The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1849-08-23

Tron the overland Enigrants.
We make tho following extracts from .
letter addressed our co-publishsr by M.
G. r. FoRv, dated "Eacampmens, 3 miles
scess Of Fort Laramie, 9th June, lS40."
Tho letter was written five days previous
to tho ono published in our last, but from
about tho same locality, % that Mr.. +. must
be nearly Eve days ahesd Of The teams from
Davenport.
'Our company numbers fifteen wagons, most.
" from Galena, all hearty fellows. We left 81.
Joscph's on the I'd Of May, and arrived Al Lara
mic river last evening, anu crossed IL this morn
ing. Its only abou. 40 yards wide, and we had
to ferry the wagons and swim the cattle, and
had to pay one dollar wagon for crossing. We
were lucky in getting here last evening - there
were over one hundred teams como while we
were crossing. tits rule among the emigran,s
the first that comes to ferry has the FIRST chance.
Besides the one hundred wagons, Capt. Brysnrs
pack mule company consisting Of about 200
mules, crossed soon after 10. We have passed
each other several times in the last 800 miles.
He says that he does not want to push his mules,
until he reaches the mountains; then he will
have to leave US. He says there will be great
amour, Of suffering among the smigrants-hc
thinks that there will not over or thousand
teams get through, and those that are ahead will
be the ones. It 10 estimated at tho Fort, that
there are about 800 teams ahead Of us, 30 we
will have good chance to get through. As
near a. we can learn, there are about seven thou.
sand wagons behind us, and they are pushing
rapidly and their teams are failing. The wag-
ons are mostly too large and heavy, and too
much loading. Il 10 surprising to sec the i'm
mense amount Of property thrown away, the
road in some places is s,rcwcd with goods, such
- heaps Of bacon, beans, and some clothing,
and packing boxes, barrels, stoves, trunks, &C.
&c.
1--WE have not seen many curiosities, only such
as buffalo and antelope, which are getting to be
numerous. We have had some Of each, which
are very excellent. The plains arc almost COW
cred with buffalo bones and elk horns, some Of
the latter Of which are very large. We have
not yet seen many Indians. The first we saw
was At 81. JOS, the mex, 30 miles on, .. the mis-
sion. We were cncamped, and l was baking
some biscuit, and had a painful done, when some
squaws came to me, and said, "me hungry;' l
gave them the PAINFUL, and they soon emptied il,
and seemed much pleased. The next we saw
WIS near Fort Childs, 200 miles from St. joe
. rudely constructed Fort, the building mostly
built Of sods. The mex, building we saw was
$50 miles from Fl. c., il was shanty built of
sods, in which . man did blacksmithing He
charges l6 dollars for shooting yoke Of oxen,
and other work in proportions but that 10 not %
bad, for At Fl. Laramie they charge 10 dollars
per hour for the use Of the shop. This Fort is
well fortified, il 10 built Of mud and rock, the
walls about II feet high, and the area about one
hundred feet square; nnders God it wss lately
purchased by Government. We soon cxpcc. to
be among the Crow Indians, who are represents
ed - being very troublesome. II 10 said that
they have tried TO stop the trains ahead Of US,
but We don't anticipate any trouble, only fatigue
in watching them and our CATTLE"
We arc indebted 10 Mrs. Lambert for the
following extracts from q letter received
from Mr.. Gro. w. LAMBERT, dated the l4M
IF Jsnc, Escampmcnf on tic bank Of the
Platte RiDer, three miles rcss Of Fort Lar
annie.
1--WE are oil getting along finely. We have
not had accidents nor sickness in our company
since we left home. Our team stands the jour.
ney we'll; they appear better now than when we
left home. We are now nearly one thousand
miles from home, and VIC cxpec. il nothing hap
pens and the Lord spares our lives and health,
to eat our 4sh Of July dinner u the South Pass Of
the Rocky mountains. We are informed tina,
there 10 no scarcity Of food for our teams between
this and California. The season has been cool
and wet and there is said to b about four times
- much grass this year ~ ever was known be-
fore. We have not seen an Indian yet, but hear
} great many awful accounts Of murders commit
Ted BY them on tho cmigrants, but a. we travel
On We find there is no truth in the reports. We
understand there are nineteen hundred teams
ahead and how many behind us we cannot tell.
1--WE have some very good news from Califor-
ME. BY some men whom we have met on their
way to Missouri from the Salt Lake, or the Nor
mon City, We are informed that there is plenty
Of gold there. That q man can dig from 800
10 $50 per day .-bus I'll be satisfied with less.
We expect to get into the gold region by the
last Of August"