Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1859-08-20

or hVe men VINO, having taken q look at
this Gold Region, had decided to push on
for California, mainly, I believe, through
what is known as the Cherokee trail, ("
which forms the shortest route from Denver
10 Salt Lake / was strongly tempted at
| ID. to Join one of these parties and go thro'
this pass--had stood firmly on both feet,
| think should have done it, saving dis
tauce, but losing time. We all camped
for the night beside a small brook, the rip
pling of whose waters over its pebbly bed
fell soothingly on the drowsy ear. / had
the wagon to myself for a bed chamber,
while my three companions spread their
butfalo-ski0 aud blankets on the grass and
had the vanlt of heaven for their ceiling
The night was cool and breezy; our mules
we're pcketed on the grass at short dis
tance; our supper of fried pork and pilot
bread had not surfeited us; aud we slept
quietly till the first dawn of day, when our
mules we're quickly harnessed and we left
our fellow campers still torpid, pushing on
fifteen miles and crossing two deep, swift,
steep-banked creeks (St. Vrain's Fork and
branch Of Thompson's Creek) before
stopping for feed and breakfast. After
two hours rest, we harnessed up and made
twenty miles more before stopping, at the
crossing of the other fork Of Thompson's
Creek, for dinner Here we found cara
van moving from Missouri to California,
which reminded me Of the days of Abra-
ham and Lot. 1t comprised six or seven
wagons, mainly drawn by oxen. with light
travelling carriage and pair Of horses con-
veying the patriarch's family, some two or
three hundred head of cows, steers, and
young cattle, with three or four young men
on horseback driving and keeping the herd.
Girls were milking, women cooking or
washing, children playing-in short, here
was the material for very fair settlement,
or quite an imposing Kansas City. They
| hitched up and moved on before us, but we
very soon overlook and passed them
There are scores Of such caravans now on
| the various roads to California, many of
which will see very hard times ere they
reach Carson Valley, and sOme still harder
before they get fairly across the Sierra Ne
vada Many of them are behind time; the
feed--for much of the way scanty at best
has been devoured by the cattle ahead
of them, the drouth forbids the growth of
more uutil September, in which month snow
begins to fall heavily on the Sierra Nevada.
And it will not tend to rouse their tagging
spirits to meet-as am well assured they
must-simar caravans of people Who hav-
ing tried California to their full satisfaction,
are moving back to Missouri again Was
there ever another such vagrant, restless,
disconted people, pretending to be civilized
as ours
Pushing on steadily, over reasonably
level country, though crossed by many
deep and steep-banked dry gnIlies, and per-
haps one pretty living stream, we stood at
D. m. on the south bank of Oache-le-
Poudre, 70 miles from Denver, and by far
the most formidable stream between the
South Platte and the Laramie Our con-
ductor was as brave as mountaineer need
be, but he was wary as well, and had seen
so many people drowned in fording such
streams especially the Green River branch
Of the Colorado, that he chose to feel his
way carefully. So he waited and observ.
ed for an hour or more, meantime sending
word to an old French monntaineer friend
from Utah, who has pitched his tent here that
his help was wanted There had been a
ferry-boat al this crossing till two nights
before, when Invent down stream, and had
not since been heard Of A horseman we
met some miles below assured us that there
was no crossing; but this we found mis-
take-two men mounted on strong horses
crossing safely before our eyes, and two
heavy-laden ox-wagons succeeded them in
doing the same, save that one of them
stuck in the stream, and the oxen had to
be taken off and driven out being unable
to pull it, while themselves half buried in
the swift current But these crossings were
made from the other side, where the en-
trance was better and the current rather
favored the passage; the ox-wagons were
held to the bottom by the weight of their
loads, while ours was light and likely to be
swept down stream. At length, our French
friend appeared, mounted on q powerful
horse, with an Indian attendant on anoth-
er such. He advised us to stay where we
were for the night, promising to come in
the morning with a heavy ox-team and help
us over. AS this. however, involved loss
of at least ten miles on our next days drive
our conductor resolved to make an attempt
now. So the Frencbman on his strong
horse took one of our lead-mues by the
halter and the Indian took the other, and
we went in, barely escaping an upset from
going down the steep bank ohliquely, and
thus throwing one side of our wagon much
above the other; but we righted in mo
ment and went through-the water being at
least three feet deep for about a hundred
yards, the bottom broken by large bouders
and the current very strong. We camped
as soon as fairly over, lit fire, and, hav-
ing obtained a quarter of Antelope from
our French. friend, proceeded TO prepare a
discuss a most satisfactory supper. Table
of course there was none, ard we bad I'M
luckily lost our fork; but we had still two
knives, suticiency of tin cups and plates,
with an abundance of pork aud pilot bread
aud an cid bag for table-cloth which had
evidently seen hard service, and had gath,
cred more dirt aud blood in the course o
it than a table-cloth actually needs. But
, the Antelope ham was fresh, fat and ten
der; and il must have weighed less by three
pounds when that s1pRer was ended than
when its preparation tAs commenced.
By the way, there was discussion at
supper between my three comranions-all