Route across the Rocky Mountains, with a description of Oregon and California: their geographical features, their resources, soil, climate, productions, &c.

Page 12

THE JOURNEY OUT ing tltcm. aud was running with a strong, even current. There is! in tHiltty pl ~t t; (~ ;-j along the Platte, a kind of salt, with which the t~ ro u wl, i11 s po t.' , is covered; and the water in the River is slightly itttpt eg tta tt:•d. Jn ~om e o( the sloughs and pools, back from the Hiver, the water is very strong. We found but little wood here, und noue except iu&rneoiately on the River. We were frequently uttabl e to procure it, and were compelled, sometimes, to make <l. l::it l':lli (re substitute in the exct·ement of the Buffalo, in order to do out• ;:'~ coo l\ ing. The val'ietics of timber are few; the principal kind b t~illu what is commonly called Cotton Wood. We saw great nurn· 1':' be t·s of Antelopes, ns we passed up the River; but they were so wild, anJ the valley was so level, that it was difficult to aptHoach them. Wo also saw a sin.g.... ulat·little animul, which has been called the Pr9it·ie Dog~ Jts size, shape und color, are very much tho sume as the l~t·ge wharf rat, and its barking resembles that of the common Gray Squirrel. They burrow in the ground, and live in villages, frequently of several hundreds. There is a small Owl, that sometimes lives in the same hole with the Dog. As we were now coming into the game country, and expecti11g every duy to see the plains covered with herds of Buffalo; we made up a hunting party, (having pr'3viously joined one of the em­igratiug parties,) of 20 men, and proceeded up the River ahead of the wagons, to obtain meat and dry it by the time they would c.ome up, in order to make as little detention as possii.Jle. In the even,. ing of the second day, we heard the guns of some of the party, who were in chase of a Buffalo along the Southern side of the val­ey, and ag wf. saw the ·cloud::J begin to swell, dark and angrily above the Western horizon, and heard their thunders muttering heavily behind the hills, we thought it prudent to halt and prepare our camp. As we saw no timber ahead, and did not wish to go back, we stopped upon the open prairie, on the nearest high ground to the River. The rain had begun to fall; but several of us, who were anxiuus to see the Buffalo, disregarding it, mounted our horses and galloped across the valley, in the direction from which we had heard the rep01·ts of the guns. The wind was blowing a gale; the clouds grew darker, until they almost shut out the light of the set­ting sun. The rain increased, and by the time we had reached the spot where the hunters were butchering, it poured down upon us as if all the windows of Heaven had been at once unbarred. The lightening and the thunder, was dimming to the eye and deafening to the ear; and, Withal, it was certainly just as cold as it could be WITH 1TS INCIDENTS. 15 without the wate1• congealing. "I never saw it rait1 before," said n poor fellow, whose teeth were chattering together, in a manner thatseemed to threaten the destruction of his mastteators. "No•· 1 "-"nor I"-'" nor I "-echoed half a dozen others, who wet·e, as far as wet and cold wet·e concerned, about in the same condition that they would have been, had they have been soaked an age in the Atlantic Ocean, and just hung out on the North Cape to dry. We made all possible haste; but, nevertheless, it was near two hours and growing quite dark, before we were ready to return to camp: and then we were so benumbed by the wet and cold, and encum­bered with the meat which we had taken, that it was quite dark by the time we reached the River. When we camP. to the place where we had left the camp, we learned from one who had been waiting for us, that they had moved down the River, in hopes of finding wood. We then~ fore threw th~ remainder of our things, which had been }eft, upon our ho1·ses, and started to look for the camp. \Ve saw our way by the lightning, and after traveling as we thought long enough to have gone several miles, we turned over ~he point of a hill, and saw a small light like that of a candle, a~ay below us on the River. Taking a straight lioe for the light, we at length reach­ed it, after having waded through a dozen sloughs up to our waists. vVe had expected to find a large blazing fire, and thought how comfortable we should be when we could warm and dry around it; and as we. had not eaten any thing since morning, our a petites began t.o remind us how excellent a piece of roasted Buffalo meat would be. But how sadly were we disappointed, to find our companions shiv­ering around a few coals, over which for fuel there was only a heap of green vVillow brush. Wet, cold, and hungt·y, we spread ou ,. beds, which were of course as wet as watet· could make them, and turned in; but not to sleep--it was only to dodge the wind, and shiver the night away. At length the sky became clear, and the cold increased. We watched the stars, which seemed stationary in the sky. A dozen nights, accord:mg to the reckoning of our feel­ings, had time to have passed, and to us it appeared as though tpe sun would never rise; but at length it came, and never was dawn of day hailed more rapturously. One who was braver than the rest, summoning all his resolution, crawled out of bed: he would have leaped and ran, had he been able; but that was imposstble.­His limbs refused to do their duty, and taking a hatchet, he waded across an arm of the River to an Island, upon which there was wood, and began cutting and c·arrying across. His example arous·