is glittering in
the first rays of the sun, which
has not yet reached us
August 10 – The air at sunrise is clear and pure, and the morning extremely cold, but beautiful.
A lofty snow peak of the mountain is glittering in the first rays of the sun, which has not yet reached us.
The long mountain wall to the east, rising two thousand feet abruptly from the plain, behind which we see the peaks, is still dark, and cuts clear against the glowing sky.
A fog, just risen from the river, lies along the base of the mountain.
A little before sunrise, the thermometer was at 35°, and at sunrise 33°.
Water froze last night, and fires are very comfortable.
The scenery becomes hourly more interesting and grand, and the view here is truly magnificent; but, indeed, it needs something to repay the long prairie journey of a thousand miles.
The sun has just shot above the wall, and makes a magical change.
The whole valley is glowing and bright, and all the mountain peaks are gleaming like silver.
Though these snow mountains are not the Alps, they have their own character of grandeur and magnificence, and will doubtless find pens and pencils to do them justice.
From the Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains – 1842 by John C. Fremont as reprinted in The American Landscape: A Critical Anthology of Prose and Poetry edited by John Conron, London, Oxford University Press 1973.
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