make an autumnal
hunt in the Crow country.
