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Show 28 A TRIP ACROSS THE PLAINS, cotton wood and· willow trees, which is said to mark the~ course of the 1ri.ver. Abont 21 mil'es faa·ther the road forks, the left hand one keeping near the stream, crossing it n numbe:- of tirnes, while the other does not cross it at alL.. Early in the season the river road can scarcely be travelled on account of the swoHen state of the stream. Thetwo roads frequently intersect each other. We encan1ped fifteen. miles farther after crossing another stnall b1·ancb .. Distance to day about thtrty-six rniles. Next forenoon wetravelled about twelve miles and stopped neat~ a spring of good watel". Good grass. here.. This is on the bluffs several m.iles from the river. We generally had· Jnuclt better grass on these than in the immediate valley of the· 1'1 ver. From some cause we did not find mucn of tile '-'bl'ue grass, herds gt·ass, clover and other nutritious grasses,"' 'vith which the valley is said to be "beautifulLy clothed.'" W c encamped on the river fifteen miles fi.uther~ Grass poor. Cold rains nearly all day.. "The g.t·eat heat oftlne sun, and continued clouds of dust did not tro.uble· us very· 1nuclt''* Next day we travcried about twenty-seven miles,. generally nea1· the river. Grass poor. Surface of the earth covered with alkaJme salts. Small branches in this. vicinity, are about the color of good lye from ashes. The whole count•·~· in wet weather, smells like an olli ashery.Grease Wood, a small, scruggy, prickly, ugly bush, compri1: Jes the timber in many places. Where this grows you·. will rarely find any thing else. Travelled: next day thirty miles, genera.Jl.y some distance from the ri.v.e17-country a sterile waste, not "furnishing the req.uisite fol· the emigrants" corofo1:t in n.bundance"t Cold and rainy a.ll day. r T,·avelled· nex.t d.ay about si·x.teen m·iles, finding pretty good in severat places, sage· for fuel. Rain and Snow du-ring the night, There is another very mi&·y branch about 20 miles fur-. ther. \V'e crossed about a mile above the ordinary ford .. Depth of stream th.ree feet.. Mud. on the opposite bank about two. feet. Here w.e again drew the wagons throug~ l>y man.ual fb.l·oo. *·\Vare's guide to Cnlifoenin,. pnge·33. t W,are's g.uide to California, I?ag~ ~ I . . ~ .., _ .; ANO LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. 29 Enclunped in the river valley three miles farther. Next day we tra veiled about 24 mileb, ger.erally nf/ar the river. W Ej could not travel in the imn1ediate valley on account of the swollen btate of the strearn. The low bluffs are fatiguing, on account of the depth of the sand. We arrived at the point last mentioned, about 5 o'clock, P. M., and concluded we could go a sho1·t distance further. Eight n1iles further, ovc1· a barren plain, we encnmped, without any wood, w'ater or grass. As we had nothing to cook by, and very little to cook, supper wns dispensed with~ Evening cold and rainy. Leaving camp before breakfast. we reached the river again about sunrise-distant six miles from encampment. We might remark here, that Humbuldt rive1· empties, or loses itself, in a marshy lake, surrounded with bull rushes, callecl the "Sink" ; and from the features of the country we considered it not far distant. We rested here until one o'clock. P. M., supplying ourselves with ~vater and grass, to use while crossing thl} Great Desert. Five 1niles further we left the river, expecting to strike Truck:es, or Salmon Trout, in forty m i h~&. r nstead of taking this road we should have gone on to the Sink, seventy- five miles farth er, then across the desert to 'fruckies, or Carson river, and from thence across the mountains, to Johnson's or Bear river, or Hangtown, near the American. But fortunately, or ur1fortunately, we took the Lawson, or Green Horn's cut off, which is farther than the other routes-but the 1·oad is better. There a1·e also mo1·e and better grass and water. We left the river about four o'clock, P. M., and tra vetled about 15 miles. Afte1· getting seven o1· eight miles from the river, we found good grass at a number €>fpoints. Next day, about noon, wo arrived at the "tabbit wells/' sixteen mile~ further •• ',y e found pretty good wate1· in the wells,-bu.t later. in the season it is unfit fol' use. There are hundreds of ox skele·tons between the river and these wells, which had died the previ~us season, f1.·o:n lack of food, there being ve1·y little good grass after the first of July. Bunch grass is the principal article of food in this part of the 1·oute. This, in the proper seaso.n, is vc1·y c* |