Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1862-07-16
First Bridge Of Platte River, l23 miles from |
Fort Laramee, 1859 miles from home, - !
miles from Camp. on the Bluffs, Watch
ING 's Sunday Morning, June 22d, 1862

get a good meal of Mountain Grass We
are living on the hill side, in the hot sun,
all well, and l believe contented and hap
py; though we would like 10 see, or hear
from the loved ones in our far eastern
home Nc camped opposite Fort Lara
unie last Sunday, aud until o'clock on
Monday afternoon, waiting to get letters
from the Post Office The stream there
is so rapid, and the means Of crossing so
poor. (aothing but poor miserable skifr,)
that it took from o'clock, a. m, until 81
.. N, TO make the trip. Several of the
BOYS got letters there, but they brought
none for me- / have heard nothing direct
from home since left Omaha, now nearly
five weeks.
find but little time to write, and
poor chance for writing If | had time
At this time l have nothing but the rough
hill side for table, surrounded by
swarms of musketoes and flies, with one
eve upon the lorses aud the other upon
my writing, with my mind divided be-
tween Tile lNO. SO iIdt SSAADpiiiis- " III
doubtless be disjointed and unintelligible.
had intended to write general history
Of our trip thus far, but find have left
my note book at the camp, and can only
give a rough sketch from memory.
Our trip through Iowa was very plea
SAINT, as YOU have before learned. Since
then we have seen more Of the hardships
Of emigration. About forty miles from
Omaha, our horses stampeded, just be
fore dark Two of them were gone until
noon the next day, when man brought
them into camp. Another threw himself
.;rr;tl, the lariat rope, tanning himself so
that We had to lie by another day. and
couli not work him for a week THAI
stampede hurt cur .orSes more than three
weeks travel About six miles further on
we broke the hind axcltree Of the old wa
gon, but fortunately we were near the
village of Fremont, where we found a
piece Of hickory, and made new one
About forty miles after passing Fort Ker
ney, the fore axel of the same wagon gaze
out There being no timber near, we
patched it UP with a double tree which
makes it almost as good as new. Our
horses are all sound, though failing some
what in flesh | think they are all good
for the trip.
The scenery along the Platte river, un-
til one gets within about one hundred
H. = f., T ,-o~,;o- ;e v,o-,- ,,,oCc+o
nous The valley is level, from five to ten
miles wide, and the bluffs low. Tie road
has been good most of the way, though
we have had some deep sand few bad
mud holes. From about one hundred
miles the other side Of Laramie, the scene
~ has been picturesque and beautiful
The bluffs are high and ehangable. Court
House Rock, Chimney Rock and SCOTS
attracted much interest. After leaving
Laramie, we found the road more diff
cult, though hard and smooth as If maead-
amized. We have passed over several
bluffs very difficult of ascent or descent,
with occasional heavy beds Of sand and
some mud We are now on the south side
of the Platte, when we expect to travel
few miles to avoid the b d roads on the
north side. We care the Platte river
60 miles from here and follow up the
Sweet Water
The principal productions OF the Platte
Valley are grasshoppcrs very numerous
Buffalo Gnats, Gerry proroking) Sand
Flies, (thc worst of all half starved mus
ketoes, (millions of them) and Cactus, or
Prickly Pear, which 5 very plentiful, and
of al varieties. One, (the Indian breast
plate) produces q very beautiful pink
flower, while others have large yellow
blossoms. In fact, the Cactus is so plen-
tiiul That ii is perfect nuisance to man
and beast Wild sage grows here in
abundance, and is good substitute for
wood, which is scarce We have Travelled
300 miles without any wood except such
as we could fish from the river to cook
with. We have had some antelope and
plenty of duck since we struck the Platte.
= believe ,hc antelope IS the best meat |
ever tasted We have had delightful
weather, though rather warm most of the
time We have had two or three thunder
storms and four hail storms, only one of
which, however. was very severe That
one was awful We. had gay time hold
Ing the horses through it They reared
and kicked awtully, | never had as hard
work for ten minutes in my lifetime, as
experienced in holding horse through
that storm
We Travelled with SARGEANTs company
as far Is Laramie, but left him there
Ne also travelled some time with CHARLEY
Marcus Company, but left them too
Oar Compa ' now consists of thirteen
wagons and thirty-four men, all from
Wis, onsin except one team. Our Captain
5 fem Council Bluffs fine fellow. and
we'll posted Four of our teams are from
Mineral Point-our own two aud Isaac
VIM ana Tow. CHAMPION two from
odgeville-DUNsTAN and others three
from Hazel Green, (JoHN RopERTs, from