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Show [ 174 ] 106 ~ 1 a free young colored man of '~'ushingt~n city, who vo\. Jacob DodsoJ ' ·til~ ex"'Pdition and 11cdormed Ins duty manful\" t d to '1CC0111pany L: !' . ' · J un cere ' ·a Two Delaware Indiatts-a fine-lookmg old man throuphout the voya:;,e~P.d to accompany the expedition as hunters, tluouoh andh.t sson-wef r~e1 el·l gaM · " 1 d. a t L l\'1 · II CLtllllllLllS tlte e. ccllent n tall a0 ell . . axwe , the1 kmhdad nea ccoom ~p aam.J_ne~~u, tlte c•x peu\ tion a one of the hunte·r s in l 42, being w 1f. to Taos iu New .1\Iexico, abo join d us at tills_ place: on 11 The wpaaryt V was al:m cd gctJet":tlly with Hall's carbines, whtch, wtth a bra ~ . d S . I 12-lb howi··t zer, 1l a d bn"' e11 furntshed to me from-, tWhe UICm .t c. . tales atscnda ' at t Lo· m·s ao-ree.a 1)1 Y to tlt""' 01. .u 1 ers of Colonel S. · . e ..u 11·e1 yd, c·o m m1a n mg ' • .1 ?1 • ~. . 1· · · 1 thc 3u mt 11a1 y utVlSlOI . Three men were csp.c c,m .l.ly deta1 e (or t 1e man- 1 I · [ G agement o f t I1 1s, pt·e Cu" ; 1111der the charge o.f L. outs ~111u. e , a nf ati v·e11 o . ··e rmhae- ny w I1 0 I tau.l be cn 1 ·() ye"'"l 'S '·1 t1on-comm.l s Ioned o· lltccf r o nrtt et y 111 t 1 · r, · Tl Pru' sst· an army, an d 1-e~oa ttlarlv instructed 111 tile dntw~ o tiS proi(.:Sston. 1e l • • 1 1 h · d p1·ov '1 sions were tra.nsjJOrted 111 t we vc carts, c rn. wn eac ~amp equtpage an , d .· o- 1 d l JY two mu Ie s· u.... 11 u., a li:a::> lH covcrell wag'- on,• monntcd on o'ofol, sp1111." ,., la b Cell prOV·J.u1 eu. 1 1·0 1- tll•'-'' s""l"· ·.,..r. · c"" rriava c of the Instruments. wsc weH. One refracting tel escope, by Fnwenhofcr. One retiectiug circle, by Gambey. Two sextant~, by Troughton. ., . One pocket chronometer, No. 837, by Oojle, Falr~wuth. One pocket chronometer, No. 739, b~ l~!·oclcba11k. One syphon barometer, by Bnuten, l atts. . _ One cistem barometer, hy Frye & Shaw, New Yotl\. ix thermometer , and a unmber of mall compassc To make the exploration as useful as pos,ible, I derermi11ed, in conform· ity to your general instructions, to vary the route to the Rocky mountams from tllat followed iu the year 1842. T'he route then_was np the valley of the Great Platte river to the South Pass, in north latJ_tude ·12° · the route now determined on was np the valley of the Kan_sa _nvcr, and to the head of the Arkansas, and to sonte pass in the mountams, 1f any conld be found, at the sources of that river. Bv makiuo this deviation frorn the former route, tile problem of a new road· to Oreg~n and Califomia, in a clin~atc more g_cnial, might be solved.; and a beuer knowledge obtained,of an llllpor~a.nt nvcr, a11cl tll~ cou~try It drained while the oreat object of the expcd1t1on would find tts potnt of CO!lllllel~CC111el1t at tJle termination of the former, which WUS at that great o-ate in the ridac of tlte Rocky monntains called the Soutl1 Pass, and on t~e lofly peak of the monntain wlticll overlook it, deemed the _highest peak1_11 the ricJoe, and from the opposite sides of which four great nvr.rs take the1r rise, atfd flow to the Pacific or the Mi ·sissippi. Varions obstacles delayed our departnre until the morni11g of the 29tiJ whett we commenced our long voyage; ancl at the close of a day,rendere disagreeably cold by incessant rain, cncarupeu about four miles br.yond the frontier, on the vc~ rge of the great prairies. ResU1~1i11g our journey on the 31st, a~ter the delay of a day to c~n~~let~ our eqmpmcnt and fnrm. h ourselves w1th omc of the comforts ~f ctvtiize life, we eucampeu in the eveniug at Elm Grove, in comp~ny wtth seve~~ 1 emigrant wagons, constituting a party which was proceedwg to Upper Ca· iforuia, under the direction of .Mr .. T. B. Childs, of Missonri. The -~vagons were variously freighted with goods, furniture, and farming uten us, con· 107 [ 174 J taining an~ono- other ~hir1as an entire . et of m:1chin 'ry for a mill which J\![r. Childs de, t!{llc? .erecllllg o_n tltc waters oC th · acrameuto river ernptyiug into the bay ol nn Francisco. We wen' joinP.d here by .l\Ir. \Villiam Gilpin of Nii.s.sonri who intendino this year to visit the settlement · in Oreaon~ 11au been invi ted ro a'rcompan~ 11s, and proved a n cfnl a_nd agreeal~lc adclltiOtJ to tliC pnrty. From thi. encampment, our route nntJI rile 3d o{ Juue was nrarlv the same as that described to you in 1 42. Train of wau·nus were almri t coitS!llntlv in ia11t. giving r_o the _road a p_opulous and ttninmtcd appearance, altlwual} the g1~eat~ er portwn oi the~ cnllgratJts were collected at tl tc crossiug or already on their march bt~yond the Kansas river. ' _Leaving a_t tile ford ~lte usun! emig-rant ro~d to the monntain ·, (which you will find deltuc~tcd wttll con 1d 'rable deta il 011 one of the t1ccnrupanyin (r maps,) we CO IJtlllue<.l our rout <' alon£; tlw on them ~:;ide of the Kan,n , wher~ we fou11d the country much more broken than ou the uortltcrn side of the river, at1d wl1ere our progress was mnch uelaycd by tlte nutuerous small streams, which obliged us to nw.kc frequ ent bridges. Ou rhe llloming of the 4th we cro.s,ed a handsome stream, callec.l by the IndiatJS O!!or creek about 130 fl•et wide, where a flat :-~tratn m or limestone, which forms thd bed, made an exccile llt ford. \V c met It e re a small party of Kun as and ~c.laware Incliaus, the latter rr:tLlrnin_g from a huntiug an_d trap ptJJg expedttwn o~ the upper waters of the nver; and o rt the hetgllt above were five or IX Kan:::as womeu, engaged in diogittg prairie pot a roe, , ( psorulea esculenta.) Ou th aftenwoiJ of the 6th, while busily engaged in crossina a_ woodecl stream, we were throwu into a. lilLie cot1fnsion by rhc sudden a1~ nval of !\lax well, who entered tile cattJp at full speed at tile head of a war party o( Osage Indians, with gay red blankets, and heads shaved to the scalp lock. They ltad run him a di lance of about nine mile~ from a creek on which we hud encam ped the clay previous, a ntl to whic{l he had returned in search of a runaway ltorse belo tJ o·itl~ to 1\lr. Dwight, which had t~ken the homeward road, carrying with him saddle, bridle, anclllolstcr pistols. Tile Osages were probably ignorant of our s trcn<rth, un<.l, when they charged iuto tbc camp, drove ofr a lllllll b r of onr best horses ; but we were fortunat ·ly well nwuntcd, and , after a lt arcl chase of ·even or ei <rht miles, succeeded in recoverino- them all. Thi.s accidettt, which occa ioned dr'lay and troubl e, au<.l threatened dan ncr. and los .. , aud broke tlowu some go~d horse~ at tlte start, and actually endangered the expedition, was a first frutt of bavmg gentlemen in company-very c timable, to be sure, but who are no_t _trai11ed to the care aud vigilaJtce and scll'-dcpen<.lcncc which such an cxped_ItJOH rctjUircd, and who arc not snbjcct to the orders which enforce a~teutwt~ anc~ cx?rtion. vyc arrived on the Sth a t the mouth of the , mokyh: ll fork,_wh_tch 1~ the pnnci pal southern branch of rite Kansn ·; forming here, by ~ts Jnuctton wtth the Republican, or nortlleru branch, the main Kansas nvcr. Neither stream was fordable, and the necessity or makino a raft, together with bud weather, detain c.1 us here unti l the morning o0 [ the llth; w~JCn we rcsnrned our journey along the Rcpu blican fork. By our observations, the j t111ction of the tream is in latitude 39° 03' 38", longitude 96° 24' 56", and at an elevatiou of 926 feet above the g nlr' of Mexico. For ~everal d~fS we cotJtinuc~ to travel along the Republican, through a country beaut~ful_ly watered. with numerous streams, handsomely timbered; and rarely an Incident occurred to vary the monotonous resemblance which one day on the prairies here bears to another, and which scarcely require |