Platte river; having measured the road with the chain, we ascertained
the distance to be eighteen and a half miles, from our encampment of
last night. It is all a rolling prairie; and in one spot, we found in
pools a little standing water. Some two miles before reaching the Platte
bottom the prairie is extremely rough; and as far as the eye can reach
up and down that river, it is quite sandy.[22] We encamped near a marshy
spot, occasioned by the overflow of the river, opposite an island
covered with timber, to which we were obliged to go through the shallows
of the river for fuel, as the main land is entirely destitute of trees.
Near us the Platte bottom is three and a half miles wide, covered with
excellent grass, which our cattle ate greedily, being attracted by a
salt like substance which covers the grass and lies sprinkled on the
surface of the ground. We observed large herds of antelope in our travel
of to-day. In the evening it rained very hard.
_June 2._ Our week of advance traveling being expired, we resolved to
make a short drive, select a suitable spot, and lay by for washing. We
accordingly encamped about six miles up Platte river. As I had been
elected captain but for two weeks, and my term was now expired, a new
election was held, which resulted in the choice of the same person. The
captain, Welsh, who was originally elected by all the companies, had
been with us one week, and some dissatisfaction was felt, by our
company, at the degree of authority he seemed disposed to exercise. We
found, too, that it was bad policy to require the several companies to
wait for each other;--our supply of provision was considered barely
sufficient for the journey, and it behooved us [to] make the best use of
our time. At present one of the companies was supposed to be two or
three days travel in the rear. We adopted a resolution desiring the
several companies to abandon the arrangement that required each to delay
for the others; and that each company should have the use of the pilot
according to its turn. Our proposition was not, for the present,
accepted by the other companies. While we were at our washing encampment
one {20} of the companies passed us, the other still remaining in the
rear.
_June 3._ Having traveled about eight miles, we halted at noon, making
short drives, to enable the rear company to join us. We have no tidings
of it as yet. We met seventy-five or eighty Pawnee Indians returning
from their spring hunt.[23]
_June 5._ Yesterday we traveled about twelve miles, passing captain
Stephens, with his advance company. To-day we traveled about the same
distance, suffering Stephens' company to pass us.[24] At noon they were
delayed by the breaking of an axletree of one of their wagons, and we
again passed them, greatly to their offence. They refused to accede to
our terms, and we determined to act on our own responsibility. We
therefore dissolved our connection with the other companies, and
thenceforward acted independently of them.
_June 6._ We advanced twenty miles to-day. We find a good road, but an
utter absence of ordinary fuel. We are compelled to substitute for it
buffalo dung, which burns freely.
_June 7._ We find in our sixteen miles travel to-day that the grass is
very poor in the Platte bottoms, having been devoured by the buffalo
herds. These bottoms are from two to four miles in width, and are
intersected, at every variety of interval, by paths made by the
buffaloes, from the bluffs to the river. These paths are remarkable in
their appearance, being about fifteen inches wide, and four inches deep,
and worn into the soil as smoothly as they could be cut with a spade.
We formed our encampment on the bank of the river, with three
emigrating companies within as many miles of us; two above and one
below; one of fifty-two wagons, one of thirteen, and one of
forty-three--ours having thirty-seven. We find our cattle growing lame,
and most of the company are occupied in attempting to remedy the
lameness. The prairie having been burnt, dry, sharp stubs of clotted
grass remain, which are very hard, and wear and irritate the feet of the
cattle. The foot becomes dry and feverish, and cracks in the opening of
the hoof. In this opening the rough blades of grass and dirt collect,
and the foot generally festers, and swells very much. Our mode of
treating it was, to wash the foot with strong soap suds, scrape or cut
away all the diseased flesh, and then pour boiling pitch or tar upon the
sore. If applied early this remedy will cure. Should the heel become
worn out, apply tar or pitch, and singe with a hot iron. At our
encampment to-night we have abundance of wood for fuel.
{21} _June 8._ We advanced to-day about twelve miles. The bottom near
our camp is narrow, but abounds in timber, being covered with ash; it,
however, affords poor grazing. So far as we have traveled along the
Platte, we find numerous islands in the river, and some of them quite
large. In the evening a young man, named Foster,[25] was wounded by the
accidental discharge of a gun. The loaded weapon, from which its owner
had neglected to remove the cap, was placed at the tail of a wagon; as
some one was taking out a tent-cloth, the gun was knocked down, and went
off. The ball passed through a spoke of the wagon-wheel, struck the
felloe, and glanced. Foster was walking some two rods from the wagon,
when the half spent ball struck him in the back, near the spine; and,
entering between the skin and the ribs, came out about three inches from
where it entered, making merely a flesh wound. A small fragment of the
ball had lodged in his arm.
_June 9._ The morning is rainy. To-day we passed Stephens' company,
which passed us on yesterday. Our dissensions are all healed; and they
have decided to act upon our plan.
_June 10._ Yesterday we traveled fifteen miles; to-day the same
distance. We find the grazing continues poor. In getting to our
encampment, we passed through a large dog town. These singular
communities may be seen often, along the banks of the Platte, occupying
various areas, from one to five hundred acres. The one in question
covered some two hundred or three hundred acres. The prairie-dog is
something larger than a common sized gray squirrel, of a dun color; the
head resembles that of a bull dog: the tail is about three inches in
length. Their food is prairie grass. Like rabbits, they burrow in the
ground, throwing out heaps of earth, and often large stones, which
remain at the mouth of their holes. The entrance to their burrows is
about four inches in diameter, and runs obliquely into the earth about
three feet, when the holes ramify in every direction and connect with
each other on every side. Some kind of police seems to be observed among
them; for at the approach of man, one of the dogs will run to the
entrance of a burrow, and, squatting down, utter a shrill bark. At
once, the smaller part of the community will retreat to their holes,
while numbers of the larger dogs will squat, like the first, at their
doors, and unite in the barking. A near approach drives them all under
ground. It is singular, {22} but true, that the little screech-owl and
the rattlesnake keep them company in their burrows. I have frequently
seen the owls, but not the snake, with them. The mountaineers, however,
inform me, that they often catch all three in the same hole. The dog is
eaten by the Indians, with quite a relish; and often by the
mountaineers. I am not prepared to speak of its qualities as an article
of food.
During the night, a mule, belonging to a Mr. Risley,[26] of our company,
broke from its tether, and in attempting to secure it, its owner was
repeatedly shot at by the guard; but, fortunately, was not hit. He had
run from his tent without having been perceived by the guard, and was
crawling over the ground, endeavoring to seize the trail rope, which was
tied to his mule's neck. The guard mistook him for an Indian, trying to
steal horses, and called to him several times; but a high wind blowing
he did not hear. The guard leveled and fired, but his gun did not go
off. Another guard, standing near, presented his piece and fired; the
cap burst, without discharging the load. The first guard, by this time
prepared, fired a second time, without effect. By this time the camp was
roused, and nearly all seized their fire-arms, when we discovered that
the supposed Indian was one of our own party. We regarded it as
providential that the man escaped, as the guard was a good shot, and his
mark was not more than eighty yards distant. This incident made us
somewhat more cautious about leaving the camp, without notifying the
guard.
_June 11._ To-day we traveled ten or twelve miles. Six miles brought us
to the lower crossing of Platte river, which is five or six miles above
the forks, and where the high ground commences between the two streams.
There is a trail which turns over the bluff to the left; we however took
the right, and crossed the river.[27] The south fork is at this place
about one fourth of a mile wide, and from one to three feet deep, with a
sandy bottom, which made the fording so heavy that we were compelled to
double teams. The water through the day is warm; but as the nights are
cool, it is quite cool enough in the morning. On the west bank of the
river was encamped Brown's company, which passed us whilst we were
organizing at Caw River. We passed them, and proceeded along the west
side of the south fork, and encamped on the river bank. At night our
hunters brought in some buffalo meat.
_June 13._ Yesterday we followed the river about thirteen miles, and
encamped on its bank, where the road between the {23} two forks strikes
across the ridge toward the North fork. To-day we have followed that
route: directly across, the distance does not exceed four miles: but the
road runs obliquely between the two streams, and reaches the North fork
about nine miles from our last camp. We found quite a hill to descend,
as the road runs up the bottom a half mile and then ascends the bluff.
Emigrants should keep the bluff sixteen or seventeen miles. We descended
a ravine and rested on the bank of the river.
_June 15._ Yesterday we advanced eight miles, and halted to wash and
rest our teams. We have remained all this day in camp. At daylight a
herd of buffalo approached near the camp; they were crossing the river,
but as soon as they caught the scent, they retreated to the other side.
It was a laughable sight to see them running in the water. Some of our
men having been out with their guns, returned at noon overloaded with
buffalo meat. We then commenced jerking it. This is a process resorted
to for want of time or means to cure meat by salting. The meat is sliced
thin, and a scaffold prepared, by setting forks in the ground, about
three feet high, and laying small poles or sticks crosswise upon them.
The meat is laid upon those pieces, and a slow fire built beneath; the
heat and smoke completes the process in half a day; and with an
occasional sunning the meat will keep for months.
An unoccupied spectator, who could have beheld our camp to-day, would
think it a singular spectacle. The hunters returning with the spoil;
some erecting scaffolds, and others drying the meat. Of the women, some
were washing, some ironing, some baking. At two of the tents the fiddle
was employed in uttering its unaccustomed voice among the solitudes of
the Platte; at one tent I heard singing; at others the occupants were
engaged in reading, some the Bible, others poring over novels. While all
this was going on, that nothing might be wanting to complete the
harmony of the scene, a Campbellite preacher, named Foster, was reading
a hymn, preparatory to religious worship. The fiddles were silenced, and
those who had been occupied with that amusement, betook themselves to
cards. Such is but a miniature of the great world we had left behind us,
when we crossed the line that separates civilized man from the
wilderness. But even here the variety of occupation, the active exercise
of body and mind, either in labor or pleasure, the commingling of evil
and good, show that the likeness is a true one.
{24} _June 17._ On our travel of eight miles, yesterday, we found the
bluffs quite high, often approaching with their rocky fronts to the
water's edge, and now and then a cedar nodding at the top. Our camp,
last night, was in a cedar and ash grove, with a high, frowning bluff
overhanging us; but a wide bottom, with fine grass around us, and near
at hand an excellent spring. To-day five miles over the ridge brought us
to Ash Hollow. Here the trail, which follows the east side of the South
fork of Platte, from where we crossed it, connects with this trail.[28]
The road then turns down Ash Hollow to the river; a quarter of a mile
from the latter is a fine spring, and around it wood and grass in
abundance. Our road, to-day, has been very sandy. The bluffs are
generally rocky, at times presenting perpendicular cliffs of three
hundred feet high. We passed two companies, both of which we had before
passed; but whilst we were lying by on the North fork, they had traveled
up the South fork and descended Ash Hollow.
_June 18._ We met a company of mountaineers from Fort Laramie, who had
started for the settlements early in the season, with flat-boats loaded
with buffalo robes, and other articles of Indian traffic. The river
became so low, that they were obliged to lay by; part of the company had
returned to the fort for teams; others were at the boat landing, while
fifteen of the party were footing their way to the States. They were a
jolly set of fellows. Four wagons joined us from one of the other
divisions, and among them was John Nelson, with his family, formerly of
Franklin county, Indiana. We traveled fifteen miles, passing Captain
Smith's company.
_June 19._ Five miles, to-day, brought us to Spring creek; eleven miles
further to another creek, the name of which I could not ascertain; there
we encamped, opposite the Solitary Tower.[29] This singular natural
object is a stupendous pile of sand and clay, so cemented as to resemble
stone, but which crumbles away at the slightest touch. I conceive it is
about seven miles distant from the mouth of the creek; though it appears
to be not more than three. The height of this tower is somewhere between
six hundred and eight hundred feet from the level of the river. Viewed
from the road, the beholder might easily imagine he was gazing upon
some ancient structure of the old world. A nearer approach dispels the
illusion, and it looks, as it is, rough and unseemly. It can be
ascended, at its north side, by clambering up the rock; holes having
been cut in its face for that purpose. The second, or {25} main bench,
can be ascended with greater ease at an opening on the south side, where
the water has washed out a crevice large enough to admit the body; so
that by pushing against the sides of the crevice one can force himself
upward fifteen or twenty feet, which places the adventurer on the slope
of the second bench. Passing round the eastern point of the tower, the
ascent may be continued up its north face. A stream of water runs along
the north-eastern side, some twenty rods distant from the tower; and
deep ravines are cut out by the washing of the water from the tower to
the creek. Near by stands another pile of materials, similar to that
composing the tower, but neither so large nor so high. The bluffs in
this vicinity appear to be of the same material. Between this tower and
the river stretches out a rolling plain, barren and desolate enough.
_June 20._ Traveling fourteen miles, we halted in the neighborhood of
the Chimney Rock. This is a sharp-pointed rock, of much the same
material as the Solitary Tower, standing at the base of the bluff, and
four or five miles from the road. It is visible at a distance of thirty
miles, and has the unpoetical appearance of a hay-stack, with a pole
running far above its top.[30]
_June 24._ Since the 20th we have traveled about sixty-two miles, and
are now at Fort Laramie; making our whole travel from Independence about
six hundred and thirty miles. On the 22d we passed over Scott's Bluffs,
where we found a good spring, and abundance of wood and grass. A
melancholy tradition accounts for the name of this spot. A party who had
been trading with the Indians were returning to the States and
encountering a band of hostile savages, were robbed of their peltries
and food. As they struggled homeward, one of the number, named Scott,
fell sick and could not travel. The others remained with him, until the
sufferer, despairing of ever beholding his home, prevailed on his
companions to abandon him. They left him alone in the wilderness,
several miles from this spot. Here human bones were afterwards found;
and, supposing he had crawled here and died, the subsequent travelers
have given his name to the neighboring bluff.[31]
_June 25._ Our camp is stationary to-day; part of the emigrants are
shoeing their horses and oxen; others are trading at the fort and with
the Indians. Flour, sugar, coffee, tea, tobacco, powder and lead, sell
readily, at high prices. In the {26} afternoon we gave the Indians a
feast, and held a long _talk_ with them. Each family, as they could best
spare it, contributed a portion of bread, meat, coffee or sugar, which
being cooked, a table was set by spreading buffalo skins upon the
ground, and arranging the provisions upon them.
Around this attractive board, the Indian chiefs and their principal men
seated themselves, occupying one fourth of the circle; the remainder of
the male Indians made out the semi-circle; the rest of the circle was
completed by the whites. The squaws and younger Indians formed an outer
semicircular row immediately behind their dusky lords and fathers. Two
stout young warriors were now designated as waiters, and all the
preparations being completed, the Indian chiefs and principal men shook
hands, and at a signal the white chief performed the same ceremony,
commencing with the principal chief, and saluting him and those of his
followers who composed the first division of the circle; the others
being considered inferiors, were not thus noticed.
The talk preceded the dinner. A trader acted as interpreter. The chief
informed us, that "a long while ago some white chiefs passed up the
Missouri, through his country, saying they were the red man's friends,
and that as the red man found them, so would he find all the other pale
faces. This country belongs to the red man, but his white brethren
travels through, shooting the game and scaring it away. Thus the Indian
loses all that he depends upon to support his wives and children. The
children of the red man cry for food, but there is no food. But on the
other hand, the Indian profits by the trade with the white man. He was
glad to see us and meet us as friends. It was the custom when the pale
faces passed through his country, to make presents to the Indians of
powder, lead, &c. His tribe was very numerous, but the most of the
people had gone to the mountains to hunt. Before the white man came, the
game was tame, and easily caught, with the bow and arrow. Now the white
man has frightened it, and the red man must go to the mountains. The red
man needed long guns." This, with much more of the like, made up the
talk of the chief, when a reply from our side was expected.
As it devolved on me to play the part of the white chief, I told my red
brethren, that we were journeying to the great waters of the west. Our
great father owned a large country there, and we were going to settle
upon it. For this purpose we brought with us our wives and little ones.
We were compelled {27} to pass through the red man's country, but we
traveled as friends, and not as enemies. As friends we feasted them,
shook them by the hand, and smoked with them the pipe of peace. They
must know that we came among them as friends, for we brought with us our
wives and children. The red man does not take his squaws into battle:
neither does the pale face. But friendly as we felt, we were ready for
enemies; and if molested, we should punish the offenders. Some of us
expected to return. Our fathers, our brothers and our children were
coming behind us, and we hoped the red man would treat them kindly. We
did not expect to meet so many of them; we were glad to see them, and to
hear that they were the white man's friends. We met peacefully--so let
us part. We had set them a feast, and were glad to hold a talk with
them; but we were not traders, and had no powder or ball to give them.
We were going to plough and to plant the ground, and had nothing more
than we needed for ourselves. We told them to eat what was before them,
and be satisfied; and that we had nothing more to say.
The two Indian servants began their services by placing a tin cup before
each of the guests, always waiting first upon the chiefs; they then
distributed the bread and cakes, until each person had as much as it was
supposed he would eat; the remainder being delivered to two squaws, who
in like manner served the squaws and children. The waiters then
distributed the meat and coffee. All was order. No one touched the food
before him until all were served, when at a signal from the chief the
eating began. Having filled themselves, the Indians retired, taking with
them all that they were unable to eat.
This is a branch of the Sioux nation, and those living in this region
number near fifteen hundred lodges.[32] They are a healthy, athletic,
good-looking set of men, and have according to the Indian code, a
respectable sense of honor, but will steal when they can do so without
fear of detection. On this occasion, however, we missed nothing but a
frying pan, which a squaw slipped under her blanket, and made off with.
As it was a trifling loss, we made no complaint to the chief.
Here are two forts. Fort Laramie, situated upon the west side of
Laramie's fork, two miles from Platte river, belongs to the North
American Fur Company.[33]
The fort is built of _adobes_. The walls are about two feet thick, and
twelve or fourteen feet high, the tops being picketed or spiked. Posts
are planted in these walls, and support the timber for the roof. {28}
They are then covered with mud. In the centre is an open square, perhaps
twenty-five yards each way, along the sides of which are ranged the
dwellings, store rooms, smith shop, carpenter's shop, offices, &c., all
fronting upon the inner area. There are two principal entrances; one at
the north, the other at the south. On the eastern side is an additional
wall, connected at its extremities with the first, enclosing ground for
stables and carrell. This enclosure has a gateway upon its south side,
and a passage into the square of the principal enclosure. At a short
distance from the fort is a field of about four acres, in which, by way
of experiment, corn is planted; but from its present appearance it will
probably prove a failure. Fort John stands about a mile below Fort
Laramie, and is built of the same material as the latter, but is not so
extensive. Its present occupants are a company from St. Louis.[34]
_June 26._ This day, leaving Fort Laramie behind us, we advanced along
the bank of the river, into the vast region that was still between us
and our destination. After moving five miles, we found a good spot for a
camp, and as our teams still required rest, we halted and encamped, and
determined to repose until Saturday the 28th.
_June 28._ A drive of ten miles brought us to Big Spring, a creek which
bursts out at the base of a hill, and runs down a sandy hollow. The
spring is one fourth of a mile below the road. We found the water too
warm to be palatable.[35] Five miles beyond the creek the road forks; we
took the right hand trail, which is the best of the two, and traversed
the Black Hills, as they are called. The season has been so dry that
vegetation is literally parched up; of course the grazing is miserable.
After proceeding eighteen miles we encamped on Bitter Cottonwood.[36]
_June 29._ To-day we find the country very rough, though our road is not
bad. In the morning some of our cattle were missing, and four of the
company started back to hunt for them. At the end of fourteen miles we
rested at Horse Shoe creek, a beautiful stream of clear water, lined
with trees, and with wide bottoms on each side, covered with excellent
grass. At this point our road was about three miles from the river.[37]