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Show [ 174 J 46 should we not go? Before we came, we he1.rd that yon had killed his people, anti ceased to be hie.; chilclrctl ; but we came ~ll1101lg yon peaceably, holdiwr out our ll:.lllds. Now we find tlmt the stones we hea.rd are not lies, at~1 that yon are 110 longer his friends and ch ildren. \Vc have thrown away om bodies, auJ will not turn back. When you told us that your young men would 1 ill us~ yon di~ not know that onr llcart.s \Vcr.e strollg, anJ yon did not sec the nHes wlucl1 my youu.g men car1-y Ill t!Je1r h.ands. \Vc arc f0w, and you arc tuuny, and may loll us all; but tll?tc Wlll be much cryinO' in your villagrs> for mauy ot your young men w1ll stay beltincl and fo~·n·c t to retmn with your warriors from the monntains. Do you ;lliuk tk~t onr great chief will let his .sol~~ers die? and f?rt;et to cover their o-raves? Before the snows melt aaam, hts warnors wlll f>wecp away your ~illages as tbe fire uves the pratrie in the antnm11. Sec! I bave pulled down my w!tile houses, and my people are ready : whell t.he sun is ten paces lligher, we shall be on the march. If you ha vc auy thlllg to tell us, yon will say it soott." I broke up the conference, as I could do noth· ino- with these people; aud, being rcsol ved to proceed, lJOtlling was to be gaineJ by delay. Accompanied by onr hospitable fricllds, we retmued to the camp. vVJJ had mounted our horses, and onr parting salutations had been exchanged> when one of the chiefs (the Bnll's 'Ltil) arrived to tell me that they had determined to send a young man with us; and if I would point out the place of our cveuiug camp, he slwnld join us there. ': The youug man is poor," said he; "he has no llor~e, aud expects yon to give him one." I described to him the place where I iutcuded to encamp, and, "haklllg hands, in a few miuutcs we were among the hills, aml this last habitation of white· shut out from our view. The road led over nn iutercsting plateau between the North fork of the Platte on the right, and Laramie river on 11Je lefl. At the distance of ten miles from the fo1 t, we cntereJ tile sandy bed of a creek, a kind of defile, shaded by precipitons rocks, down which we wound our way for several hundred yards, to a place wberc, on the left bank, a very large spring gushes wuh cotl:--iderable noise nlld force out of the limestone rock. It is calleJ '· tlw \Varm Spring," o.nd furnishes to th~ hi therto dry bed of the c~·eek a considerable rivnlet. Oil the opposite side, a little below tbe c.;priJJg, is a lofty limestone escarpmcut, partially s h~tded by a grove of large trees, who ~ C green fo]iagr, in contrast with the white11ess of the rock, reuders this a picturesque locality. Tile rock is fossiliferous, and, so far as I was able to determine the character of the fossils, belongs to tlw carboniferous limestone of t!Je Missouri river, and is probablv tlte west t~r~l limitof t!1at formation. Beyond this poiut I met with uo fos il of any descrip· tlon. I wo,.s desirous to visit the Platte near the point where it leaves the l~lack hills, and therefore followed this stream, for two or three miles, to th~ moutb .i where 1 euc:11np~J on a spot which afforded good grass aud prele (eqwsetum) for onr amm~ls. Our tents having been found too thin to protect ourselves and the mstruments from the rains, which in this elevated "~11 tr~' nre ~ttendcd with cold and unplcasaut weather, I had procured ~ro~ the Indmns at Laramie a tolerably large lodge, about eigh· teen feet 1~1 dtam~ter, an~ twen.ty feet in height. Such a lodge, w!Jen prop~rly pltc~ed, ts, f~·om Its comcal form, almost perfeclly secure agaitJst the vwl.ent wmds wh1ch are fn·quent in thi' region, and, wi1il a fire in the Ce11tre, 1s a dry aud warm shelter in bad wr>nthrr. By ra isiug the lower 47 [ 17-1 J part, so as to p~rmit the ~1reezn to pass (~r~cJy, it is converted into a plcas<: tnt summer rcsl?cnce, wtth tlte ?xtraordmary advantage of being entirely free. from mosquitoes, otw of wl11ch I have never sec11 in an Jndwn Jodoe. Whtio.wc were en.gagc<.l very llJJ, !cilfully in erecting thi , the interr·rerer, :Mr. 13ts onettc, arnved, accompau1 '0 by the llldian and his wife. Sl 1e laughed at onr a wkward.ne~., and on:eretl her assistance, of which we were fre~u~utly afterward obilg:ed t? a~all ourselves, bt'fore the men acquired snflJCLCIJt cx_PerttH'ss to pttch 1t wtthont diUiculty. From th is place we lwd a .finr.. vww of the gorge where the Platte issues from the Bluck hills ch~ng111g tts cha.racter abruptly fro1n a mountain stream into a river o[ thd pht ns. ImnJedJate.ly aroun~l us the .valley of tue stream was tolerably oprn; and at .the dtstance of a few miles, where tltr river had cut its way tl~rong,h ti:e hills, was the nnrro\~ cleft, nu one side of which a lofty precipice ol bnght red rock rose verttcn.lly above tlte low hills which lay between us. .~uly 22.-. In the monJi~1g, while bre~kfa ~was being prepared, I visited till..> place Wit~ my favonte man, Ba. !l LaJetuJesse. Enteriug so far as ther~ was footmg for the mule , we d1smout1ted, and, tying our animals, c?ntmned our way on fooL . Like the whole colmtry, the ~o:;cencry of the nvcr .had undergone ::w cnttr,e, change, aud was in this place tile most beant1fn.l I have ever seen. I he breadd1 of the strenm, generally net~r that of Its .valley, was from two .to three hundred feet, with n swiJ't cnrr? nt, oc~aswnally broken by l:[l]:tds, and the water perfectly clear. On etther Ide rose the r~d preciptces, vertical, aml sometimes ovcrl1a1~o-ing tw~ and four hundred feet in height, crowned with oreen sunm1 it~ 01{ wht~h were scattered a few pitH'S. At the foot of the r~cks was the u~uat dctntns, formed of masse· fallen from above. Among the pines that grew her~; nn.d on th~ ?ccasional hank~, WPr~ the cherry, (cerasus virginia11a,) cu!runt~, and g1ams de b~nf (slupllerdw argentea.) Viewed iu the sunshmc. of a pleas:.u1~ morntng, tile sccn~ry was of a most striking and ro· mantle be~u.ty, whiciJ arose fronJ the p1ctmesq ue disposition of the objects, and. til~ ~iVId contra~t of colors. I thougl!t with mucl1 pleasure of our apptoacluug. descent 111 the canoe through such intercstillo places· and in t!lc expectatiOn of being able at that time to give to then~ a full dxami;latlon, d~J not now: dwell so much as might have been desirable upon tlJC ge.ologH·al formatwn~ along the line of the river where they arc developed Wlth great clc u ~ness. . 'fh e upper P?rtw· n of · the' red strata ·c onsists of very compact clay, 1u whtch are occaswnally seen imbeducd. laro-e pebbles Belo~v w~:s a tratum of compact red sandstone cbanO'inO' a Tittle abov~ tbe nvcr mto a. ~ery hard siliceous limestone. 'l~hcre i~ a ~mall but hnnJ~? m~ ope~ prall'!e muncdiately below this place, on the left bank of the tvrt, wh1ch would be a good locality for a military post. There arc some ?Pen gr~ves of cotton wood on the Platte. The small stream which comes mb at tins place is well timbered with pine and oood building rock is a undant. ' b If . . . . . lt IS lll contcmplatwn to keep open the communications witb OreO'on taenrdn tory ' a s.h o\tT'~ of m1' l"1t at· Y JrO I·C e 1· 11 t 11 1· s country I·S ab olutely necessa:::>r y; ~i ~ combmatt.ou of advantages renders the neighborhood of Fort ] ~araof ~ tn~l!llOSt smtable rtacc, on the line of the Platte, for the establishmellt ~ U mt tt.ary P?St. It Is connected with the mouth of the Platte and the Pp~r 1.\thssoun by excellent roads, which are in frequent use and would not Ill atw way · t r · 1 1 f ' ' ll1 erJ.erc wlt 1 t 1e range o the t.utfulo, on which the |