4th. Remain camped at the same place. Went back to the town and got the
remainder of our supplies; had a very warm day, but a cold night before
it--ice made 3/4ths of an inch thick.
5th. Sunday. Remained camped at the same place; had a pleasant day.
There was a funeral down at the lower end of the camp to-day; it was
about a mile from our camp, I did not learn the particulars. Met at
night to try and organize a company; chose a committee and adjourned
until the next night at five o'clock.
6th. Remained at the same place. Went to town to try the Post Office
again before we started, but found nothing. By the way, I forgot to say
that we are in the Nebraska Territory now, and on the Indian lands. The
Indians do not like it very well that the whites camp on their ground
on account of cutting timber. (There are about 500 of them camped near
us.) The men met again to organize; I was not present, but they made
out nothing. We concluded to go with the same company that we had been
in: Trimble, Sublett, Ainsly, Welch and Trammel & Co. from Mineral
Point, Wisconsin.
7th. Had a bad night last night; it rained and snowed nearly all night.
Had about two inches of snow on the ground this morning. It cleared off
about 10 A.M., when we struck our tent and started on the long journey.
Weather came off fine and warm; find some grass but none to amount to
anything; still have to cut dry grass. We made 20 miles to-day, and
camped on a small creek. We have nine teams in company that expect to
go through together, although we are not organized, viz: (besides
myself) Thomas Trimble, and William Sublett & Co., Stephen Ainsly and
party, Litwiler and company, and Daughterty and company. We have
mechanics of every trade, and various musicians, and while I am
writing, one of the company is enlivening the solitude with a fine
toned key bugle; one ought to be here in the wilderness to know the
value of music. We have 37 men in our party, and if the other teams
come up and join us we shall have 41. This I think is a large enough
party, as we cannot camp any where after this without being near other
companies, several of whom are now camped above and below us. We expect
to go as far as the Indian Mission to-morrow.