The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1859-03-19

some tia. We judged to be eighty fee',
wiihou. limb. Good yellow pine lamoss
was selling at ten dollars per hundred al
the time left.
Besides the yellow pine, sugar and spruce
pine. hemlock. fir, cedar and jumper. are
fepni in the mountains. think the sugar
nine would make lumber nearly, if not quite,
eaua. to white pine. l. is so named from
the fac. .ha, the gum is sweet, nearly equal
TO the "sp-ace gum" nav to be fo1sd IN
all drug stores. Groves Of cottonwood are
found upon all the streams. II resembles
more the balm Of gilead than the cotton
wood Of tie Missouri River bottoms.
Scrub oak is found on Platte River and
Cherry Greek, and, | presume, at many
other places. On Vasque-'s Fork there were
some small haek-beg-:es, which were gearr-
allv cut as soon as found for axe and pick
handles. There is said to be plenty of wal
nut, hickory, ash and other hard wood in
TIE parks.
The country is not adapted to farming,
TO any great extent. The river bottoms VIII
raise everything that can be raised in the
States. but the highlands are poor. They
are almost everywhere too dry, and, IN
many places, too sandy: and, IN other
places, too strongly impregnated with a'kaii'
for cultivation. There is bench land IN
considerable quantities, from ten to fos'y
feet above the rivers, that can be cultivated
bv irrigation, and, perhaps, without. Inc
highlands are covered with buffalo and bunch
grass. and afford the best of grazing for
cattle and horses. The supplies Of proSis-
ions on sale at the mines, during the winter,
were mostly brought from New Mexico'
where they had been taken from the States.
Good superfne -four sold, nearly all WINTER
for fifteen dollars per hundred. Bacon,
sugar and coffee, fifty cents per pound;
potatoes five dollars per bushel.
Omaha City, directly opposite Council
Bluffs, is the nearest point, on the Missouri
River, to the mines. From this place 10
Cherry Greek, the distance is about five
hundred and sixty or seventy miles ; though
some of the mines are little nearer. From
this place the road follows up the valley OF
the Platte the entire distance, with scarcely
hill upon the road. The Loupe Fork is
crossed on a good ferry; or, If trouble in
fording a. Kearney, is apprehendcd, the
main Platte can be ferried short distance
below Loupe Fork. The distance TO Fort
Ncarncy, by the military road, on the north
side of the Platte, is one hundred and eighty
miles. BY the crossing below Loupe Fork.
it is two hundred and fifteen miles. From
Nebraska City to Fort Kearney, the distance
is two hundred and fifty miles; from Saint
Joseph, two hundred and ninety, and from
Leaycnwor,h aud Kansas City, still farther.
From Leavcnworth and Kansas City, by the
Southern route, it is upwards Of eight hn..-
dred miles to Cherry Greek. Parties who
left those points last fall before left here,
| arrived at the nn:nes fro.u three to four weeks
later. Notwithstanding my train lost over
one fourth Of their cattle by stampede. |
I think Orleans can travel from here to the
mines, in thirty days, provided they do not
set out until the roads are good and the
grass up. l expect to return to the mines
about the tenth or fifteenth Of April.
Yours, Respectfully,
SAN S. Curtis.