The volcanic plain in question forms an area of about sixty miles in
diameter, where nothing meets the eye but a desolate and awful waste;
where no grass grows nor water runs, and where nothing is to be seen but
lava. Ranges of mountains skirt this plain, and, in Captain Bonneville's
opinion, were formerly connected, until rent asunder by some convulsion
of nature. Far to the east the Three Tetons lift their heads sublimely,
and dominate this wide sea of lava--one of the most striking features
of a wilderness where everything seems on a scale of stern and simple
grandeur.
We look forward with impatience for some able geologist to explore this
sublime but almost unknown region.
It was not until the 25th of April that the two parties of trappers
broke up their encampments, and undertook to cross over the southwest
end of the mountain by a pass explored by their scouts. From various
points of the mountain they commanded boundless prospects of the lava
plain, stretching away in cold and gloomy barrenness as far as the eye
could reach. On the evening of the 26th they reached the plain west
of the mountain, watered by the Malade, the Boisee, and other streams,
which comprised the contemplated trapping-ground.
The country about the Boisee (or Woody) River is extolled by Captain
Bonneville as the most enchanting he had seen in the Far West,
presenting the mingled grandeur and beauty of mountain and plain, of
bright running streams and vast grassy meadows waving to the breeze.
Pages:
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173