Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1882-07-07


water for ten cents and a piece Of breat
for, ! think, twenty-five cents. The,
would not let me have more as Truke,
river was only nine miles further ant
they said | could get there by night
This tent was not mile from where
fell off my mule and slept all night.
found all our party, except the OLD
man spoken Of, had been there, haC
stayed till morning, even the Boss him.
self and allowed every animal we had
even those hitched up, to mike theil
way to tho river The proprietors o.
this restaurant told us that very few
trains had gone ahead of ours but tina,
they expected from this time forward
| there would be any number Of them aud
that il would keep one or the other oil
then constantly bringing water from the
TrulSee.
Preached the river about night. fall,
ccs Ssse our camp On the opposite bank
called % the party to help nc cross f0i
the river was too high to wade, that /,
Mt the place where tho trail crossed.
could not make any of the boys hear
me, so had to wander further up tho
river in search of a crossing. Although
tired and hungry | preferred doing this
to stopping all night where | was.
had to do so at last, and was relieved
from any apprehensions | had about In.
dians, said at that time to be numerous
along the Trukee and dangerous, by the
arrival early in tho night of another
train, or rather of the advance cattle
thereof, The wagons did not reach
where | was until late in tho night.
availed myself of the first chance to
cross in one of these wagons-that is
one drawn by horses or mules, for
knew these, after getting as much drink
as they wanted, could be made to cross
the river and not lingcr therein like tho
oxen, who, altogether regardless of the
wagons hitched to them or the contents
therein, after filling themselves with
water, rushed, despite all efforts to pre-
vent, for the first indication of food they
could SEQ or smell, at times ovorturning
the wagons and submerging the things
in them. The opposite bank of tho
river, as said before, was in direct con.
trast with that on the desert side, being
covered with grass, willows and other
bushes. The wagon | got into passed
sefely over in time, but as We landed n
considerable distance down the river we
saw cattle scattered all along the stoep
bank and oxen with wagons attached
one wagon overturned and men trying
tos rescue tho team from drowning
When reached camp | heard the same
had happened with our train and that
we had lost all the flour and bacon we
had in one of the wagons. The Boss
and men had had an awful days work
and were all resting and asleep-did
not hear my call for help and would not
have stirred if they had heard found
all the men there except the old man
who, like myself, dropped from his mule
on tho doea-t nnvor NV Or hon ri az
him afterwards, but as there was no rea-
son why he should perish there if aftcr
good nights rest he was able to get up
and travel again. | doubt not he got
safely to his journeys end at last
The day before leaving Salt Lake two
of our party left US, SO that we numbered
now but thirteen in all One of the men
was Shumy, named heretofore. He paid
the Boss 800 for the privilege of COM
ing with our party, and with the verbal
understanding he need not help drive
cattle unless he chose, or work the horse
he had in the wagons except he thought
proper.
At Salt Lake the Boss insisted that
Shumy should hereafter let his horse
work, if needed. and should help to drive
the cattle. Mr. S. would not agree to this,
and as he had money with him, determ-
ined to join another party. The other
man left BECAUSE he believed the Boss had
not laid in sufficient provisions to carry
us safe through to California This also
had its bearing in the case Of Shumy -
The whole party were dubious of this
thing and protested he should lay in
more -four at least. He did not choose
TO do 80 and the result was felt from
Humbolt Lake through. The loss Of
the provisions, -four especially, by the
upget in the Trukeo, helped to make
matters worse.
From this point on the Trukee to the
summit of the Sierra Nevada mountains,
or rather the gap in those mountains
through which we passed, called the Car
son Valley route, can recollect very
little. ! remember these mountains as
being all the while in view, snow-cappcd
in many places and, unlike the Rocky
mountains, heavily timbcred. | think
VIC found good grazing and water pretty
much every days travel. know we
did when actually into or on the noun
tains We often encamped in some pref
ty little grass.covered cove or valley,
with sometimes pretty lake lying there
In. recollcct most distinctly our APP
proach to Carson Gap was through fine
grass growing country. We found there
tluuluH punt huh IcHcuDtT UuJluH
some potatoes at one dollar u pound, and
would have bought more could have
spared the funds All the party bought
at this price too. and they were we'll
worth it 10 us, for il ever ate anything
delicious in my life it was these potatoes.
They were very large, TO be sure, and
were not all consumed at one meal
During this part Of our journey we
wore most Of the time without either
-four or meat, and except for tho fish and
squirrels we traded for with the Indians,
had nothing but hard crackers, dried
apples, coffee and tea, without milk or
sugar. We met with many Indians. but
Of very harmless. degraded kind, small
in stature, ugly and dirty. They lived
chiefly on fish, squirrels, grasshoppcrs
and very palatable kind Of nut found
in the large cones Of the tremendous
pine trees Astounding along here. These
Indians we're very expert with the bow
and arrow. and could pop n squirrel at