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Show 12 THE JOURNEY OUT, disposed to be hostile to the whites, .hut like most other Indians, they are expert and inveterate thevies. The River not being fordable, t.he Emigrants constructed two large c.anoes, which they fastened togethe ,. at a sufficient ,<;listance apart, Qy a platform of round poles laid across and extending from one end to the other. Upon this t_hey p~aced the wagons oy hand, and fel'l·ied them across the stream. The cattle und horses were turne'd l,oose and m~de to swim to the op:. posite ' shore. We sacc~eded in g.etting across on the same day that we arrived, and ·aft~ r delaying 011e day and a h~lf, endeavoring t~ make up a small comp.any to precede the main body and follow on the trail of l\1r. Wrn. Sublet and Sir Wrn. Ste.wart, who were 1 ' \ ' ahead; with a pompany of men, on a party ot pleasure to the Moun-tains, we suc.ceedeq in making our company eight persons, and again began to travel. The Em1gr~ nts , ~mounting, in a11, to about six hundred persons, I ' after they had finis~ed c~·.ossing, organized themselves into a sor~ • I '' ' of traveling Government; adopted a sho1·t code of laws, employeq a pilot, ·and elected a captain and officers of the guard. We stil~ CO.ptinued tO travel Up the 1 J{anzas; but"feaving it further and fUl'• ther to the left'. The volle'y of this stre~·m is high rolling prairies, and is very fertile. Its bott,o ms are wide., '~r n. d ·there are numerous branches commg in from both sides, on all or which there is timber of most varieties found West of the Mississippi, some of which i~ good. ·· · · Nine.t! miles ab~~~ our ct·ossing, '_Ve came ~o anq crosse~ ~ig Blue ~~ver, o~e of~~~ main branches. Here the Em1gr~nts Gam~ up witry us, 'and it was late in the night before their last wagons g.ot over. This region has the character of being the 1~13sidence of ~t~rm~,' and } mmedi~tely afte'~ our arrival sqme 'of th~ · .blustering l~habltants u~troduced themselves in a manner that was by no means agree~ble. After the sun we~t down, ~ 4~qse black cloud co~ ere~. the s~y, from which the rain fell ,.,in torrents during the whol~ UI~ht~ The extreme darkness was dispell~cl by the dazzling an4 1q~1:3s~ant flashes of lightning. The thuqder kept up a con. stant l'O~r, and f~·eque~tly its sh~1:p peais resem'q~ed the discharge of volleys .of art~llery. The wind ble~ so hign that most of the tents we~·~ thrown do~n, and one ?f the wagons iWas fairly blown over. ~he surface of the gropnd was flooded with water, and in the ~ornin~ we f?~nd the River, 'which we had crossed on the past evemng Without ~tfficuJty, had r!sen so rapidly as to overflow it~ bottoms near one fourth of a mile on either side and was entirely impassable. ·' : ·1 · . ·' 1 ·! · · ... WlTH ITS INCIDEN'l)S. 13 I This is the middle ground between the KaR-z.as and Pu.wnee I ud. ians. The day before we crossed the Big ~lue Rivel', we met a ,war party of Kans, (Kanzas,) returning from the Pawnee ,countr y . .'rhey told us they had seen the Pawnees, and l)l~d be ate ~ th e tll in battle; but we learned afterwards, fl'om a mor~ creditab' ~ so urce, that it was exactly the other way. They had one Ol' two f't~es h seal ps and as many wounded men, and were leaving the wodd behind them as fast as pq,~sibl~. We sa~ their battle-ground afterwards, and found on it two or three dead bodies. Here, the Emigrants, ), ,, I t,inding that it was inc0nvenient and retarding to their progress, to i~ travel in so large a ~ody, diss~l ved then· . ~~·st organization and formed th msel ves into smaller cor~panies. ' It continued to ra.in, at intervals. for several days, ~nd the road ~vJ1ich had before b~en as good as we could wish, became quite. mud, dy and bad. After leaving.Big Blue River, we continued to travel tQrough a country vet·y similar to that previously described, excepting that the proportion of timber was less, until we came to the Little Blue Rive1·-a di~tance of 70 miles; and here, the hills bord~ 1·ing on the stream, are a little sandy. After striking this stre·am, we continued to travel up it 50 miles; then leaving it, turned acmss in a North Westerly direction, for the main Platte River. On the Little Blue R1ver we found a few Antelopes, which were the first ~ild animals of any size, which we had ·seen since we left the States; and afte1· leaving the waters of the Kanzas we found ~o bees, and this, from all that we could learn, is the farthest po'int West which they have yet reac;hed: Nor did we find any of the wild fowls, or smaller animals, common in the Western States, un- 1 ti~ we passed the Mountains. We reached th~ Platte River in the ~'vening; the distance across being about 25 miles, which is the gl·eatest, on the whole route, without water. After leaving the waters of the Kanzas, the character of the country changes rapidly. The hills, on either side of the narrow yalley of the lllatte, which is from five to ten miles wide, are little else than huge piles of sand. The valley itself, is quite sandy; but it nevertheless produces q. rich grass, which our animals were yery fond of. It is also covered, in many places, with the Prickly P~ar, the thorns of which frequently get mto the feet of the loose cattle and p~oduce lameness. The River is from one to three ~iles in widt~, and the bed of the channel is entirely of quick· s1pd. Wheq we came to it, it was quite full, and the water was · ~v~ry wher~ running ley~f 'Yith it~ qn,nks, but· selqom ov~r.now. |