TO 



both streams it is of inferior quality and difficult of access. That at 

 the Black Hills is much better timber, and covers an area of about 

 1500 square miles; but this is also in situations where there would 

 be much labor in getting it out, and an Indian war would probably 

 attend the first attempts to do so. 1 think the Niobrara, White, and 

 Shyenne rivers could be used to bring the logs to the Missouri, down 

 which they could be rafted. 



The great want of timber which is felt along the settlements on the 

 Missouri, and the high price which this material commands, may 

 probably overcome all the difficulties I have stated to exist ; and, 

 having done this as faithfully as I can, I must leave each one to form 

 his own opinion on the subject. 



CHAPTER III. 



jRemarJcs on the climate — meteorology . 



The seasons I have spent in Nebraska have, as I am informed by 

 those who have resided there a long time, been favored with an un- 

 usual supply of rain. With this caution as to the inferences which 

 may be drawn from our observations, I will give a short account of 

 some of the meteorological phenomena observed by us. 



In the year 1855 we left Fort Leavenworth on the 15tli of June, and 

 reached Fort Pierre on the 16th of July. During the passage up the 

 river we had 13 days of nearly calm weather; 10 days of south or 

 southeast wind, sometimes very strong; seven thunder-storms, some 

 of them of great violence, with much rain, the amount diminishing as 

 we ascended the river, (there being no heavy rain after the 29th of 

 June, all of which time we were above the mouth of the Niobrara.) 

 The highest temperature observed was on July 15, at 2 p. m., at 

 which time the dry thermometer gave 102° in the shade, and the wet 

 bulb thermometer 69°. When we reached Fort Pierre we were in- 

 formed that there had been no rain or snow there for more than a year. 

 The appearance of the vegetation confirmed this statement, as scarcely 

 a green spot was anywhere to be seen. 



Hourly observations on the wet and dry bulb thermometers and ba- 

 rometers were made at Fort Pierre from July 17 to 25, and at the 

 hours of 7 a. m., 9 and 2 p. m., till August 7. The mean height of 

 the barometric column at this place is (reduced to 32°) 28.436; the 

 altitude above the sea, 1,500 feet. The highest temperature observed 

 during this time was, at 3 p. m., July 22, dry thermometer, 86°; wet 

 bulb thermometer, 64°; the barometer, reduced to 32°, reading 28.310. 

 On the same evening we had a heavy fall of rain, with thunder and 

 lightning, about 5 miles south of the fort; this was the first rain ex- 

 perienced in the neighborhood. From July 22 to August 7 there 

 were three violent thunder-storms from the west, one of which was 

 attended with a heavy fall of rain. An abundance of rain continued 

 to fall here during the summer. 



While on the journey from Fort Pierre to Fort Kearney, between 



