Chapter 21

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.