EI.DORADO 55 



Sleeping in the open air in these high altitudes, in 

 clear weather, with the highly rarified atmosphere, the 

 heavens luminous with its myriads of brilliant stars, 

 produced a feeling of exhilaration never experienced 

 under other conditions. We even imagined the man 

 in the moon took off his hat to us. With the thoughts 

 of home as we lay in our blankets, and of our mothers' 

 parting benediction, and the long time before we could 

 hear from them or they from us, there came thoughts 

 of the Heavenly Father who watches over all, and in 

 reverent silence we would repeat "Our Father who art 

 in Heaven," and that sweet prayer of innocent child- 

 hood, "Now I lay me down to sleep." 



After resting and refreshing ourselves until the 

 morning of the 5th we decided to follow the Mormon 

 route by way of Green river. Fort Bridger and Echo 

 canyon. 



By washing our horses' backs whenever the packs 

 were removed they became much improved, and after 

 the needed rest we were ready to resume our journey. 



Our meat supply, even of jerked buffalo, had for 

 some days been exhausted. Our only food, except now 

 and then a rabbit, brought down by a revolver, was 

 flour, coffee, sugar and a remnant of hard tack, that 

 had bid defiance to time and weather. Ten miles brought 

 us to the Little Sandy, one of the tributaries of Green 

 river, which unites with the Grand to form the Colo- 

 rado, that flows into the Gulf of California. The 

 Little Sandy takes its name from the sandy soil 

 through which it runs, being a small stream of clear 

 water with strong current. It was bordered with low 

 bushes and willows, among which were verdant spots 

 of fine srrass. We remained here for the rest of the 



