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Show 72 NATIONAL WAGON ROAD GUIDE. At three o'clock in the morning, it being then day light upon the plains, a man from _each wag~n was ca1 1 e d up, Who as...s. isted the guard In removing the animals to better feed, outside the corral, where they remained till brought up at half past five. At four, or half past, all hands were up, breakfast pr~pared and dispatched, tents struck, animals brought In and harnessed, and all on the 1nove precisely at six. we then usually drove till eleven, stopped two hours if grass and water were readily found ; but if not, drove or till we did find them ; then after stopping for an hour or two, rolled on again till five, which brings us through the twenty-four hours. And now that we have everything in readiness, our animals all in good condition, and the first of ~fay being near at hand, to-morrow we will start out ·Upon the plains. .. • / THE NATIONAL WAGON ROAD GUIDE. ·u For description of route from Council Bluffs along the north bank of the Platte river> see page 82. As the roads on the north and south banks of the Platte river are about equally traveled, we make St. Joseph and Counr.il Bluffs, our starting points; they being places of very general rendezvous for overland emigrants, from the more northern of the Western o States, who reach the 1\{issouri river 'vith their teams by land, as well as to great numbers from the more Eastern States, who obtain their outfit on the frontier, reaching those places by steamer or oi~hcr convey.ance. There are many other places along the Missouri river, equally as good for obtaining. an outfit. They are Independence, Westport, Leavenworth and others; but as we never traveled the roads from ose points to their junction with the St. Joseph road, we shall not attempt to describe them. The numerous ~~lements now springing into existence, west of the Missou.t:i ;iver, are rapidly changing the face of the country from an uncultivated to a cultivated one, along the line of the emigrant route. These settlements make more agreeable the P~ssage of the emigrant for a considerable distance west of the Missouri, whilst in many places they materially change the route 3 I |