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Show 18 THE JOURNEY OUT, Late in the evening of the same day, we encat:Ipe'd by a ~ne' Spring, at the foot of Scott.'s Bluffs, .a rang.<? of lug:t Sand Htlls:, which run into the River. They recetve theu· name from a melan· choly circumstance, which happened at ~hem, several years ~go.-:..;· A small prll'ty of Trappers were returnwg fror~ the Mountam~, to. their homes in M·issout·i. Owing to the host1llty of the IndJanS' who inhabited the· country, (the Sioux,) it was necessary for their· safety, that they should not be seen. To prevent this, required th~· greatest precnution in .their movements. A few days before they reached this place, one of the ir numbet·, named Scott, was takerr sick and continued to g\'OW worse, unti ~ he wns unable to proceed. His companions canied him to these blufls, and supposing that he· could not .recover, thE'y left hirn, Others- pass·i'ng that way, sorn'e years after, found his bones a s\:tort distance from where he had been left. From this cit·cumstance, these hills have been called, since that time, after the name of that unfortunate' adventurer. In" the extreme point of these hills, near th~ Rive'r, and about fifty. feet above high water, are found great numbers· of semi-"petrified·i Turtles, from one to two feet across, imbedded iiJ' the sand,. and rna .. · ny of them entirely pe1·fect. There are no a~nima.ls of this kind· now in the Platte River, ot· elsewhere in the country, fo1· several hundred miles around. We continued up the North Fork, and on the 13th came to Lau .. · ramie Fork, opposite Fort Lauramie. Finding it full~ we were· obliged to ferry, l;lnd for this purpose we procured two small boats from the Forts, lashed them together, and covered them with a plat .. form made of wagon beds, which we had taken to pieces for tlia purpose. Upon this platform, we placed the loaded wagons by hand, and although the stream was very rapid, all succeeded in' crossing without much difficulty. A few hours after we cross!3d, sf hail storm·cameup fmm the North West; before which, our ani .. mals ran for several miles, over the hills. Fort Lauramie belongs· to the American Fur c ·oinpany, and is built for a protection against' the Indians. The occupants of the Fol't, who have been long there, being· mostly Frencn and having martied wives of the Sioux, do not now apprehend any .d ang... e.- r. The Fo1·t is built or' Dobies, (unburnt bricks.) A wall of six feet in thickness and fifteen in h~ight, encloses an a1·ea of one hundt•'ed and fifty feet square. Within and a1·ound the wall, are the buildings, constructed of the same material. These are a Trading House, Ware Houses fot atoring goods and skins; S~ops and Dwellings' fo·r the Traders· an& , WITH ITS INCIDENTS. 19 Men. In the centWJ , is a large open urea. A portion of the en· .closed space is cut off by a partition wall, forming a carell, (enclo· sure,) for the animals oelonging to the Fort. About one mile below Fort Laurimie, is Fort Platte; which is built of the same materials and in the same manner, and belongs to n private Trading Company. On the morninfl' of the 1 Gth, we left the Forts, and aftet· having r-traveled ten miles, we came to the Black Hills, and encamped at a large Spring, the water of which was quite warm. The road throuah these hills is, of ne cessity, very circuitous; winding about 0 ,as it must, to a void the steeps, ravines, and rocks. They are very banen and some of them are high. On Long's Pe.ak, which rises ~o t.he South, we could see a small spot of snow. '\Ve found in places, a few trees of Pine and Cedar scattered over the hills; but they were all small and quite dwarfish. We crossed a number of Creeks on our way through the Black Hills, in the narrow bottom Jands of which, we generally found good grass for our animals. On the 20th, we met Messrs. Vas1u es and Walker, with a com· pany of twenty or thirty men, coming down from the Mountains, where Messrs. Vasques and Bridge r have a small Trading Post among the Shoshonee or Snake Indi ans. They were loaded with furs and skins, which they were taking to the Forts on the Platte, where they supply themselves with such articles as they want fol' the Indian trade. Eighty m1les above Fort Lauramie, we came to the Red Butes, (isolated hills.) They occupy a space of many miles in extent, anq a large portion of the earth and stone of which they are composed, ~s as red as blood. On the 23d, we crossed the North Fork, one hundred and ~wenty seven miles above Fort Lauramie, and for two days after leaving it, we suffered considerably fOJ' the want of water-the lit· tle which we fouod, being strongly impregnated With a kind of Salt, prevalent almost every where in the neighborhood of the waters of the Platte. At one of these Snit Springs, there are numerous sinks, into wihch the Buff(llo sometimes fall and per is h4 The surfaces of them are dry, and appear firm; but in many pla· ~es, they would mire a man, so that . it would be impossible fot· him to extricate himself or escape, without assistance. On the 25th, we came to the Will ow Sprin~s, where we found ~ peautiful Spring, of very clear cold water, ~·ismg in a little green walley, through which its waters flow about one mile, &nd sink iu ' . |