I had gratified the first feelings of curiosity I
descended, and each man ascended in turn, for I would only allow one
at a time to mount the unstable and precarious slab, which it seemed a
breath would hurl into the abyss below. We mounted the barometer in
the snow of the summit, and, fixing a ramrod in a crevice, unfurled the
national flag, to wave in the breeze, where never flag waved before.
During our morning's ascent, we met no sign of animal life, except a
small bird having the appearance of a sparrow. A stillness the most
profound, and a terrible solitude forced themselves constantly on the
mind as the great features of the place. Here, on the summit, where
the stillness was absolute, unbroken by any sound, and the solitude
complete, we thought ourselves beyond the region of animated life; but
while we were sitting on the rock, a solitary bee (bombus terrestris,
the humble bee) came winging his flight from the eastern valley, and lit
on the knee of one of the men.

"Around us the whole scene had one main striking feature, which was that
of terrible convulsion. Parallel to its length, the ridge was split
into chasms and fissures, between which rose the thin, lofty walls,
terminated with slender minarets and columns, which are correctly
represented in the view from the camp on Island Lake. According to the
barometer, the little crest of the wall on which we stood was three
thousand five hundred and seventy feet above that place, and two
thousand seven hundred and eighty feet above the little lakes at the
bottom, immediately at our feet.

"Our camp at the Two Hills (an astronomical station) bore south 30 east,
which, with a bearing afterward obtained from a fixed position, enabled
us to locate the peak. The bearing of the Trois Tetons was north 50
degrees west, and the direction of the central ridge of the Wind River
Mountains south 39 degrees east. The summit rock was gneiss. Sienite
and feldspar succeeded in our descent to the snow line, where we found
a felspathic granite. I had remarked that the noise produced by the
explosion of our pistols had the usual degree of loudness, but was not
in the least prolonged, expiring almost instantaneously. Having now made
what observations our means afforded, we proceeded to descend. We had
accomplished an object of laudable ambition, and beyond the strict
order of our instructions. We had climbed the loftiest peak of the Rocky
Mountains and looked down upon the snow a thou