Volume 8 , Issue 32

Excerpts - Lt. Pike's Journal

On our way back to Colorado we stopped at the Hickory Restaurant in Lamar, Colorado on a coffee and pie break. We found this bit of Colorado history on their placemats. The information was published by the Historic Arkansas River Projec Foundation - Design & Production by Robert E. Pratt - Map image made by NOAA - Excerpts from Lt. Pike's journal.

Nov. 12, 1806 - "I determined to spare no pains to accomplish every object even if it obliged me to spend another winter in the desert."

Nov. 15, 1806 - Pike encountered bluffs that force them out of river valley. A "small blue cloud" caught Pike's eye. Later a snow-covered peak materialized from the prairie floor. They were still 120 miles from the mountains.

Nov. 21, 1806 - "Marched at our usual hour. Passed two Spanish camps within three miles of each other."

Nov. 18-19, 1806 - "Sent out the hunters; I walked, myself, to an erninence from whence I took the courses to the different mountains, and a small sketch of their appearance... several buffalo brought in... I found it expedient to remain and dry the meat, as our horses were getting weak...

Nov. 22, 1806 - "... about five miles... Baroney cried out Voila un Savage,... When they were in some order we found them to be sixty warriors, half with firearms and half with bows, arrows, and lances. Our party was sixteen total. In a short time they were arranged in a ring and I took my seat between the two partisans. During this time Docotr Robinson was standing up to observe their actions, in order that we might be ready to commence hostilities as soon as they."

Nov. 23, 1806 - "At one o'clock came to the fork on the south side and camped at night in the point of the grand forks."

Nov. 24, 1806 - "...cut down fourteen logs and put up a breast work five feet high on three sides and the other was thrown on the river." Pike gave orders for his absence and marched with three others north for the "mountain."

Nov. 26, 1806 - "We commenced ascending but found it very difficult,... Some distance up we found buffalo, and higher still a new species of deer and pheasants. We descended by a long deep ravine..."

Nov. 27, 1806 - "The unbounded prairie was overhung with clouds, which appeared like the ocean in a storm." It was 4 degrees below zero."

Dec. 16, 1806 - "The Doctor and myself ascended high enough to ... lay down the course of the river into the mountains. One of our party found a large camp, which had been occupied by at least 3,000 indians, with a large cross in the middle."

Dec. 25, 1806 - "800 miles from the frontiers of our country, in the most inclement season of the year, not one person clothed for the winter, many without blankets,..."

Jan. 1-4, 1807 - "We had great difficulty in getting our horses along, some having nearly killed themselves falling on the ice. I marched five miles on the river, which was one continuous fall through a narrow channel and immense cliffs..."

Lt. Melgares heads south having failed to intercept Pike's party. On February 26 he finally arrests Pike at his stockade on the Rio Grande. Despite their different national interests a unique and lasting comradeship developes.
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