Transcription:
02082 3 we descended was the Stanislaus river, a tributary of the San Joaquin, both names to us being then unknown. Our
party was now entirely out of provisions. One of the last two oxen had been killed before we began the climb, the other when
in mid journey down the western slope. The oxen become so poor that the bones contained no marrow. Fires 02082 4 had
desolated the mountians and it seemed impossible to find or kill any game. It took about three weeks to get over the great
chain, and during that time no game was killed except one wildcat and one crow. The last ox gone, mules and horses could not
be spared, except when some became too poor to travel or crippled by falling down precipitous places and so were our only
resource