JUNE.

From Elm Grove, our route until the third of June was nearly the same

as that described to you in 1842. Trains of wagons were almost

constantly in sight; giving to the road a populous and animated

appearance, although the greater portion of the emigrants were

collected at the crossing, or already on their march beyond the Kansas

river. Leaving at the ford the usual emigrant road to the mountains, we

continued our route along the southern side of the Kansas, where we

found the country much more broken than on the northern side of the

river, and where our progress was much delayed by the numerous small

streams, which obliged us to make frequent bridges. On the morning of

the 4th we crossed a handsome stream, called by the Indians Otter

creek, about 130 feet wide, where a flat stratum of limestone, which

forms the bed, made an excellent ford. We met here a small party of

Kansas and Delaware Indians, the latter returning from a hunting and

trapping expedition on the upper waters of the river; and on the

heights above were five or six Kansas women, engaged in digging prairie

potatoes, (_psoralea esculenta_.) On the afternoon of the 6th, whilst

busily engaged in crossing a wooded stream, we were thrown into a

little confusion by the sudden arrival of Maxwell, who entered the camp

at full speed at the head of a war party of Osage Indians, with gay red

blankets, and heads shaved to the scalp lock. They had run him a

distance of about nine miles, from a creek on which we had encamped the

day previous, and to which he had returned in search of a runaway horse

belonging to Mr. Dwight, which had taken the homeward road, carrying

with him saddle, bridle, and holster-pistols. The Osages were probably

ignorant of our strength, and, when they charged into the camp, drove

off a number of our best horses; but we were fortunately well mounted,

and, after a hard chase of seven or eight miles, succeeded in

recovering them all. This accident, which occasioned delay and trouble,

and threatened danger and loss, and broke down some good horses at the

start, and actually endangered the expedition, was a first fruit of

having gentlemen in company--very estimable, to be sure, but who are

not trained to the care and vigilance and self-dependence which such an

expedition required, and who are not subject to the orders which

enforce attention and exertion. We arrived on the 8th at the mouth of

the Smoky-hill fork, which is the principal southern branch of the

Kansas; forming here, by its junction with the Republican, or northern

branch, the main Kansas river. Neither stream was fordable, and the

necessity of making a raft, together with bad weather, detained us here

until the morning of the 11th; when we resumed our journey along the

Republican fork. By our observations, the junction of the streams is in

lat. 39° 30' 38", long. 96° 24' 36", and at an elevation of 926 feet

above the Gulf of Mexico. For several days we continued to travel along

the Republican, through a country beautifully watered with numerous

streams, and handsomely timbered; and rarely an incident occurred to

vary the monotonous resemblance which one day on the prairies here

bears to another, and which scarcely require a particular description.

Now and then, we caught a glimpse of a small herd of elk; and

occasionally a band of antelopes, whose curiosity sometimes brought

them within rifle range, would circle round us and then scour off into

the prairies. As we advanced on our road, these became more frequent;

but as we journeyed on the line usually followed by the trapping and

hunting parties of the Kansas and Delaware Indians, game of every kind

continued very shy and wild. The bottoms which form the immediate

valley of the main river were generally about three miles wide; having

a rich soil of black vegetable mould, and, for a prairie country, well

interspersed with wood. The country was everywhere covered with a

considerable variety of grasses, occasionally poor and thin, but far

more frequently luxuriant and rich. We had been gradually and regularly

ascending in our progress westward, and on the evening of the 14th,

when we encamped on a little creek in the valley of the Republican, 265

miles by our traveling road from the mouth of the Kansas, we were at an

elevation of 1,520 feet. That part of the river where we were now

encamped is called by the Indians the _Big Timber_. Hitherto our route

had been laborious and extremely slow, the unusually wet spring and

constant rain having so saturated the whole country that it was

necessary to bridge every water-course, and, for days together, our

usual march averaged only five or six miles. Finding that at such a

rate of travel it would be impossible to comply with your instructions,

I determined at this place to divide the party, and, leaving Mr.

Fitzpatrick with twenty-five men in charge of the provisions and

heavier baggage of the camp, to proceed myself in advance, with a light

party of fifteen men, taking with me the howitzer and the light wagon

which carried the instruments.

Accordingly, on the morning of the 16th, the parties separated; and,

bearing a little out from the river, with a view of heading some of the

numerous affluents, after a few hours' travel over somewhat broken

ground, we entered upon an extensive and high level prairie, on which

we encamped towards evening at a little stream, where a single dry

cottonwood afforded the necessary fuel for preparing supper. Among a

variety of grasses which to-day made their first appearance, I noticed

bunch-grass, (_festuca_,) and buffalo-grass, (_sesleria dactlyloides_.)

Amorpha canescens (_lead plant_) continued the characteristic plant of

the country, and a narrow-leaved _lathyrus_ occurred during the

morning, in beautiful patches. _Sida coccinea_ occurred frequently,

with a _psoralea_ near _psoralea floribunda_, and a number of plants

not hitherto met, just verging into bloom. The water on which we had

encamped belonged to Solomon's fort of the Smoky-hill river, along

whose tributaries we continued to travel for several days.

The country afforded us an excellent road, the route being generally

over high and very level prairies; and we met with no other delay than

being frequently obliged to bridge one of the numerous streams, which

were well timbered with ash, elm, cottonwood, and a very large oak--the

latter being occasionally five and six feet in diameter, with a

spreading summit. _Sida coccinea_ is very frequent in vermilion-colored

patches on the high and low prairie; and I remarked that it has a very

pleasant perfume.

The wild sensitive plant (_schrankia angustata_) occurs frequently,

generally on the dry prairies, in valleys of streams, and frequently on

the broken prairie bank. I remark that the leaflets close instantly to

a very light touch. _Amorpha_, with the same _psoralea_, and a dwarf

species of _lupinus_, are the characteristic plants.

On the 19th, in the afternoon, we crossed the Pawnee road to the

Arkansas, and traveling a few miles onward, the monotony of the

prairies was suddenly dispelled by the appearance of five or six

buffalo bulls, forming a vanguard of immense herds, among which we were

traveling a few days afterwards. Prairie dogs were seen for the first

time during the day; and we had the good fortune to obtain an antelope

for supper. Our elevation had now increased to 1,900 feet. _Sida

coccinea_ was the characteristic on the creek bottoms, and buffalo

grass is becoming abundant on the higher parts of the ridges.

21st.--During the forenoon we traveled up a branch of the creek on

which we had encamped, in a broken country, where, however, the

dividing ridges always afforded a good road. Plants were few; and with

the short sward of the buffalo-grass, which now prevailed everywhere,

giving to the prairies a smooth and mossy appearance, were mingled

frequent patches of a beautiful red grass, (_aristida pallens_,) which

had made its appearance only within the last few days.

We halted to noon at a solitary cottonwood in a hollow, near which was

killed the first buffalo, a large old bull.

Antelope appeared in bands during the day. Crossing here to the

affluents of the Republican, we encamped on a fork, about forty feet

wide and one foot deep, flowing with a swift current over a sandy bed,

and well wooded with ash-leaved maple, (_negundo fraxinifolium_,) elm,

cottonwood, and a few white oaks. We were visited in the evening by a

very violent storm, accompanied by wind, lightning, and thunder; a cold

rain falling in torrents. According to the barometer, our elevation was

2,130 feet above the gulf.

At noon, on the 23d, we descended into the valley of a principal fork

of the Republican, a beautiful stream with a dense border of wood,

consisting principally of varieties of ash, forty feet wide and four

deep. It was musical with the notes of many birds, which, from the vast

expanse of silent prairie around, seemed all to have collected here. We

continued during the afternoon our route along the river, which was

populous with prairie dogs, (the bottoms being entirely occupied with

their villages,) and late in the evening encamped on its banks. The

prevailing timber is a blue-foliaged ash, (_fraxinus_, near _F.

Americana_,) and ash-leaved maple. With these were _fraxinus

Americana_, cottonwood, and long-leaved willow. We gave to this stream

the name of Prairie Dog river. Elevation 2,350 feet. Our road on the

25th lay over high smooth ridges, 3,100 feet above the sea; buffalo in

great numbers, absolutely covering the face of the country. At evening

we encamped within a few miles of the main Republican, on a little

creek, where the air was fragrant with the perfume of _artemisia

filifolia_, which we here saw for the first time, and which was now in

bloom. Shortly after leaving our encampment on the 26th, we found

suddenly that the nature of the country had entirely changed. Bare

sand-hills everywhere surrounded us in the undulating ground along

which we were moving, and the plants peculiar to a sandy soil made

their appearance in abundance. A few miles further we entered the

valley of a large stream, afterwards known to be the Republican fork of

the Kansas, whose shallow waters, with a depth of only a few inches,

were spread out over a bed of yellowish white sand 600 yards wide. With

the exception of one or two distant and detached groves, no timber of

any kind was to be seen; and the features of the country assumed a

desert character, with which the broad river, struggling for existence

among the quicksands along the treeless banks, was strikingly in

keeping. On the opposite side, the broken ridges assumed almost a

mountainous appearance; and fording the stream, we continued on our

course among these ridges, and encamped late in the evening at a little

pond of very bad water, from which we drove away a herd of buffalo that

were standing in and about it. Our encampment this evening was 3,500

feet above the sea. We traveled now for several days through a broken

and dry sandy region, about 4,000 feet above the sea, where there were

no running streams; and some anxiety was constantly felt on account of

the uncertainty of water, which was only to be found in small lakes

that occurred occasionally among the hills. The discovery of these

always brought pleasure to the camp, as around them were generally

green flats, which afforded abundant pasturage for our animals; and

here we usually collected herds of the buffalo, which now were

scattered over all the country in countless numbers.

The soil of bare and hot sands supported a varied and exuberant growth

of plants, which were much farther advanced than we had previously

found them, and whose showy bloom somewhat relieved the appearance of

general sterility. Crossing the summit of an elevated and continuous

range of rolling hills, on the afternoon of the 30th of June, we found

ourselves overlooking a broad and misty valley, where, about ten miles

distant, and 1,000 feet below us, the South fork of the Platte was

rolling magnificently along, swollen with the waters of the melting

snows. It was in strong and refreshing contrast with the parched

country from which we had just issued; and when, at night, the broad

expanse of water grew indistinct, it almost seemed that we had pitched

our tents on the shore of the sea.