Leaving the river bottom, the road which was the Oregon trail, past Fort
Laramie,--ran along the uplands, over a rolling country, upon which were
scattered many boulders of red sand-stone, some of them of several tons
weight; and many beautiful plants and flowers enlivened the prairie. The
barometer indicated fourteen hundred feet above the level of the sea,
and the elevation appeared to have its influence on vegetation.
The country became more broken, rising still and covered everywhere with
fragments of silicious limestone, strewn over the earth like pebbles on
the sea shore; especially upon the summits and exposed situations; and
in these places but few plants grew, while in the creek bottoms, and
ravines, a great variety of plants flourished.
For several days they continued their journey, annoyed only by the lack
of water, and at length reached the range of the Pawnees who infested
that part of the country, stealing horses from companies on their way to
the mountains, and when in sufficient force, openly attacking them, and
subjecting them to various insults; and it was while encamped here, that
a regular guard was mounted for the first time, but the night passed
over without annoyance.
Speaking of the constant watchfulness required when in the neighborhood
of hostile or thieving Indians, Fremont says,
"The next morning we had a specimen of the false alarms to which all
parties in these wild regions are subject. Proceeding up the valley,
objects were seen on the opposite hills, which disappeared before a
glass could be brought to bear upon them. A man, who was a short
distance in the rear, came spurring up in great haste, shouting,
Indians! Indians! He had been near enough to see and count them,
according to his report, and had made out twenty-seven. I immediately
halted; arms were examined and put in order; the usual preparations
made; and Kit Carson, springing upon one of the hunting horses, crossed
the river, and galloped off into the opposite prairies, to obtain some
certain intelligence of their movements.
"Mounted on a fine horse, without a saddle, and scouring bareheaded over
the prairies, Kit was one of the finest pictures of a horseman I have
ever seen. A short time enabled him to discover that the Indian war
party of twenty-seven consisted of six elk, who had been gazing
curiously at our caravan as it passed by, and were now scampering off at
full speed. This was our first alarm, and its excitement broke agreeably
on the monotony of the day. At our noon halt, the men were exercised at
a target; and in the evening we pitched our tents at a Pawnee encampment
of last July. They had apparently killed buffalo here, as many bones
were lying about, and the frames where the hides had been stretched were
yet standing."
Leaving the fork of the "Blue," upon a high dividing ridge, in about
twenty-one miles they reached the coast of the Platte, or Nebraska River
as it is called, a line of low hills, or the break from the prairie to
the river bottom. Cacti here were numerous, and the _amorpha_,
remarkable for its large and luxuriant purple clusters, was in full
bloom. From the foot of the coast, two miles across the level bottom,
brought them to the shore of the river twenty miles below the head of
Grand Island, and more than three hundred from the mouth of the Kansas.
The elevation of the Platte valley here was about two thousand feet
above the level of the sea.
The next day they met a party of fourteen, who had started sixty days
before from Fort Laramie, in barges laden with furs for the American Fur
Company, hoping to come down the Platte without difficulty, as they left
upon the annual flood, and their boats drew only nine inches of water.
But at Scott's bluffs, one hundred and thirty miles below Fort Laramie,
the river became so broad and shallow, and the current so changeful
among the sandbars, that they abandoned their boats and _cached_ their
cargoes, and were making the rest of their journey to St. Louis on foot,
each with a pack as large as he could carry.
In the interchange of news, and the renewal of old acquaintanceships,
they found wherewithal to fill a busy hour. Among them Fremont had found
an old companion on the northern prairie, a hardened and hardly served
veteran of the mountains, who had been as much hacked and scarred as an
old _moustache_ of Napoleon's "old guard." He flourished in the
sobriquet of La Tulipe, and his real name no one knew. Finding that he
was going to the States only because his company was bound in that
direction, and that he was rather more willing to return with Fremont,
he was taken again into his service.
A few days more of travel, whose monotony was not relieved by any
incident worth narrating, brought the party in sight of the buffalo,
swarming in immense numbers over the plains, where they had left
scarcely a blade of grass standing. "Mr. Preuss," says Fremont, "who was
sketching at a little distance in the rear, had at first noted them as
large groves of timber. In the sight of such a mass of life, the
traveler feels a strange emotion of grandeur. We had heard from a
distance a dull and confused murmuring, and when we came in view of
their dark masses, there was not one among us who did not feel his heart
beat quicker. It was the early part of the day, when the herds are
feeding; and everywhere they were in motion. Here and there a huge old
bull was rolling in the grass, and clouds of dust rose in the air from
various parts of the bands, each the scene of some obstinate fight.
Indians and buffalo make the poetry and life of the prairie, and our
camp was full of their exhilaration. In place of the quiet monotony of
the march, relieved only by the cracking of the whip, and an '_avance
donc! enfant de garce!_' shouts and songs resounded from every part of
the line, and our evening camp was always the commencement of a feast,
which terminated only with our departure on the following morning. At
any time in the night might be seen pieces of the most delicate meat,
roasting _en appolas_, on sticks around the fire, and the guard were
never without company. With pleasant weather, and no enemy to fear, an
abundance of the most excellent meat, and no scarcity of bread or
tobacco, they were enjoying the oasis of a voyageur's life."
Three cows were killed on that day, but a serious accident befell Carson
in the course of the chase, which had nearly cost him his life. Kit had
shot one, and was continuing the chase, in the midst of another herd,
when his horse fell headlong, but sprang up and joined the flying band.
Though considerably hurt, he had the good fortune to break no bones; and
Maxwell, who was mounted on a fleet hunter, captured the runaway after a
hard chase. He was on the point of shooting him, to avoid the loss of
his bridle, (a handsomely mounted Spanish one,) when he found that his
horse was able to come up with him.
This mishap, however, did not deter Kit from his favorite pursuit of
buffalo hunting, for on the following day, notwithstanding his really
serious accident, we find him ready and eager for another chase. Fremont
in his narrative thus relates the occurrence:--
"As we were riding quietly along the bank, a grand herd of buffalo, some
seven or eight hundred in number, came crowding up from the river, where
they had been to drink, and commenced crossing the plain slowly, eating
as they went. The wind was favorable; the coolness of the morning
invited to exercise; the ground was apparently good, and the distance
across the prairie (two or three miles) gave us a fine opportunity to
charge them before they could get among the river hills. It was too fine
a prospect for a chase to be lost; and halting for a few moments, the
hunters were brought up and saddled, and Kit Carson, Maxwell, and I,
started together. They were now somewhat less than half a mile distant,
and we rode easily along until within about three hundred yards, when a
sudden agitation, a wavering in the band, and a galloping to and fro of
some which were scattered along the skirts, gave us the intimation that
we were discovered. We started together at a hard gallop, riding
steadily abreast of each other, and here the interest of the chase
became so engrossingly intense, that we were sensible to nothing else.
We were now closing upon them rapidly, and the front of the mass was
already in rapid motion for the hills, and in a few seconds the movement
had communicated itself to the whole herd.
"A crowd of bulls, as usual, brought up the rear, and every now and then
some of them faced about, and then dashed on after the band a short
distance, and turned and looked again, as if more than half inclined to
stand and fight. In a few moments, however, during which we had been
quickening our pace, the rout was universal, and we were going over the
ground like a hurricane. When at about thirty yards, we gave the usual
shout (the hunter's _pas de charge_), and broke into the herd. We
entered on the side, the mass giving way in every direction in their
heedless course. Many of the bulls, less active and less fleet than the
cows, paying no attention to the ground, and occupied solely with the
hunter, were precipitated to the earth with great force, rolling over
and over with the violence of the shock, and hardly distinguishable in
the dust. We separated on entering, each singling out his game.
[Illustration: "IN A FEW MOMENTS HE BROUGHT ME ALONG SIDE OF HER, AND
RISING IN THE STIRRUPS, I FIRED."]
"My horse was a trained hunter, famous in the west under the name of
Proveau, and with his eyes flashing, and the foam flying from his mouth,
sprang on after the cow like a tiger. In a few moments he brought me
alongside of her, and rising in the stirrups, I fired at the distance of
a yard, the ball entering at the termination of the long hair, and
passing near the heart. She fell headlong at the report of the gun, and,
checking my horse, I looked around for my companions.
"At a little distance, Kit was on the ground, engaged in tying his horse
to the horns of a cow which he was preparing to cut up. Among the
scattered bands, at some distance below, I caught a glimpse of Maxwell;
and while I was looking, a light wreath of white smoke curled away from
his gun, from which I was too far to hear the report. Nearer, and
between me and the hills, towards which they were directing their
course, was the body of the herd, and giving my horse the rein, we
dashed after them. A thick cloud of dust hung upon their rear, which
filled my mouth and eyes, and nearly smothered me. In the midst of this
I could see nothing, and the buffalo were not distinguishable until
within thirty feet.
"They crowded together more densely still as I came upon them, and
rushed along in such a compact body, that I could not obtain an
entrance--the horse almost leaping upon them. In a few moments the mass
divided to the right and left, the horns clattering with a noise heard
above everything else, and my horse darted into the opening.
"Five or six bulls charged on us as we dashed along the line, but were
left far behind; and singling out a cow, I gave her my fire, but struck
too high. She gave a tremendous leap, and scoured on swifter than
before. I reined up my horse, and the band swept on like a torrent, and
left the place quiet and clear. Our chase had led us into dangerous
ground. A prairie-dog village, so thickly settled that there were three
or four holes in every twenty yards square, occupied the whole bottom
for nearly two miles in length. Looking around, I saw only one of the
hunters, nearly out of sight, and the long dark line of our caravan
crawling along, three or four miles distant."