Well then we will suppose that now we are ready to start.  Away we go towards San Bernardino.  We pass the finest of vineyards where thousands of gallons of wine are made.  On, on we go, and at last, after a ride of about seventy miles, we arrive at San Bernardino.  One of the first things which attracts our attention is the mountain of the same name.  It rises seventeen thousand feet above the level of the ocean, attaining an altitude two thousand feet above that of Mont Blanc, the monarch of the Alps.

The inhabitants of the towns are, with few exceptions, Mormons.  It was from this place that we started on a survey, commencing east of the coast range of mountains, and extending our operations to the extreme boundary line of California, on the east.  The Colorado river was then the line which separated California from New Mexico.

The party employed in this surveying tour consisted of about forty men.  The first day we went as far as the mouth of the Cahon Pass, by which we were to penetrate through the coast range of which I have spoken.  At this spot we found a large farm, which they call a ranche, where provisions can be purchased, and also poor whiskey.  We rested here for the night, sleeping in the open air, and at an early hour in the morning, sprung from our blankets ready dressed.  The cook speedily prepared our breakfast, we ate like hungry men and then packed our mules and jacks, and were on our way.  Our pack animals will carry from two to three hundred pounds without any trouble.

Nearly at the eastern end of the pass we came to water.  This I claim that I discovered, or at least that my horse discovered it for me.  It is called in Spanish Guilliome Bobo, or “William I Drink.”  No one would see the spring unless narrowly looking for it.  It trickles down the almost perpendicular side of the mountain.  We encamped at the spring, and in the morning made an early start, as we had some forty or fifty miles to go that day.  But we had a serious job to encounter before we could get out of this defile.  It is so steep at its eastern extremity, that we had to unpack and send up very small loads at a time.  In some places we had to use ropes, to haul up our goods.

But after a while everything is ready for another start.  On, on we go, through a barren cactus country, till we reach the Mohave river.  The day is far spent, we are all very weary, men as well as animals.  So, boys, off with the packs of provisions, and let your mules go with their long hair ropes.  Let one of the men be sent to look out for the animals.  This was no sooner said than done.  I was captain of my men.  A harder set could not be found, in any prison in this or any other land.

My lieutenant, whose name was Texas, had but one eye and he was covered with scars.  But notwithstanding the company was a hard one, it was the best I could get for my use.  Almost all of them had been in many a fight.  Before they had been with me three months, I have reason to believe every one of them loved me, and I know that they feared me.  Only two instances of mutiny occurred in over two years and a half.  Both of these I will here relate.