OCR Text |
Show [ 174 J 38 my lireat smprisc, I fo nnd, on the ~ontrJ.ry, that this n~ws had t.hrown them a11 itJto th e greatest consternatiOn; a nJ , on eve ry stde, I h.e~ud only one exclamation,· It n'y m:tra pas de vie pom· nous.'. All th ~ 11t$ht, scat~ tered groups were assembled aronnd the fires, smoktng. thetr ptr:es, and li ten inn with the or~atest c:tacrness to exaggerated detatls of Indtn.n hostil; ties ;:>and m tllC ::>mornittg !"round the camp di pirited . and agitated by a variety of co nflicting opin io ns. A majority of the people wer~ strongly di ·pO'·l'd to rctnrn : but Cleme11t L'unbert, with some five or RlX otl:er~, professed their determination to follow :Mr. Frc·tton t to the ntternwst luntt of his jo urucy. The others yielded to tlteir remonstrances, a nd , somewhat ashamed of their coward ice, concl nded to advance at least so far as Laramie fork, eastw:nd of which they were aware no danger was to be apprehended. Notwithstanding the conf11sion aud excit0ment, we were very early on the road, as the days were extremely hot, :tnd we :were anxious to prufit by the fre htJcss of the morning. The s.oft marly fo rmation, over which we were now joumeying, freqneutly offers to the traveller views of remarkable aud picturesque beauty. To several of these localities, wllere the winds and the rain have worked the bluffs into cunons shapes, the voyageurs ltave oiv en names according to some fancied re emblauce. One of these, called tlte Cou1'L-house, we passed about six miles from our encampment of iast night, and towanl noon came in sight of the celebrated Chimney Toc!c. It looks; at tit is dislance of about thirty miles, like what it is called-the long chimney of a steam factory establishment, or a shot tower in Baltimore. Nothing occurred to interrupt the quiet of the day, ::~nd we encamped on the river, after a march of twenty- four miles. Buffalo had beco111e very scarce, and but olle cow had been kill ed, of wlticll the meat had been cut into thin slices, a11cl hung around the carts to dry. "Ju~IJ 1 0.-\Ve continued along the same fiuc plaittly beaten road, whieh the smooth surface of the conn try affo rded us, for a distance of six hundred and thirty miles, from the frotttiersof JVlissouri to the Laramie fork. In tbe cour::;e of tho day we met some whites, who were following along in . the train of .. Mr. Bridger; and, after a day's journey of twenty-fonr mtles, et1campecl about sunset at t!te Chimney rock, of which the an· 11exed drawing will render any description u1mecessary. It consists of m~rl and ~artt: y limestone, and the weather is rapidly dilllinishing its hetgllt, whtch 1' now not more thau two hundred feet above the river. Travellers whn vi ·i ted it some years since placed its height at upwards of five hnudrecl f~::(~ t. "Ju~IJ 11.- The valley of the North fork is of a vari:tble hreadth, from one to four, a 11d somG-times six miles. Fifteen miles from the Chimney rock we reached one of those places wlwre the river "tri kes the bluffs, an~ forces the road to make a considerable circuit over the 11 plands. !hts prc -entccl an e, carpment on the river of abo nt nine huudred ya rds m length, a ttd is farlliliarly known as Scott's bluffs. vVe bud made a jouruey of thirty miles before we aaain stl'llck the river at a })lace where :::> ' some scattty g ra ~s afforded an .inslttficiettt pastnrage to our animals. ~bout t.wenty rml cs from tlte Chimney rock we had found a very b~·auttfnl sprmg of ex~ell ent a n~l cold water; but it was in such a deep ravine, and so small, ~lt at th_e ::tllitua ls could not profi t by it, and we tltr.refo re halted only a lew lll ll1nte~, and found a res titto place ten miles furti1er ~n. The plain between Scott's b!u.tfs and Chimney rock was almost ltj u 0 ~ ~ ~ .".. t. ~ -<. .::: (:;l;;l 41 z ~ . ~ ,~, ..... ::z:: 0 |