13be Conservative *
side for the distance of eight painful
miles. After pausing to repose , and to
enjoy these grand but savngo and awful
scones , they began to descend the east
ern side of the mountain. The descent
was rugged and romantic , along deep
ravines and defiles , overhung with
crags and cliffs , among which they be
held numbers of the ahsahta or bighorn ,
skipping fearlessly from rock to rock.
Two of them they succeeded in bringing
dowii with their rifles , as they peered
fearlessly from the brow of their airy
precipices.
"Arrived at the foot of the mountain ,
the travellers found a rill of water
oozing out of the earth , and resembling
in look and taste the water of the Mis
souri. [ It was , in fact , the Sweet-
water. ] Hero they encamped for the
night , and supped sumptuously upon
their mountain mutton , which they
found in good condition and extremely
well tasted.
"Tho weather was now so severe , and
the hardships of travelling so greatthat
ho resolved to halt for the winter at the
first eligible place. That night they
had to encamp on the open prairie , near
a scanty pool of water , and without any
wood to make a fire. The northeast
wind blow keenly across the naked
waste , and they were fain to decamp
from their inhospitable bivouac before
the dawn.
* * * * *
"Lato on the afternoon of the 80th ,
they came to whore the stream , now in
creased to a considerable size , poured
along in a ravine between precipices of
red stone two hundred feet in height.
For some distance it dashed along , over
huge masses of rock , with foaming violence
lence , as if exasperated by being com
pressed into so narrow a channel , and
at length leaped down a chasm that
looked dark and frightful in the gather
ing twilight.
"For a part of the next day , the wild
river , in its capricious wanderings , led
them through a variety of striking
scenes. At one time they would be
upon high plains , like platforms among
the mountains , with herds of buffaloes
roaming about them ; at anothernnioug
rude , rocky defiles , broken into cliffs
and precipices , where the black-tailed
deer bounded off among the crags , and
the bighorn basked on the sunny brow
of the precipice.
"In the after part of the day , they
came to another scone , surpassing in
savage grandeur those already de
scribed. They had been travelling for
some distance through a pass of the
mountains , keeping parallel with the
river , as it roamed along , out of sight ,
through a deep ravine. Sometimes
their devious path approached the margin -
gin of the cliffs below which the rivoi
foamed and boiled , and whirled among
the masses of rock that had fallen into
its channels. As they crept cautiously
' ; .VK * KK' . \
on , leading their solitary paok-horso ,
along thcso giddy heights , they all at
once came to where the river thundered
down a succession of precipices , throw
ing up clouds of spray , and making a
prodigious din and uproar. The travel
lers remained , for a time , gazing with
mingled awe and delight at this furious
cataract , to which Mr. Stuart gave ,
from the coloring of the impending
rocks , the name of "Tho Fiery Nar
rows. "
* * * * *
The first chasm was probably the
Devil's Gate on the Sweotwator , ouco a
famous landmark , now merely an inci
dent of a ranchman's back pasture , and
dammed for peaceful irrigation. The
second , Captain Ohittoudon says , was
the Upper Platte Canon. Hero they
became totally lost. From the course of
the Platte at this point they concluded
that it could not be a branch of that
river ; they thought it must be the
Cheyenne or Niobrara , and they de
cided to camp for the winter. Another
Indian scare dislodged them again
however , and in the middle of Decem
ber they moved a considerable distance
further down the North Platte. Com
ing into the range country about Deuel
county , Nebraska , they were appalled
at the emptiness of the landscape and
turned upstream again for three days ,
when they pitched their final winter
camp ; which Ohittenden locates near
Wellesville , Cheyenne county.
"The winter passed away without
any Indian visitors , and the game con
tinued to be plenty in the neighborhood.
They foiled two large trees , and shaped
them into canoes ; and , as the spring
opened , and a thaw of several days'
continuance melted the ice in the river ,
they made every preparation for em
barking. On the 8th of March they
launched forth in their canoes , but soon
found that the river had not depth suf
ficient even for such slender barks. It
expanded into a wide but extremely
shallow stream , with many sand-bars ,
and occasionally various channels. They
got one of their canoes a few miles down
it , with extreme difficulty , sometimes
wading , and dragging it over the shoals ;
at length they had to abandon the at
tempt , and to resume their journey on
foot , aided by their faithful old packhorse -
horse , who had recruited strength dur
ing the repose of the winter.
"Tho weather delayed thorn for a
few days , having suddenly become
moro rigorous than it had been at any
time during the winter ; but on the
20th of March they wore again on
their journey.
"In two days they arrived at the
vast naked prairie , the wintry aspect
of which had caused them , in Do-
conibor , to pause and turn back. It
was now clothed in the early verdure
of spring , and plentifully stocked
with game. Still , when obliged to
bivouac on its bare surface , without
A'
any shelter , and by a scanty lire of
dry buffalo dung , they found the
night blast piercing cold. On one
occasion , a herd of buffalo straying
near their evening camp , they killed
tJireo of them merely for their hides ,
wherewith to make a shelter for the
night.
"They continued on for upwards
of a hundred miles ; with vast
prairies extending before thorn as
they advanced ; eomotimes diversified
by undulating Jiills , but destitute of
trees. In one place they saw a gaug
of sixty-fivo wild horses , but as to
the buffaloes , they seemed absolutely
to cover the country. Wild geese
abounded , ami they passed extensive
swamps that wore alive with in
numerable flocks of waterfowl , among
which were a few swans , but an end
less variety of ducks.
"Tho river continued a winding
course to the cast-northeast , nearly a
mile in width , but too shallow to
float even an empty canoo. The
country spread out in a vast level
plain , bounded by the horizon alone ,
oxjoptiug to the north , whore a line
of hills scorned like a long promon
tory stretching into the bosom of the
ocean. The dreary sameness of the
prairie wastes began to grow ex
tremely irksome. The travellers
longed for the sight of a forest , or
grove , or single tree , to break the
level uniformity , and began to notice
every object , that gave reason to
hope they wore drawing towards the
end of this weary wilderness. Thus
the occurrence of a particular kind
of grass was hailed as a proof that
they could not be far from the bottoms
toms of the Missouri ; and they wore
rejoiced at putting up several prairie
lions , a kind of grouse seldom found
far in the interior. In picking up
drift-wood for fuel , also , they found
on some pieces the mark of an axe ,
which caused much speculation as to
the time when and the persons by
whom the trees had been felled.
Thus they wont on , like sailors at
sea , who perceive in every floating
weed and wandering bird , harbingers
of the wished-for land. "
This , it should bo noted , is the first
precise description on record of the
interior of Nebraska and the valley
of the Platte.
"By the close of the month the
weather became very mild , and ,
heavily burdened as they wore , they
found the noontide temperature un
comfortably warm. On the SOtli ,
they came to three deserted hunting
camps , either of Pawnees or Ottoes ,
about which wore buffalo skulls in
all directions and the frames on
which the hides had been stretched
and cured. They had apparently
boon occupied the preceding autumn.
"For several duys they kept pa/