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Show CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVIII. A Mountain Huut, XIX. Passage of the Mountains, XX. The Lonely Journey, . XXI. The Pueblo and Bent's Fort, XXII. T ete Rouge, the Volunteer, XXIII. Indian Alarms, • , XXIV. The Chase, • XXV. The Buffalo Camp, XXVI. Down the Arkansas, XXVII. The Settlements, . • PAGE 298 0 312 332 356 365 . . 371 385 • r 397 • 415 • • 436 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. CHAPTER I. THE FRONTIER. Away, away from men and towns To the silent wilderness." SHELLEY. LAsT spring, 1846, was a busy season in the city of St. Louis. Not only were emigrants from every part . of the country preparing for the journey to Oregon and California, but an unusual nu1nber of traders were making ready their wagons and outfits for Santa Fe. Many of the emigrants, especially of those bound for California, were persons of wealth and standing. The hotels were crowded, and the gunsmiths and saddlers were kept constantly at work in providing arms and eq uipments for the different parties of travellers. Almost every day steamboats were leaving the levee and passing up the Missouri, crowded with passengers on their way to the frontier. |