Note IV'-18 — Chapter IV · OBSERVATIONS ON NEW SPAIN.[IV'-1]

This paragraph is contradicted by the map, on which "Rio de Sta. Buenaventura" runs W. into a nameless lake, S. of a certain Lac de Timpanagos, and is the first river, N. and W. of Green r., that does not connect with the Colorado. The Buenaventura is a ghost-river which haunted geography for many years. Nothing like such a river as this was represented to be exists—it is as much of a myth in Utah and California as Lahontan's fabulous Long r. in Minnesota and Dakota. But it is a rule with hardly an exception that every myth has some basis of fact. In so far as Pike's Buenaventura represents anything in nature, I imagine it to be an adumbration of Sevier r., and its sink to be Lake Sevier, in the western part of Utah, S. of Great Salt l. True, the Buenaventura is laid down very much out of the actual course of the Sevier; but not more wrongly than Green r. is, and the very curious way in which the Sevier winds about to reach its sink would hardly have been discovered and correctly delineated by those early travelers in the "Great American Desert." The nameless lake itself is not very far out of the way on Pike's map. Possibly also, the mysterious river, "whose mouth is unknown," may be intended for some section of the Sevier; for, if we were to connect this trace with Pike's Buenaventura, we should have a recognizable representation of the Sevier. But Pike heads his Rio S. Buenaventura, by a principal branch called "Rio de Sn. Clemente," in that portion of the continental divide he marks "Sierra Verde," i. e., Green mts., also the source of present Green r. We should note further in this connection the appearance on Pike's map of New Mexico of a certain river running northward, lettered "Rio de Piedro Amaretto del Missouri." Here, "Amaretto" is a mistake of the engraver for Amarillo, the phrase being Sp. Piedra Amarilla = F. Pierre Jaune or Roche Jaune = E. Yellow Stone, a principal branch of the Missouri. As we have repeatedly seen already, Pike was determined to interlock the headwaters of the Yellowstone, Platte, Arkansaw, and Rio Grande in some one spot in the Rocky mts.—and here we have it, just over the divide that separates these Atlantic waters collectively from those of the general basin of the Colorado. Observe, also, how nearly the dotted trail of the "Country explored by a Detachment of American Troops commanded by Captain Pike" reaches to the supposed Yellowstone.

The Sevier r. possesses a melancholy interest as the scene of the wanton and brutal murder by Piute Indians of Captain John Williams Gunnison and most of his companions, near Sevier l., Oct. 27th, 1853. The particulars are given by Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith, P. R. R. Rep., II. 1855, pp. 72-74. The massacre occurred at break of day of the 27th, not on the 26th, as usually reported. There was no provocation whatever, and no thought of danger on the part of the devoted band. Those killed, besides Captain Gunnison, were Mr. E. H. Kern, topographer and artist; Mr. F. Creuzfeldt, botanist; Mr. Wm. Potter, a citizen of Utah, guide; John Bellows, an employee; and three men of the military escort, which consisted of a corporal and six privates; only four of the whole party escaped with their lives. Lieutenant Beckwith expressly exonerates the Mormons from complicity in the outrage; public opinion thought otherwise; and the official record of Captain Gunnison's death stands "Killed 26 Oct. 53 by a band of Mormons and Inds near Sevier Lake Utah." The lamented and accomplished officer met his fate while conducting explorations and surveys for a railroad route near the 38° and 39° parallels of N. lat. He had graduated from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point July 31st, 1837, when he became a second lieutenant of the 2d Artillery; was transferred with that rank to the corps of Topographical Engineers July 7th, 1838; became first lieutenant May 9th, 1846; and obtained his captaincy Mar. 3d, 1853.