It is impossible to follow their route through this rugged
mountain range with any degree of accuracy. Their progress was slow and
painful. On the 20th, they toiled up an exceedingly high ridge to the
north, and from its summit the Spaniards looked upon a boundless sea of
mountains, "presenting," writes Crespi, "a sad prospect to us poor
travelers worn out with the fatigue of the journey." The cold was
beginning to be severe, and many of the men were suffering from scurvy
and unfit for service, which increased the hardship for all; yet they
did not falter but pressed bravely on, and on the 26th emerged from the
mountains by the Arroyo Seco, which they named the Canada del Palo
Caido[24] (Valley of the Fallen Tree), and camped on the Salinas river,
which they christened Rio de San Elizario. From now on the march is an
easy one down the Salinas valley to the sea.
On the last day of September, the command halted near the mouth of the
Salinas river, within sound of the ocean, though they could not see it.
They were persuaded that they were not far from the desired port of
Monterey and that the mountain range they had crossed was unquestionably
that of the Santa Lucia, described by Torquemada in his history of the
voyage of Vizcaino, and shown on the chart of the pilot Cabrera Bueno.
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