Today being Sunday, we determined to lay by till noon and let our cattle
rest, and go on in the afternoon to the vicinity of Chimney Rock, which
would afford better feed and give us an opportunity to examine this
great natural curiosity. A large number of teams passed us in the
forenoon, which made some of our party impatient to be going. I said we
stopped to let our cattle rest, for the men were nearly all engaged in
such matters as become necessary, such as washing their clothes, airing
their bedding, and such other things as could not be done on the way. By
four o'clock we were opposite Chimney Rock, and after going a short
distance further we stopped for the night. In company with some others
of our party, I started for the Rock, some two miles distant. The lower
portion of it is thrown up like a mound in a conical shape, to the
height of about two hundred feet, and upon this rests a perpendicular
column of some twenty feet in diameter, and about one hundred feet high.
By some, the height of the rock is computed at from five hundred to
eight hundred feet, but I have put it as it appeared to me. The lower
portion is composed of baked clay, and the upper part of a kind of soft
rock, darker in color than the base. I saw thousands of names which were
engraved upon the plaster material, and intended to carve my own, but
was prevented by a storm coming on. It continued to rain that evening,
and as there was a cold wind, and we had no fuel except a little we had
in our wagons, it was anything but pleasant; but as we went to bed
early, we soon forgot the rain beneath comfortable blankets. Though the
ground was wet, a good buffalo robe was sufficient to keep out dampness
all night. High bluffs are visible on each side of us, and in advance.
Distance, eight miles.