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Show [ 243] 74 Cnche camp, where we found every thing undisturbed. \Ye disinterred our deposit arranged onr carts which had been left here 011 the way out, ;md travel!i'ng- a few miles in the afternoon, encamped for the uight ut the ford of the Platte. .Au![ust 27.-At midday we halted nt the place where we had taken dinner on the 27th of Jnlv. · rr11e country, which when we passed up looked as if the hard winter ·frosts hnd passed over it, had now assumed a uew face, so much of vernal freshne s had been given to it hy the late rain ~. 'rhe Platte was exceedingly low, a mere line of water among the sand burs. We reached Laramie fort on the hst day of Angust, after nn absence of iorty-two days, and had the pleasure to find our friends all well. The fortieth day had been fixed for onr rerurn , and the quick eye· of the Indians, \vho were on the lookout for us, discovered our flag ns we wound among the hill!-'. The fort sa lu tcd us with r peatcti di chnrgcs of its single piece, ·which we returned with scattered Yo II ies of Otll' small arms, and felt tile •1oy of a home reception in getting back to this remote station, which seemed so far off ~s we went ont. On the morning of the 3d of September we bade adieu to our kind friends nt the fort, and continued our homeward jon rney do\:.'n the Platte, whicb. was glorious with the autumnal splendor of innumerable flow 'rs in full and brilliant bloom. On the wnrm sand., among the helianthi, one of the characteristic plauts, we saw great 11u mbers of n\ ttle&nnkes, of which five or ~ix wr.rc killed in the morning's ride. Vve occupied onr£clves in Improving our prcvwns EU rvey of the river; and , as the weather was fiue, astronomical ouservations were generally made at night and at noon. . vVe halteu for a short time on the afternoon of the 5th with a village of Swnx lnd in.ns; some of whose chiefs we had met at Laramie. 'l'he water 111 the Platte was extreme! y low; in many places the Iaro-e expanse of sands, with some occasional st11ntcd trees on the banks, gave it the air of the seacoa~t, the hcd of the river being mere! y a ~uccession of sand bars, among which the channel wu divided into rivulets a few inches deep. We crossed and recro ed with our carts repeatedly and at our plea ~ ure, and whcucver an obstruction barred onr way, in the shape of precipitous bluffs lhnt came down upon the river, we tumed directly into it, and made our way along the sandy bed, witlt no 01her inconvenience than the frequent quick nnds, which o-reatly i~ttigncd our animals. Di inte rring on the ~ay the cache which had been made by onr party when they ascended the n ver, we reached without acL·idcnt, Oil the evctti llf! of the 12th of September, our old eucampment of the 2d of Jnly, nt the junction of the forks. Our caclte ~f. the barrel of pork was found nndi tnrbcd: nnd proved a sca-onable additiOn to onr stock of provieo ns. At this place I had determined to malm anoth~r attempt to dc~.cc 11d the Pintle by water: awl accordingly spent two days Ill the co11strnctioll of a bull boat. Men were sent out on th~ evening of our arrival, the necc.'sary number of bulls killed, and their skins brou~ht to the Cll!llP· Four of the be t of them were trougly sewed ~ogether Wtth buffalo Slltew, and stretched over n basket frame of willow. rJw scams were then covered with a. hcs and tallow, and the boat left ex~ osed to the sun fo~· the greater part of one day: which was ~nfticieut to dry ._md co~ntract tile sku~, and make the whole worl\ solid and strong. It had a 1 oundcu bo.w, wa eight feet Ion~ and five broa.cl, and drew with fonr men abont four Inche::: W?l.ter. 011 tile mornin(r of the 15th we embarked in our lude boat, .'\'Ir. Prcnss and myself, with t~o Illf~n. \Ve dragged her over I 75 [ 243] the sands for three or fonr miles, a~1d then .lrft. her on a bar, and a~~ndon~~ ·ntirely all further attempts to navtgate this t.·iver. The na.mes biven 'f the Indians arc always remarkably approp•:wte, a11<l. certamly t:,one wa~ ever more so than that which th y hare .g1ven to till~ stream, the, Nc ~.-. r .. ·kn or Shallow river." ' Valkinu ·teaddy the renuunder of the d,ty, a lui t,t,l e 'b'e fore d' nrk we overtook ourt : people at 1 · · about t leir cv~mng camp,~ twenty-oue miles below tile junction. The _next morntng we cro. ~ed tl~e l)lattc, and continued on r wuy d?wn tl1 n ver bottom on tile left ban ' where we fouttd an excel! nt, plrunly beat n r?ad.. . , o- On th , 1 th we reached G 1 and island, which Is 1i ft y-t wo mile~ lon , with au avcrncre Lncadth 'of orw mile and three quarters. 1t has on It som~ ~mall ctni nenc~ : and i su t1icicntl y elevated to be secut_-c .from t h~ ann ~l~ jl('oJs of the river. As hn been already remarked? It IS well tirnbet?C, with an excdlent soil. and recommends itself to notice ns the be~t pomt lor a military position' on the Lower Platte. Ou the 22d we nrrired al the village of the Grand Pawnees, on the rig·ht uank of tlte rir er, about t!1irry miles nuovc t!lc mouth of the Lou~ for~. '!'hey were crnthcring in their corn, and we oblam c<l from them n vcty we-rome supply of vegetable~. . ~ ) , The mornin<r of the ~4.th we rcnchcd the Loup f01t... of the ll . ..tttc. At the place wherc 0 we ford ed it, this strearu '':as fo~rr hundred_ at~~! th1rt! yards broad with a wift current of clear water, tn tlus respecl .ulf~ ung from the Platte, which has a yellow mudtly ~olor, derived fror,ll the lr.mcstone .nn.d mar~ formation of which we have prcvrously spoken. rhc fOld was cllffcult, a:> the water'was so deep that it came iuto the body of the carts, ruHl. we reached the oppo~itc bank after repented atten1pt., a ccnding and deccndmg the becl uf the river in order to avail ourselves of tiJC bars. W c cnc.nmped on the ll-ft uank of the fork, in the point of land at its junction .w1th the Pl_attc. During the two day~ that \\·e remai ne~l here for a::;tronotntct:l o~servat.wn s,. the bad weather perm itt cl u to ohtatn but. one .good obsc1 va~wn fot the latitude, a mc1 ~dia n altitude of the sun, wlw;h gtve for the latllude of the mouth of the Loup fork, 4J 0 22' 11 ". . Five or ·ix tlay · previ o u ~ly l lmd cnt forward C. Lambert, With ~women, to Bellevue with dircctio11s lo n:k from Mr. P. arpy, the gentl m~n Ill charge c.f the Amci~if:[Ut Company'~ cstabli ~hmcnt nt that place, tlle aid o! his ~arpcntcrs in coust ructinrr a boa\, in which T proposed to descend the Mrssoun. On the afternoon of the 27th we met one of the men, who hnd been de-patched by ~lr. 'arpy with a welcome su pply of provi. ions and a \'cry kit~d not~, which gave us the very gratifyi ng intelligence thai o~H boat was ~n rnpHl procrre.ss. On the evening of the 30Lh we encamped Ill an. almost tmpen_etraulc umlcro-rowth on the left bank of the Platte, m the pomt of land at Its conHuence with the .Mi ~ouri, three hundred and fifteen mile , according to ur reckoning, from the junction of the forks, and five hundred and twenty lr<.1rn (:<'ort Lun:unie. From the junction we had founu the bed of the Plat~c occupied with numerous i 'lands, many of the1n very large, and nll well timbered? po~ e.ssing, as well as the bottom lands of the river, a. very 'XC !lent sod. vVnh the exception of some scattered o-rovcs on the uanks, the bottom.' are geneJnlly withont timber. A portion of these con ist. of low gr~u nds , cov_ered '.\1ith a profusion of f1ne o-ra es ancl are probably Inundated m lllc spnng; the rernnining part is hi(Tl1 rivc·t~ prairie, entirely beyond the influe~1ce of th~ iloods. 'l'l!e breadth of the river i:::; u~unll y three q uaner.s of a mile, except |
