Forty-eight days after leaving Independence we came to Fort Laramie,
which is more like a trading post than like a fortification. It stands
on the banks of the river Platte, is owned by the American Fur Company,
and is six hundred and seventy-two miles from Independence by the trail
we came over.
Just fancy! We had traveled nearly seven hundred miles, the men of the
company walking all the way; yet during that time, with the exception
of the mishap to Colonel Russell's wagon and the loss of a few head of
cattle, we had come to no harm.
[Illustration]
At Fort Laramie we slept in a real house for the first time since
starting on the long journey. It was not such a building as we lived in
at Ashley, and yet it was to me almost beautiful, after I had remained
so long in the wagon.
I fancied I would sleep on that night as never before since the
march began, and that we would have supper and breakfast properly and
conveniently served.
I had supposed the mosquitoes and the midges were as thick in our
wagons as it would be possible to find them anywhere; but when we came
into that house the place was swarming with them, and they prevented us
from closing our eyes in rest during the entire night. Never was a girl
better pleased than I when the first light of day came in through the
windows.