OCR Text |
Show [ 2431 8 In addition to these, Henry Brant, son of Col. J. B. Brant, 0f t. Louis, a young man of nineteen years of age, and Randolph, a lively boy o( twelve, son of the 1 [on. Thomas ll. Benton, accompanied me, for the development of mind and body which such an expedition would give. \Ve were nil well Armed and nwtmtcd, with the excrption of cirrht men, who conducted a many carts, in which were packed on r stores, with the ba:rg-a(Tc \ c...: _ u and instruments, nnd which we re each drnwn by two mule.... A few loose horses, and four oxen, which had been added to 011 r ~ lock or pro vi ~ ions, completed the train. We ,at out on the mornin;; or the lOth, whicl1 happened to be Friday, a circum tance which our men did not f~il to remember and recall dnrino- tile hardships and vexatiOIL of L!Je ensuing journey. lVIr. Uyprian houteau, to who e kindness during our ~tay af hi hou,e we were mnch indebted, accompt~nied u · several m1le· on onr way, until we met an Indian, whom he had engaged to co nduct 11 on the tlr t thirty ot forty mil es, where he wa ·to con ign u. to the ocean of pranie, wl!ich, w - were told, tretched withont interruption , almo t to the ba~e o[ the 1locky Mountains. From the helt of wood which borders the Kanzas, in which we had passed several good looking Indian farms, we suddenly emergrd on the prairies, which received us nt the outset with some of their stri king cllilrncteri:5tics; for here and there rode an Indian , and but a few mile distant, heavy clouds of sm~ke were rt)llinrr before the fire. In about ten miles we reached the Santa Fe road, alon~ which we continued for a sho1t time, and encamped early, on n. srnall tream, havina travPll cd about eleven mile . Durin(J' our journey, it was the cu tomary practice to encamp an hour or two brfore sunset, when the carts were di ... posed o as to forlll a ::;ort of barricade around a circle some eighty yards in diameter. The tents were pitched, and the horses hobbled and turned loo e to !!rnze; and but. a few millutes clap ed before the cooks of the mes ·e , of which there were four, were bu ilv engrwed in preparing the evenin;:; meal. At nig·ht fall , the horses, nltde;, and oxen, were dri,·en i11, and pickett ed- -that is, ecured by a halter, of which one end wa~ tied to a small steel-shod picket, and driven into the aroundthe halter beinn- twenty or thirty feet lon ~, which enablet1 tl1e111to obtain a little food during the ni rrl!r. \Vh en \\'e had reached n pnrt of the country where such a precall(ion became necessary , the earls lWJil<'r n~cru larly' arrat\lTetl for . - ~ '? 0 defendmg the camp, g uard wns mounted at eight o'clock, consi!=itin rr of h ~ ~ t ree meu, who were reli eved every two hours; the momin!r watch hei1~g horse guard for the day. At daybreak the cn rnp wa · ro uRed, the animals turned loose to graze, and breakfast genera lly O\' l'r lwtwccn six and sen~n o'clock, \Vhcn we resumed our mnrch, mnkin~· rcguliu ly a halt at noon for o~e or two hours. ~ 'uch was u ·ually the order of the day, except when accrdent of country forced a variation, wh ich, however, happcrwd but rarely. We lmvelled the next day alono- the anta Fe road, which we left in the afte~noon, ~md encamped lute in tl-1e evrnin~ on a small creek, callrd by the lndmns MI.;;Iunagv.·i. J u t as we arrived at camp, one of the horses set oiT at fu~l speed ?n hi return, and was followed hy ot h er~. 'c\·rrnl men were sent . m ptfi r::5mt, and ret11rned with the ftwitives about midnirrht with the ex- b h ) ceptlon 0 .one mal.l, \VIto did not make his nrpearancc Ullt il morning. .I Ie had lost Ills w~y ~n th_e darkness of the ni!Jht, and ~lept on the prairie. ~hortl~ after lltldrir~ht, .tt began to. rain heavily, and a~ our tents wrre of light and thm cloth , they oflcred but ltttlc ohsttuction to rain ; we were nil well soaked, and glad when morning came. \Vc had a rainy march on the 12th, .. 9 [ 243} but tlre wcathrr grew ~ne as tl1~ day ndvanccd. \V e encamped in a rernarkably beautiful , ituation on the Kanzas Dluff.._, which commanded a fine view of the river valley, here from three to four rllil c·: \\'ide. The central portion wa · ocn1pi(·d lJy a broad belt of IH'rn·y tintbrr, and nenrrr the !tills the prairies were of tire rich e~t v rdtJre. )ne of the oxen wa • kiUed here for food. \tY.,.e rracl1ed tlle ford of the Kanzas late in the afternoon of the 14th, where the river wa · two hundrc·d itnd thirty yards wide, nnd cornntencrd immediat ely prt'rarariom; for crossit 1 ~. 1 lind expected to lind tltc river for(hble, hut it had been swollen by the ll\te min ~, nnd was S\\'P ·ping by wirla an angry curTent, yellow and turbid ns the Mi s~o tiri. Up to tlli~ point, the rond we had trav 'lied was a rrmarkahly fine one, Wl~ll brat en, and lev<' I, the llSttnl road of a prairie cotmtry. By our route the ford w:-ts one IHnHired ntilcs from the mouth of the Kanzns rivf!r. ' cvrral mount ed mrn lrd the way mro tlte ~trearn to. wim ncro:-:!=i. The animals wrre driven in aft 'r them, nnd jn a f 'w lllilltJt es all !tad reached the opposite bank in .:afety, wilh the exeeption of the O.\.en, wltich 8wam sonte di~rnnce down the river, nnd return .. i~g to the right bard were not g-ot ovrr until the next moming. Ln the me"ntune, the cnrts had been unloaded and di mn.ntlecl, and an l11dia nrl>hcr bo:-tt, which I l~tHI brought with me for rite survey of the Platll~ rivrr, plu ·cd in the Water. 'fltr boal Wll twen! y f •et lon ~l·, illld fin~ broad , and On it WilS placed th.e body and wll 'c1s of a cart, with the load belonging to it, a11d three Ill n wllh paddle ~ . 'Phc \'elocily of the current., and the in convenirnt frei~ltt, rrndcring it difficult to be ntnrwged, Ba il I Jaj e unes~e, one of our best swinullers, took in his t ·etlt a line attached to tlte ·boat, nnd swam altrad in order to rt'nch n foot Jno · ns soon as pos~ible, nnd n.s~i:t in drawing her ovrr. ln thi:-:; manner, . ix pust; ages had been ~ tlcr(·~~ftdly made, and as lllitHY cn rts with th eir cor1t ent · , and~ gr ·ater portio11 of the pnrty d e po~ itcd on the left lmnk-1 l>nt night wa drnwi11g Hear, nnd in otrr anxiety to have all ovrr before:: r!Je dnrkn e.;;· rlo·ccl in, I put lrron llle boat the r<'m:tining two carts with th eir accorllranyin!; loacl. The man at the hel1n wa timid in water, ancl in hi· alarrn cap:-:;iz rd the boat. Carts, lm.rn•l , box(' , :1nd bale , W<'re in a nwmcnt tlontin ~ dowu the current, b~tt all the men who wrre on lite sl1ore j11mpcd inro the watf'r, without stopprng to rhitlk if thPy co11lcl ·wirn, and alrno::;t every tiling, even heavy article~, such a,~ g un · and lead, were recO\'cred. 'L\vo of the n1en who could not !=;Wim came nt~h bein~ drown ~d, and all the sugar belong-ing- to one of lite mrsses Wll!'ted it swrers on the mnddy water~; but our llraviest lo::; wns a bag of colTee, which containrd nrarly all onr provi ·ion. lt \\' llS a lo::; which none but n traveller in a stranO'e and inhospitable cotintry can appn'ciate; and ofrrn afterward, when exc~ssive toil and loner mnrcl1illC'r ltnd overcome us with fatigur and wearill<'SS, we remrmbered nnd mourn ed over our lo~ in the Knnza •. Cnrson and 1\'Inxw ·ll had hecn much in the wntrr yesterday, nnd both in con::wqtH'nce w re taken ill. 'rile form er continuing so, 1 r<'mained in camp. 1\ numbN of Knnzns Indinns visited u to -day. Going up to one of the groups who were scatt ere<l ilmong the trres, [ fo11nd one sitting on the ground among- some of the mrn, gr8vely and Jlucntly sp<'akinl)" L~ rrnch, with as much facility and ns little embarrnsstn<.' nt as any of my own pi,Ht.y, who were nearly all of L•'renclt orirrin. On all side~ was hrnrd the st rnnge la11gur~gc of his ow11 people, wild, :HHl hnrmonizing well widt their appearance. I listennd to him for ~o n1 c timt' with fecliiW::i of strange cUJio~i ty and interest. He was now apparently |