Montgomery County sentinel., 1882-06-23

spark new and fell into said material, ant
in minute or so there hared up IA tire
mendous blaze Of light, and simultan
, eously herewith tremendous roar from
, a California lion ON the side of the hill
right above us, We had some intima
J tion OF the near presence of either som,
such animal or Indians Just momen
previous, and were talking about it
through Texas Jack" the saddle mule
of my wagon, who was by far the bes
sentinotin the train, always giving no
tice Of such danger by stamping, snort
ing and pulling at his lariat, &c The
cattle had finished grazing and had laid
down 70 rest, but at the instant Of that
tremendous roar were all on their feet
and off on regular stampede Our
horsesand mules could not break their
fastenings or they would have followed
the cattc. The poor oxen attempted it,
! but did not get far We made no effort
that night to re-assemble the cattle, but
were occupied near three days in doing
80, and then failed to get some four or
five head Of them
But even these hardships were not all !.
for to add to them was the fact of our
supply of -four having nearly given out,
and in lieu of good warm slapjacks for
breakfast and supper, we had only hard
tack, or crackers made of -four and wa
ter alone, and so hard, indeed, that hut
for soaking and boiling them in milk Ga
little of which wo now procured from the
drove) or water, we could not masticate
them at all. Our bacon, too, was scarce,
indeed all our provisions, as enough only
of the principal kinds had been laid in
to last to Salt Lake, so that thcy were
now dealt out sparingly, and except the
crackers, milk and dried apples. we got
very little to eat for some two or three
weeks before reaching said city. But
must except from this trouble the COM
parativc good living we had while trav-
cling in the vicinity of Swcetwater river.
Hero we either caught ourselves with
outline set over night, or traded with the
Indians for, n good many fine fish, prin-
cipally salmon-trout, some Of them weigh
ing five or six pounds.
have spoken of the Sweotwater as q
noted river, and in this particular it was
and is noted to this day but it is noted
too for the many strange objects seen
there, the most prominent being place
called the Devils Gap"
Two or three days travel along this
river and before reaching this place, the
country was quite level, the trail good
and grass abundant. From the time Of
first catching sight of the hill or small
mountain in which this gap lies, up to
within fifty or hundred feet of its
mouth, you wonder what has become Of
the Sweetwater, not imagining it passed
through, but somehow avoided said hill,
but when within the distance specified
and walking on the river edge, you find
it did pass through, not directly, but
diagonally at the base of the gap, the
walls of which on either side were some
four or fvo hundred feet in height, plumb
as mason work, and from entry to exit
some hendred yards in length This is
the famous Devils Gap, and n wonder
indeed to look at.
The Sweetwater is a small river ris-
ing somewhere in the vicinity of the
South Pass and running east to its mouth
at the Platte. 1t is snow water, of course,
and very sweet and palatable drinking
in country where most Of tho streams
are alkali tainted.
After leaving Sweetwater we again
encountered rough, rocky, high-rising
hills, deep descending gorges. intermin-
gled stretches Of grass green flats or
commons and others not grass green,
but arid, sandy and destitute Of grass,
save where now and then we found
supply Of that very nutritious food for
animals called bunch grass growing
out from this desert soil, and but for
the cxistauce Of which emigation over
land through the largely barren country
from the prairie lands to California would
hardly have been possible.
And now at last on the 4th Of July,
1852, we had reached the very noted
important and long anxiously anticipated
point or place in our journey called the
South Pass in the Rocky Mountains.
On the evening Of the Bird we encamped
by the side Of u great fiat rock lying
in the midst Of wide cxpanse Of grass
grown level land, extending as far as
tho eye could see north and south Of US
and up to the range Of hills a little
higher than the ground we were occupy
ing and whereon laid the said great,
isolated rock, and which hills might in
courtesy be termed the backbone Of the
Rocky Mountains at this point in the
chain at least. So deceptive was the
appearance Of things around and about
US that but for the account thereof in
our gude-book and by the Boss who had
witnessed il the year previous for him
self, not one Of us would have realized
that We were now actually at the sum
init Of the great heights we had been
scaling since leaving the valley Of the
Missouri river. This rock, called "ln-'
dependence Rock" has fiat surface Of
about an acre in area, and shows above
ground at no point higher than twenty
feet here on top Of this rock the initials
of my name and others Of our party and
Of hundreds Of the emigrants may be
seen to-day either chiselcd out or painted
with lamp-black, axle grease, unless now
erased by the finger of time Two or
three days previous to reaching this spot
some Of the boys whilst out hunting game,
particularly rabbits and sage hens, found
two young bald eagles, unfeathered as
yet, though quite the size Of large
barn fowl, Of grcyish color and very
soft and green looking. They brought
them TO the wagons and it was agreed
we would keep and cook them for our
Fourth of July dinner The Boss had
made up his mind to rest the cattle at
Independence Rock for a day and have a
regular jollifcation there. We still had
enough brandy and sugar TO afford this,
and found plenty OF snow cold water at
the rock, as the Boss said we would, to
make a nice brandy toddy. According