160 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



he had loaned to me without charge if I would have him 

 shod all around. I was only too glad to accept the offer. 

 He was a good riding horse, trusty and gentle, not afraid 

 of a gun, and he did excellent service. 



While in Glenrock I became acquainted with the county 

 surveyor. He had taken oil claims in the very country to 

 which we were going, and he gave me instructions how to 

 reach the place by the best route, there being no track most 

 of the way. I will not repeat his directions in full, only we 

 were to run by the compass most of the way after crossing 

 the North Platte, until we reached Sand springs where we 

 would strike the road from Casper to Buffalo, then this 

 road was to be followed until we arrived at a desirable hunt- 

 ing ground. Following his directions we got through easily 

 after about two days' travel. 



One very interesting thing occurred on this trip — at 

 least interesting to me. Soon after crossing the North Platte 

 we came upon the old Oregon Trail that follows up, along 

 that side of the river. For a mile or two we traveled in, 

 or by the side of the old trail and it looked and seemed so 

 natural that I was carried back to the summer of 1852 and 

 was again in mind, on the overland journey, only then I was 

 driving four yoke of cattle — now I was on horseback. At 

 one place we crossed three or four steep ravines, where I 

 distinctly remembered that the crossing was so bad that it 

 took both my cousin and myself to manage the team, one 

 of us at the heads of the lead cattle, and the other to mind 

 the wheel oxen and manage the brake. 



We made a good camp on Salt creek, a tributary to 

 Powder river. The camp was protected from the wind on 

 all sides either by steep banks or by thickets of willows. 

 The water in the little creek was good for drinking, it being 

 the only good water we found in that neighborhood, all the 

 other streams being saline or alkaline water or both. 



