Nebraska advertiser., 1860-05-31
LeIter RON the PIains.
O'FALLoN's BLUFFs, n. I.
May Ia, 1860. !

Mr.. R. ". Furnas:
DEAR SIR-According to promise, l
avail myself of the opportunity to drop
you a few lines TO give you an account
Of our voyage across this great ocean Of
land. | shall not try to detail all of the
events that have t%ranspired since we left
BrOwnville. Some of the prominent ones
we're, first, at our camp No. l, Little
Nemaha Bridge. What transpired there
you have already heard from those pres
ent from your city, who played their part
there to perfection. Suffice it to say, we
had-in the language Of n of your cit
zens-a bully time. Next was Camp No.
2. on Spring Creek. Not much of i'm
p~ortance ~transpired at this place, as all
the boys felt much more like sleeping
than frolicking. During the day, how
ever, the "Gus Linn got on a sand bar,
and had to unload, raise steam, and spar
off. By the way, your are not acquain-
ted with the modus operandi of raising
steam" on the Prairies. Therefore, !
will acquaint you. We bring back four
or FIVE yoke ofsOxen from the wagons that
have goF over the bar safe, hitch them to
the one stuck. then all take a big drink
Of HiU'sb hest and then those having rood
lungs, give an awful yell. If this don't
bring her off IF the bar, we come to the
conclusion that it is a bad bar, and pro-
coed to take some more of T~heodore's
best.
We have not had many bad places to
cross, but what few there are will pay
up in quality.
No. 3. We camped on Yankee Greek.
Nothing of Importance transpired till we
got to the L~eavenworth and St. 10. Road,
when we thought the whole universe had
token an emetic and thrown up gold hunt
ers. Enough to build a temple some
thing in the shape of the residence of
Jcemes WoIcOH! That is if they were
successful according to their a%nticipaIions
You likely remember what a great SEN
sation the Daily Snort made throughout
the United States when it appeared with
the steel engraving of. Jeems WOlcott's
residence.
The next place of Importance was
Hackney's Ranch, on the Little Blue
Bill has a good place, and if he keeps
his eyes open will make a pile. Bill is a
good fellow, too. by the by, at least he
made that impression upon US. He called
all the BrownvilIe boys up to his we'll fur
nished bar to take "a wee drop of the
crater" which invitation we all complied
with, with some reluctance, as you know
we hardly ever drink-anything strong
er than Hills best brandy. Bill said this
was some of Martins best. But 1 am
inclined to think he was mistaken, for !
have taken some very good liquor at D
Us.
Nothing more of importance till we ar
rived at Fort Kearny. Here everybody
seemed TO try to Guido themselves. The
troops are QUILTING for war on the Chey-
ennes and Sioux and the emigrants rush
to the Barracks to see the .'bold soldier
boys" Some drunk, some fighting, some
gambling, some horse racing, and others
enjoying themselves by fixing up broken
wagons, o shoeing their sIowcomotives.
We have had some of the coolest wealth
er for this time of year l have ever ex-
%perienced in my life. On the Both, at
Cottonwood Springs, Snow fell to the
depth of four inches; a. this place where
l am writing. it was from eight to twelve
inches deep. l passed by three freshly
made graves zen miles below this place,
and on inquiry 1 found they had frozen to
death on the 9Th oH1NlRy, in the snow
storm. Their cattle ~stampeeded when
the storm came on, and they followed af-
ter them; bat the storm was so severe
that they could not find their way back
to camp, and persisted in the storm. This
is not an isolated esse. We see newly
made graves all along the road. which re-
minds US that wherever we may go death
is near.