56 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



miles. The next day (13th) we passed by the celebrated 

 " Cotton-wood Springs/' where, in the midst of a scattered 

 grove of majestic cotton- woods, a clear stream gushes forth, 

 famed for its coolness and purity. We all stopped to get a 

 drink of the delicious water, which tasted like nectar to us 

 who had for so long quenched thirst with the yellow, tepid 

 water of the Platte, and then moved on, encamping at sunset 

 on the summit of O'Fallon's Bluffs, whose steep declivities we 

 climbed with difficulty. These bluffs are opposite the junc- 

 tion of the north and south forks of the Platte, and extend to 

 the edge of the river. Our encampment was on the edge of a 

 pond filled w^ith a villainous fluid, which passed for water by 

 the hardiest, but which we were obliged to drink for want of 

 better. The vegetation on the bluffs was parched and w^ith- 

 ered, owing to the pervading drought. Thorny plants of 

 almost every description abounded here, making it a painful 

 task to move outside of the beaten track. Near this place a 

 train was snowed under in the autumn of '57, and the whitened 

 bones of its starved and frozen cattle lay scatte-red around, 

 forming a ghastly spectacle. 



The Platte, below the junction, is a mile in width and aver- 

 ages a foot in depth. Between the forks is a low prairie which 

 extends about eighteen miles above the junction, when it 

 reaches the bluffs, ascending to the broad plateau extending 

 between the two rivers farther on. Descending from the bold 

 bluffs on which we were encamped the preceding night, w^e again 

 rolled over the Platte bottom, the road being bad from the 

 deep and yielding sand. Late in the afternoon of the 14th 

 we reached the celebrated crossing of the South Platte. 



At the ford the South Fork, or Padouca, is about a half 

 mile in width, with numerous sand-bars rising above the 

 surface of the water. On account of the difficulty of crossing 

 this stream, from its quicksand bottom, and the heavy freshets 

 which annually fill its banks, this ford is a noted locality on 



