144 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



the railroad and well established in camp that nothing had 

 been forgotten, and that everything actually necessary for 

 such a trip had been provided. 



The railroad trip from Oakdale was uneventful. Chad- 

 ron was reached about six o'clock the next morning, and 

 here we had to change cars, the passenger train which 

 brought us thus far going on north to the Black Hills. We 

 had to wait at Chadron until after seven o'clock for the train 

 going west into Wyoming. This was a freight train with 

 one passenger coach attached, there being at that date no 

 passenger train west of Chadron, on what is now known 

 as the Lander route. Before leaving Chadron we had de- 

 cided to go as far west as Glenrock. This conclusion was 

 reached after having consulted with several persons who 

 were acquainted with that country; their advice being that 

 Glenrock was the best point west of Chadron to purchase 

 such things as would be needed for our trip. The engine 

 that drew our train was old and out of repair and it took all 

 day and into the night to reach Glenrock. At one time 

 where there was an up grade I got out and walked for half 

 a mile by the side of the train, and this feat could have been 

 repeated a number of times. From Chadron west the road 

 has an up grade most of the way to Keeline, which is on 

 the summit at the head of the Niobrara river, and which 

 has an elevation of about 5000 feet. From Keeline west it 

 is mostly a down grade to Douglas, where the valley of the 

 North Platte is reached, and from Douglas west to Glen- 

 rock it is up hill again. At Douglas the first view was had 

 of the mountains, Laramie Peak being in plain sight about 

 forty miles to the south. Laramie Peak is quite a famous 

 mountain, it being the highest point of what are now known 

 as the Laramie mountains, and it is said to have an eleva- 

 tion of 10,000 feet. It looked to me like an old friend, and 

 I hailed it as such. In the year 1852, in the month of July, 

 I had driven a team of four yoke of cattle wearily along the 



