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In the year of 1857 we started from Omaha the 28th of June, in 

 the midst of the rainy season, and reached Fort Laramie August 20. 

 During this journey we had fifteen rainy days, or about in one four, and 

 on many other days there were showers with thunder and lightning 

 near us that are not included The highest temperature was 100°,, 

 2 p. m., August 11. 



Prior to our arrival at Fort Laramie not much rain had fallen there ; 

 but on the 22d it commenced, at 11 a. m., to rain hard and continued, 

 with but little intermission, till the 24th. This storm was not accom- 

 panied by violent wind, and the barometer gave very little indication 

 of its approach, preserving about a reading of 25.980. No one there 

 remembered to have ever seen so much rain fall at one time at that 

 place. 



I left Fort Laramie on the 4th of September ; we had one heavy 

 rain on the 10th, at the base of the Black Hills. While in the Black 

 Hills we had a storm that lasted from G a. m. on the 16th till 9 p. m. 

 on the 17th. As we were travelling and changed our altitude during 

 this storm, and while it was coming on, the indications of the baro- 

 meter are not of any value. Our elevation was about 5,500 feet. 

 The storm began with a cold rain, thermometer 54°. The temperature 

 gradually fell till the rain changed to snow during the night of the 

 16th, and the thermometer went down to 32°. There was a strong 

 wind a portion of the time from the north. During the latter part of 

 this storm we were enveloped in the clouds, and as it cleared up these 

 gradually rose, as we could see by the line they made along the sides- 

 of the high peaks and ridges. 



We experienced a very violent storm, of about twenty-four hours*^ 

 duration, on the 8th of October, while on White river, and had a fall 

 of about six inches of snow on the Niobrara on the 18th of October. 

 From the 18th of October to the 31st we had four storms of rain and 

 sleet. 



I have not attempted here to give the direction of the wind during 

 the period, as it could only be done satisfactorily by copying the daily 

 register. The prevailing wind through the year is from the north, 

 as is fully established by the sand hills along the Niobrara. The 

 wind has blown these up to the brink of the precipices along the north 

 bank, and on the south has removed them to the distance of about 

 half a mile. October is generally a very windy month. In 1856, 

 fifteen days of this month, while we were travelling down the Mis- 

 souri in a Mackinac boat, from Fort Pierre to Sioux City, it blew sO' 

 we could not proceed. The prevailing wind at this time was from 

 the south, and we had one violent rain storm, with a south wind. 



A true indication of the nature of the climate of Nebraska is to be 

 found in the character of the j^lants which grow there. Certain 

 kinds, unable to live through the long periods of drought which occur, 

 are rarely to be seen, and those which flourish best are such as require 

 but little moisture, or whose roots, penetrating deep into the soil, 

 enable them to draw a sufficiency of moisture from below. In the 

 high prairies, where there is a good soil, we find the bunch grass 

 growing in tufts, but in many places interspersed with patches of 

 cacti. The bottom lands of many of the streams support no trees but 



