7th. Remained this day at the camping ground to write home, there being
a post office at the Fort. There are a great many wagons left at this
point by many taking to packing. Thousands of dollars worth of property
being thrown away, but anything we wish to buy, we have to pay double
price for. Fort Laramie is situated at the junction of the Laramie and
Platte rivers, and surrounded by high bluffs, being at the base of the
Black Hills. It is 630 miles from St. Joseph, and 500 from Council
Bluffs. The fort is built mostly of adobies, or unburnt brick, and
resembles Fort Kearney. The garrison consists of about 300 men at this
time.--The Council Bluffs road comes in at this place, and the soldiers
have a ferry across the Platte by which they make considerable money
out of the emigrants, which I understand goes into a fund to buy a
library for the garrison. The officers have built a hand saw-mill near
the fort, although there is no timber nearer than the Black Hills, some
10 miles distant from the fort.
8th. Struck our tents this morning and started on the Black Hills road.
The majority of the teams have gone up the Platte bottoms. We have
found good grass to-day, abundance of good buffalo grass, the best we
have had. Passed the Warm Spring, 14 miles from the fort; saw a flock
of mountain sheep, but they were so wild that we could not get a shot
at them. Saw an antelope--had a grand chase for him, but he eluded us
and got away. We camped at night at a beautiful stream of water in a
romantic valley, with plenty of wood and water. One of Loyd's men shot
a sage hen, which is a species of grouse somewhat larger than a prairie
hen. The flesh of the sage hen is excellent savory eating. We are now
in the sage country; it resembles our cultivated sage, but is more
bitter, and grows about two feet high; also great abundance of prickly
pear, the ground being sometimes covered for acres in one bed. The
prickly pear covers the ground here to that extent that we are
frequently compelled to clear away with our spades space to erect our
tents, it not being particularly agreeable to the seat of honor to sit
down on the long sharp thorns. This must be a healthy country, although
a barren cold one, being constantly in sight of snow, which can be seen
at all times in the year.