EIvDORADO 87 



horses and mules dying in about an equal ratio. Be- 

 fore reaching Bridger the dragoons were compelled to 

 leave their saddles, which they buried in the snow, 

 the horses being unable to carry them. The animals 

 were obliged to exist on sage brush for two-thirds of 

 the time, and then, to obtam this fibrous shrub, they 

 were compelled to remove snow several feet deep. 

 The men had no other fuel ; no water, only as they 

 melted snow, for three weeks before reaching Bridger. 



"When the news arrived at the camp that the trains 

 had been destroyed the troops immediately began to 

 forage for anything that was palatable, well knowing 

 that no supplies could reach them until late in the 

 spring. The snow was then on an average from six to 

 seven feet deep, and the game had mostly left the hills. 

 Ine rations were immediately reduced to one-half, but 

 even this pittance failed on February 28th, when one- 

 quarter rations per man were issued, being the last of 

 all our stores. 



"Two 100-pound sacks of flour were secured by 

 Major Canby, who gave for them $300 in gold. They 

 were placed in his tent, which stood where the old 

 flagstaff now stands, and he supposed his treasure se- 

 cure. But that night a party of men belonging to 

 Company I, First Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant 

 Marshall, made a raid on the tent, pulling out the pins 

 and throwing the tent over the astonished major, but 

 procuring the flour, with which they escaped in the 

 darkness, and succeeded in hiding it about a mile from 

 camp in the sage brush. All was confusion. The long 

 roll was beaten, the troops turned out and answered to 

 their names, no one being absent. The next day at 

 guard mount the major commenced a personal search 



