Note III-43 — Chapter III · ITINERARY, CONCLUDED: IN THE MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO ON HEADWATERS OF THE ARKANSAW AND RIO GRANDE, DECEMBER 1ST, 1806-FEBRUARY 26TH, 1807.

Of which about 13 (misprinted "18") was down the Rio Grande, the rest up the Rio Conejos; Trinchera cr. (the one from the E., which Pike's map letters "Rio de la Culebra") was passed a short distance above the Conejos. The latter is a large stream from the W. which arises in the San Juan range, in the vicinity of Conejos Peak (13,183 feet), leaves the mountains by the foot of Prospect Peak (6,837 feet), is joined in the San Luis hills by San Antonio cr. (its principal branch), and then seeks the Rio Grande by winding about the northern ends of the hills just named. The data already given, with those details which the text presently offers, serve to fix the present station with precision—about 5 m. up the Conejos, on its N. bank, at a point where it was not fordable, and directly S. of which was a high hill. A sufficiently large map, such as Sheet X of the Hayden survey, shows exactly these topographical details, and also marks two ranches in the immediate vicinity: see also Pike's own map. Under these circumstances it seems to me wasted ingenuity to find Pike's blockhouse in some other place; yet its locality has been disputed. Maguire puts the case well: "The exact locality of the site (a notable spot in Western history) is in dispute, owing to the discovery many years ago of the remains of an ancient log structure further W. on the Conejos, which some suppose to have been Pike's fortress; but everything in the narrative, as well as in the Spanish records, indicates the prairie opposite the mineral springs and high hill on the S. bank of the Conejos as the spot where the flag of the United States is first recorded as floating above the soil of Colorado." Gregg's map locates the place approximately, with the legend "□ Pike's Stockade Whence taken to Santa Fé. Feb. 1807".

Concerning the exact location of Pike's post on the Conejos, I am favored with the following letter (cited in substance) from Mr. Maguire, an old resident of the San Luis valley: