The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1859-09-22
AN OVERLAND JOURNEY
XVII.
To Coufh poce
SouTH PASS, Rocky Mountains, !
july 5, 1859. (

July 5, 1889
I exhausted all the possibilities Of OBJ
tanning a lodging in Laramie before ap-
plyipg to the commander Of the post, but
no one else could (or would) afford me
shelter on any terms, SO | made vir-
tue of necessity and applied to Capt,
Clark, who at once assigned me room
there being few troops at this post at
presept-and for the FIVE days remained
there slept between floor aud roof,
after FIVE weeks experience of the more
primitive methods of keeping cold at bay.
/ was treated With more than hospitality
-vitb generous kiudness---by Capt
Clark. Lciuts. Hascoll and Follett, and
DIR. Johns-and yet the long tarry be-
came at length irksone, because L bad
already lost too much time, and was
most anxious to be moving westward.-
Finally, the mail stage from the ast
hove 10 sight on the morning of June
3Otb bat halted just across Laramie Riv-
er all day, repairing coach, and it was 9
.. m. when it started-l alone percbed
on the sun nit of its seventeen mail bags
as passenger--he who had occupied that
exalted post thus far kindly giving way
for me, aud agreeing to take the slower
wagon that vas to follow next morning.
We fofded the swollen Laramie two miles
aboge the Fort, in the last Vestiges OF tWI
Erht- had tae usual trouble with the
mules turning about in mid stream, tang
ling up the team and threatening to upset
the wagon-bat oyercane it after while,
got safely out, drove on fifteen miles to
Warm Spring--a fountain which throws
out half water enough for a grlst mill, all
of which is drank up by the thirsty ssuds
through which it takes its course before
il would reach the Platte, only three or
four miles distant. We samped here till
daylight, then lost two hours in hunting
I'd our mules, which had been simply
tied in pairs and allowed to 60 at large
in quest of the scsnty grass Of this region.
They we're found at last, and We went on
our way rejoicing.
| shall not weary my readers with a
journal of our travels for the last four
DAYS. Hitherto since | left civilized
Kansas, I traversed routes either newly
opened or scarcely known to our reader-;
but from Laramie | bave followed the
regular California and Oregon Overland
Trail, already many times described, aud
by this tine familiar to hundreds Of thou
sands. Suffice it that, for over two hun
dred miles from Laramie. it traverses a
region substantially described in my notes
of my journey froB the Buffalo range to
Denver and from Denver to Laramie, a
region for the most part, raiDless in Sum
mer and Autumn, yet one whose soil OF
more or less sandy clay, lacking support
from ridges of underlying rock, has been
more scanned, and gouged, and quilted,
aud washed away, by the action OF floods
aud streams than any other on earth-a
region of tluffs, and buttes, aud deep ra-
vines, aBd intervals, and shallow alkaline
lakelets, now mainIy dried up and streams
running milky. even when low, with the
clay quilted from their banks and sent
off TO render the Missouri river of mud,
and to fertilize the bottoms of the lower
Mississippi Occasionally, but not SO
frequently as south of Laramie, the clay
bills hardened into rock by some alche'
my Of Nature, present the perpendicular
fronts and ruinous- castle aspects already
described--in a few instances, the scan
ty creeks which make their way from the
mountains to the North Platte or the
Sweetwater run though csnops Of such
rock; but usually each creek has washed
ed out for itself wide valley, and the
bluffs OF buttes, where they exist are dis.
tant many miles on one side if not on
both. In few places, the mountsins
are so near that their tbinly scattered,
stunted, scraggy Yellow Piues are plain.
ly yisible-aTe even close beside us; but
usually the prospect is composed OF roll
ing prairie very scantily grassed and OIL
ten tbickly covered for miles by the ever
lasting Sagebusb Of this desolate region
This is not an anomaly as might be sup
posed-the stem lives for years perhaps
centuries, though the shoots and leaves
die every Autumn. Another shrub, less
common, but which often thickly covers
hundreds of aerees, is the Greasewood--
a low prickly bash. growing IN bunehe'
like the Sage bush. and looking ike
bad imitation OF the English Priyet.--
Besides the two miserable shrubs, the dry