, 1864-12-16

hat famous jackson county, has been SO
,np In the Rocky Moc~.,'~-'- .riends
ay be has positively lo.. .e-. .:e,4rs, and calls
Imself, By that amount of time, younger than
e actually Is. Be built the first block-house
t "Fort Bridger," one. hundred and fifteen
niles this side Of Salt Lake, and, selling out
0 the Government, left his name Oh that
ort> as also On "Btidger's Pass" between
,alt Lake and Denver. uc has amassed pro-
,erty estimated at some seventy Thousand
lollars, by Indian traffic and general speeu-
alton in ferries, bridges, etc. He married 8
snake Indian squaw, who lately died, after
earring him children, one OF whom, lately,
WAS married to anH Harmy officer In WestPort,
shere her fathers property lies and where
:he was sent for education. Her mother is
:aid to have been iaithful wife and parents
10, although the Major took q Snake to his
bosom, he seems not to ha'e becn stons. As
July last. sixty Of eighty miles this side of
Virginia City, he WAS 4 tall, bony, and gannt
noun ntainceI, looking little above fifty In q
lirtv buck. skin suit, taciturn, combining his
share Of conversation to answering questions,
9hich, yet, ho WAS pleased to have asked.
aid to have cost the donor five hundred dol
mrs. He refused to make us speech be-
:ause he had "nothing in particular to say"
He was Jealous and angry at Boseu1an and
3thers making "cut-o1is." he must be near
ng seventy, though he rates himself as before
said, ten years less than his old ne1ghoors I'M
pute to him. The ambitions are not satisfied.
and though he has made himself historical
[n his Fort" and Pass" he must needs
have . 'Cut- off, and so, carly last May, he
TOOK q large wagon train by q new routo from
the Upper Platte bridge, on the Salt Lake
road, TO Virginia City, in Montana, over what
the Indians call s'Tle bad l2nd;" and never
vas land more fltly named. Excepting. Of
course, the river bottoms, it is almost wholly
a sage and grease brush desert, in which, re-
member. We drove our mules one day IS milcs
without finding drop Of water OF blade OF
GRASS. We crossed stream channels, but they
were dry; and eTen when w3 reached Tongue
River We had Eve or Six miles to make down
it's course, and then to ford It's deep, swift
current 10 get our jaded mules to grass.
Such stretches wholly without water ars not
places the water is worse than none, for 1t
I1oisous the stock. However, US asyouapproach
Virginia City in the mountains, the rivers aud
lesser streams become mole frequent, anu tho
water SO good that mountain trout fnhabit
them. differing from "the specified trout
In springtng pride" Of the New England
brooks, Only in that they are much larger,
4Gd Tic 6pOL6 1iouSs lAEll pAIC O4U" A'oA o4dta
IRE black instead Of yellow and red. The
streams you cross arc the Wind river, Tongue,
Rosebud. Clark's Fork, Yellow Stone, CALM
lin, and Madison, with some smaller ones. as
Grey Bull Creek, and others whose names We
did not know. Then We crossed Two branches
ofthe Yellow Stone, and perhaps brauch Of
Powder River; but our guide was taking us
niong route, sone two Or three weeks after
Major Bridge, which lie himself had never be-
fore travelled, and lie did not know
the names Of the streams. We forded all but
the i" Wind River" This we crossed by d
boat extempo1ized By Bridgcr's party, taking
our mules from the wagons and compelling
the droycs TO Swim acloss, all excepting a
few Of the largest, Which hating tue swift cur
rent, and obst'nately returning to the near
shore. We mounted and rode acFuss at a shall
lower place below. I had the pleasure Of
riding our largest wheel mule across that wide
and mad current, bare foot and stripped TO
pants and shirt, 30 as to swim If called to 1t,
Us gentleman just before us Was, and my
eon 6ad nut yet learned TO do. This gentle.
mans mule was TOO low, and the heavy cur.
rent doehing against her side, swept both fore
ard hind f. ct 1Tum under, and man and mule
in a moment disappeard. Bat in less time
than you could think they could have gone as
many Yards, saw the little mule come up on
the opposite bank. shaking the water out ol
her ears, and the man, who was . merchant
from Illinois, holding On to her hind leg.
Catching thai leg was al that savcd him.
We got safe across. but wet rs 70 all below
our good nules' backs, md then had to ride
some; miles up to where the ferry had
landed our wagons, against hard
wind, though In July, and cold enough
for November, for 1t swifled down the gulcfee
from tie snow peaks OF the Wind Mountains
which were hanging almost orer ns, and
which l thought were rightly named "Wind.''
! can seem TO feel it blowing IN my cold,
blue, naked feet us write, and almost feel
the jolt:ng Of my hard going mule.
Maj. Bridger, who never washed pan ol
dirt in his lie, had promised the gold pi!;-sims
"digeings' in eight days flum the Platte
aud though 1ge were nut in his train, VIC Hese
close OIL Ills tack. Eight dAya to dfgyings!'
Ayarice itself grew joyuns and jubi!aa! ny the
plenty poured ont new .vUiiey Of olths, aud
blasphemcd uud iusultcd, with fresh relish
the Gcd wi:ose providence WIS TO guard and
guide them to Success! And nov we we're al
Wind River" and near, almost at the very
mountains, Which had till now been In nteuehed
with the spade OF the prosrectcr. And waS
not the yellow S;ouG" SO named because
our old chief, shaAbona, who died near 0tta
va some five years since, ottrn told tile uube
lieving Sadducets Of his day, that with fifteen
hundred men be would take them where gold
nuggets could be picked up on The ground
like chestnuts after frost! =, What Only
the very last year had not fifteen men found
dirt on the Yellow Stone yielding dollar tc
Ing vnst fortunes Ly bling driven of by The
Indiauty
70, ut least in few Of onr train, were re.
,,e3ted the old fDllies Of DeSoto and Lis Span
Ia. ds; md SO they were doomed, as folly al
ways is, to the same disappointment. We
were across Wind River and among tic noun
tains, aud near and soon at the Yellow Stone.
and then tie backs Of stray tugftiyes seen by
our hunters, or the heads Of spies discovered
by our glasses, peering at rs orer the bluffs,
All WAS silent, save the Tapid rivers. The
very beavers quit their work and fed at our
approach, though ! saw trees several feet
over, which they Ind cut down with tbej.
teeth! We wcrc: in the land Of gold beyond
fable. The sand was black and the mica shin.
ing in the streams, and these betoken gold.
Nay, the pans OF our prospccters brought tlimy
pieces Of aoatgold from the sand Of the Platte
and every other stream We crossed; md the
microscope and microscopic eyes Of ayartcc
magnifcd the 1lmy flakes to nuggetsl All
We wanted was to he where that Aoat-gold
came from, and our fortunes wcrc made.
tions flowed around us as steadily as those
mountain torrents, but what Of thai? 4 for.
ncr sheriff Of franklin county, n T., had an
old concubfne along, and five MIssourfans had
little while before shot dead fugitive sol
der 10 get his yeuug one. But these tribes
could not, of course, obstruct CUR stream ol
absolute delight, if only we could get gold
We had, moreover, church members without
religion, and professors without prayer
MoImons themselves could beat us IN q show
Of consistent 1iying-but what Of all that
"Gold u only give US gold, and we are blest
But there were some trifing obstacles to be
overcome still, though VIC were at the very
point on the map-the head waters Of the
yellow Stone-wlich had so long eclipsed the
through the spectacles oi ararice. The
"coarsc gold' was still up in those noun
tains, md the Indians lived there, and the
question became material who should "bcll
the cat" 1htn We didn't know whrro the
float gold cntne from, not cycn the gulch--
and much less the squaie rod Of earth and
VIC might dig several holes before NC hit it
and then good many 70 to mines besides
miners. Some Of us were doctors in q hurry
1or patients; others ffeIghters. who wanted q
market; and many Of us we're gamblers, who
wanted to- get into those places in Virginia
City named, from their final home, "hells."
These could not wait to prospect" !" and the
and 50, on We Jared, md thus ended q Btfdg.
er's cut-ot1''' and the fabled "laud Of rolds'
at the Wind River Range and the 'shcad Ta.
ters Of the Yellow Stone.''
In my next will introduce your readers to
our guide, "Roc1y Mountain ;Do1."
J. BLANCHARD.
A Comprehend Member Of Congress
beffnudtng the Government.
[From the Detroit Advertiser, Dec 1871
The Hon. 4. G. Baldwin, Of the 5th Dis,
trict, rs one Of the faithful echoes Of the re-.
H. tfs<1~. L IT,. -