James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 3James, Edwin
History
James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 3
James, Edwin
Indians of North America; Rocky Mountains; United States -- Discovery and exploration; West (U.S.) -- Description and travel
[7] Notes referring particularly to this grasshopper, and to many other
insects, and many other animals, collected on the Platte and about the
mountains, were subsequently lost in the robbery committed by three of
the soldiers, who deserted from the party in the country of the Osages.
It is on this account that the name of the insect alluded to cannot be
given, as it is now impossible to identify the specimen.--JAMES.
[8] As late as 1870 the Indians continued to make offerings to the
manitou of the springs. There is an Indian legend which accounts for
the effervescence and taste of the water as follows: Two hunters having
come to the springs, the less successful, in envious anger, seized
his rival while drinking, and held his head beneath the water until
he expired. Thereupon a vapor arose, and there appeared a spirit who
struck the murderer with his war club, dashing his brains into the
spring and rendering the waters bitter.--ED.
[9] The Colorado Midland now ascends Fountain Creek, east and north of
the peak, approximating the line of this bison path. The stage road to
the peak also ascends this cañon about four miles to Cascade, where it
turns west, going around the northern and northwestern slope of the
mountain.--ED.
[10] Boiling Spring (now Fountain) Creek unites with Monument Creek
(see preceding volume, note 146) at Colorado Springs, to form Fountain
River. The map does not show Boiling Spring Creek, but applies the
name to Fountain River and its other branch, Monument Creek, to which
it gives an exaggerated length. Fountain River was called La Rivière
de la Fontaine qui Bouille (River of the Boiling Spring), from the
Manitou springs already described; the French name, in various forms,
has generally been preferred to the English. Frémont calls the stream,
in more correct French, "Fontaine-qui-bouit," and "Fontaine River" is
still sometimes used. The city of Pueblo is situated at its confluence
with the Arkansas; Pike called this confluence "grand forks."--ED.
[11] Lieutenant Swift's trigonometrical measurement of the elevation
of Pike's Peak was quite accurate. If to his calculation of 8,507½
feet above the plain the correct elevation of the latter be added, the
sum is within a few feet of the now accepted height; but, as in Pike's
measurement, the result was invalidated by an erroneous estimate of the
height of the plain (3,000 feet instead of about 5,700). The latitude
and longitude as calculated for this camp afford another instance
showing the error in the observations made by the expedition. The
correct figures for Colorado Springs are 38° 49′ 41.67″ north latitude,
and 104° 49′ 15.10″ longitude west of Greenwich.--ED.
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