55 



«ary stoppages, the difficulties of the route, rainy weather, together 

 with my being obliged to leave so much of our provisions behind at 

 Sioux City, reduced our supplies to a small amount, and for nearly 

 two weeks we were without sugar or coffee. We had also been very 

 much disappointed in the amount ot game ; and though the country 

 gave evidence of having recently been occupied by large herds of 

 buffalo, only a few bulls were seen. During the early part of the 

 journey mosquitoes were abundant, and allowed our animals no rest at 

 night, and immense numbers of flies attacked them by day. These 

 insects, combined, exhausted and worried the animals more than the 

 labor they performed, and the lives of one or two were saved only by 

 covering them with grease and tar to keep the flies and mosquitoes 

 away. 



At Fort Laramie we entirely refitted the party, which took us a 

 long time, on account of everything being required for the Utah 

 expedition. It gives me great pleasure to state that the commanding 

 officer. Colonel Hoffman, and the acting quartermaster, Lieutenant 

 Higgins, gave me all the facilities at their command. Owing to the 

 great number of animals that graze in the neighborhood the grass 

 was nearly eaten off, and our animals recruited very little during our 

 stay there. While there I succeeded in getting several sets of obser- 

 vations for moon culminations, which determined the longitude to be 

 104° 30,' with a limit of error of about 4'. Dr. Hayden and Mr. Engel 

 also made an excursion to Laramie peak, which they ascended. 



The party, on leaving Fort Laramie, was divided into two parts, 

 as, owing to the lateness of the season, it was impossible to accom- 

 plish all the objects of the expedition by keeping together. Tliough 

 in doing this I subjected each portion to the possibility of being 

 defeated by the Indians, I deemed the case to justify the risk. The 

 wagons were, half of them, turned in to the quartermaster, and the 

 remainder, with the escort under Lieutenant McMillan, were to pro- 

 ceed down the Niobrara, and await me in longitude 101° 30'. Mr. J. 

 H. Snowden went with this party to make the topographical recon- 

 naissances; Dr. Moffett also accompanied it. My own party consisted 

 of Dr. Hayden, Mr. Carrington, and Mr. Engel, and we had with us 

 17 men as packers, &c., and Mr. Morin as a guide and interpreter. 

 •Our supplies were packed on mules. 



Setting out from Fort Laramie on the 4th of September, we pro- 

 ceeded direct for the Black Hills, via Raw Hide butte. Old Woman 

 creek, the south fork of the Shyenne, and Beaver creek ; up a branch 

 of this last we entered the Black Hills. We continued north to the 

 vicinity of the Inyan Kara, (or the peak which makes the mountain^) 

 a remarkable high basaltic peak, one of the highest of these mount- 

 ains, and so far to the north that we had a full view of the prairie 

 beyond. 



Here we were met by a very large force of the Dakotas, who made 

 such earnest remonstrances and threats against our proceeding into 

 their country that 1 did not think it prudent for us, as a scientific 

 expedition, to venture further in this direction. Some of them were 

 for attacking us immediately, as their numbers would have insured 

 success ; but the lesson taught them by General Harney, in 1855, 



