n learning that they had one man among them who knew where
they were. The business of making the road was very laborious. The
snow had to be beaten compact with mallets. It was fifteen days before
the party succeeded in reaching, with a few of their animals, a place
where the heavy work of the route was ended. During this time, many of
their mules had starved to death, and the few remaining were driven
to such an extreme by want of food, that they devoured one another's
tails, the leather on the pack saddles; and, in fact, they would try
to eat everything they could get into their mouths. The sufferings
of the men had been as severe as had ever fallen to the lot of any
mountaineer present. Their provisions were all used and they were
driven to subsist upon the mules as they died from hunger. But,
commander and all bore these terrible trials in an exemplary manner.

An incident is related by Colonel Fremont, in which Kit Carson enjoyed
a cold-bath, which occurred during this terrible march. "_February
Twenty-third._--This was our most difficult day; we were forced off
the ridges by the quantity of snow among the timber, and obliged to
take to the mountain-sides, where, occasionally, rocks and a southern
exposure afforded us a chance to scramble along. But these were
steep and slippery with snow and ice; and the tough evergreens of the
mountain impeded our way, tore our skins, and exhausted our patience.
Some of us had the misfortune to wear moccasins with _parfleche_
soles, so slippery that we could not keep our feet, and generally
crawled across the snow beds. Axes and mauls were necessary to-day, to
make a road through the snow. Going ahead with Carson to reconnoitre
the road, we reached in the afternoon the river which made the outlet
of the lake. Carson sprang over, clear across a place where the
stream was compressed among the rocks, but the _parfleche_ sole of
my moccasin glanced from the icy rock, and precipitated me into the
river. It was some few seconds before I could recover myself in the
current, and Carson thinking me hurt jumped in after me, and we both
had an icy bath. We tried to search awhile for my gun, which had been
lost in the fall, but the cold drove us out; and, making a large fire
on the bank, after we had partially dried ourselves, we went back to
meet the camp. We afterwards found that the gun had been slung under
the ice which lined the banks of the creek."

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