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Show FROM FORT BRIDGER & c. 71 buckskins, Indian paint and Indian filth. A careful ex amination of my linen, proved that I did leave the cabin more numerous than when I entered, which I feared was the case. CHAPTER A. FROM FORT BRIDGER TO WANSHIP SETTLEMENT. AT Fort Bridger we left two other companies, which re duced our column to a very small remnant of the large command that left Fort Leavenworth. Only three companies remained, and these were destined for Camp Douglas, where our long but pleasant march was to terminate. Two ladies also left us here Mrs. Major Burt, whose husband was to assume command, and Miss Reynolds, her sister. These ladies had been universally esteemed, and their society highly prized. Mrs. Burt was regarded by every one as an example of what an army officer's wife should be. Directly west of the post is an elevation of peculiar appearance, known as Bridger's Butte, and also as the Flat Mountain. It is a piece of table- land, its surface several square miles in extent, and as flat and smooth as the country between New Orleans and Lake Ponchartrain, and of an elevation of several hundred feet above the fort. The ascent to it appeared easy, but I found considerable difficulty in making it, though the prospect afforded from so elevated a position well repaid me for the trouble. The entire valley, with all the bench- lands, and the mountains surrounding these, many miles away, could be taken in at a glance. It was the most extended view I ever had, and the beauty of the landscape was hardly surpassed by the pros- |
