TRAVEL. 63 



The importance of always having a compass cannot 

 be too strongly impressed on all who travel on the plains. 

 ' Old plainsmen,' and so-called ' scouts,' or guides, who 

 desire to be regarded as old plainsmen, frequently 

 profess a great contempt for a man who cannot travel 

 without ' one of them little boxes.' With some this con- 

 tempt is real, and comes from the entire ignorance of the 

 nature and use of the instrument. Others who profess this 

 contempt are actuated by interested motives. They desire 

 to be employed as guides of scouting or hunting parties, 

 and not unnaturally are very indignant at seeing an officer 

 or civilian, with no guide but his ' box,' plunge uncon- 

 cernedly into a country the details and difficulties of 

 which it has taken them years to become acquainted with. 



Besides this, old plainsmen and guides who ignore the 

 compass, in my experience are not always to be relied on 

 for close or direct travelling. They will lead a party into 

 the wilderness and bring it back ; but for my own part, 

 and with ample opportunity to form an opinion, I would 

 not give up the ' box ' for the best guide on the plains. 

 Of course this is very different in mountainous regions, 

 where the lines of possible travel are very few, and local 

 knowledge almost absolutely necessary. 



' Old Bridger,' the most thorough and justly celebrated 

 of all plains guides, was employed by the Government to 

 conduct a heavy waggon train from Fort Fetterman to the 

 Union Pacific Eailroad. I was informed by the officer in 

 command of the escort to the train that, on emerging 

 from the foothills of the mountains, Bridger halted the 

 train, and went uneasily now to this hill, now to that, 

 getting on every little prominence, looking at and care- 

 fully studying the country. After considerable time spent 

 in this way, he came back to the officer and acknowledged 

 that he did not know where he was. ' Then,' said the 

 officer, ' I think you had better go to the house I see in 

 the valley and inquire.' The house was Medicine Bow 

 Station, on the railroad. Bridger had been in that valley 



