Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1849-10-12
The following letter from the California
emigrants, was received by Mr.. JOHN WAS
LEY, from his brother a few days since:
FROM THE MOUNTAINS
Rocky No1ryTAIvs Aur al

/ Rocky MOUNTAINS. Aug. Sd, 1919.
/ DEAR bRoTHER:--I am writing nov III
sight of the snow capped mountains There
] IS snoH and ice within enty miles of US
! W saw them very distinctly sixty miles Off
1t appeared TO be about fifteen or twenty
on may think that that is long way to see
snow; so 1t would be in n sconsin. but here
1t Is different. You can't Judge Of distances
here, as you can there. An object here, at
distance that appears to us to be three or four
miles, is found on examination to be fifteen or
twenty. And Laramie Peak, in the Black
/ HIS, which we at one time took to be about
twenty-five or thirty miles from US, we found
TO be a hundred and twenty-five or thirty. 1t
is owing to the purity of the atmosphere, and
( the vast magnitude Of the hills SURROUNDING
US. From here to Fort Laramie, distance
! of two hundred and sixty-seven and half
miles, 1t has been vast wilderness waste fit
only to be inhabited by savages. A real green
spot Is almost as strange thing to us now,
as 1t would be TO you In winter. By using
great care we have managed to keep our cat
tie In pretty good condition. We have had
sometimes to 90 some distance from the road
to IND grass. At all the regular camping
places, 1t Is eat off bare as an old sheen
pasture. While crossing the Black Hills we
found no grass at all and after arriving at
Deer Creek, place spoken of in the Nor
mon Guide" as being a lovely place, we had
to drive our cattle about fifteen miles from the
road to ind grass. We have now found tie
best patch Ct grass that we have seen since
leaving Laramie. We are going to stay here
two or three days to recruit our teams In
deed the whole country from here to Fort
Laramie seems TO produce scarce anything
but wild sage, prickiy pears. and grasshop-
pers; they are the staple products. We also
saw muItltudes Of very large crickets, so fat
that they can't get out of the way. Iii said
that the Indians use them as an article Of food.
The wild sage we have to use for fire wood
/ 1t is sometimes our sole dependence. 1t is
woody substance, growing generally from one
to three feet in height; though have seen
it at the foot of high bluff, next the River.
as high as seven feet and five or six inches.
One Of our company saw one that measured
eight feet on the side of high hill. Buffd-
10 very plenty, but they say that after leav-
ing the South Pass we shall not see any,
We have generally about all the Buffalo meat
we want. although we scarce ever hunt them.
but Just kill one occasionally as he comes in
sight of the camp. 1t is very sweet iuicy
meat. | have had only one Buffalo hunt, and
then LOST my horse, just as | got in sight of
the Buffalo. | had not recovered from the
hurt that | received at the Loup Fork Of the
Platte. when lost him, and it is of but little
use to hunt them on foot. Deer are also toll
cradle plenty, and ante o2e very plenty =
small game scarce. There is a great lack Of
timber, and very often for long distances. our
only dependence for fuel is in using Buffalo
chips" lid sage, and willows Buffalo
chips make very good fuel when dry. We
sometimes also have a chance to burn up the
ruins of wagon, or wagon bed, boxes. trunks,
kegs, and barrels. In fact sometimes for
miles. it is a complete lumber ward. Almost
every who started with a large wagon
bed, have cut off piece of it. Sometimes
we find new wagons, with the bed, hoops and