THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS 



187 



non. This flag-staff is the glo y of the fort, for on high, 

 seen from far and wide, floats the Star Spangled Banner, an 

 immense flag which once belonged to the United States 

 Navy, and gives the certainty of security from dangers, 

 rest to the weary traveller, peace and plenty to the fa- 

 tigued and hungry, whose eyes are gladdened by the sight 

 of it on arriving from the long and perilous voyages usual 

 in this far western wild. It is customary on the arrivals 

 and departures of the Bourgeois, or of the boats of 

 gentlemen of note, to raise the flag, and by the firing of 

 the cannon show them a welcome, or wish them a safe 

 arrival at their point of destination. When interest and 

 affection are as circumscribed as here, they must neces- 

 sarily be more intense, and partings are more regretted, 

 being accompanied by dangers to the departing friends, 

 and meetings more cordial, those dangers having been 

 surmounted. The casualties of the country are common 

 to all, and felt the more by the handful, who, far from 

 civilization, friends, or kindred, are associated in those 

 risks and excitements which accrue from a life among 

 savages. About two hundred feet east of Fort Union is 

 an enclosure about 1 50 ft. square, which is used for hay 

 and other purposes. Two hundred and fifty good cart-loads 

 of hay are procured during the summer and stacked up in 

 this place for winter use of horses and cattle, the winter 

 being so severe and long, and snow so deep that little 

 food is to be found for them on the prairies at that sea- 

 son. There are, at present, in this place thirty head of 

 cattle, forty horses, besides colts, and a goodly number 

 of hogs. A garden on a small scale is attached to the 

 ' old fort ' as it is called, which supplies the table with 

 peas, turnips, radi£.hes, lettuce, beets, onions, etc. The 

 large garden, half a mile off and below the fort, contains 

 one and a half acres, and produces most plentiful and ex- 

 cellent crops of potatoes, corn, and every kind of vege- 

 table, but has not been worked this year. In the summer 



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