CHAPTER> NINE 
JOURNEY OVER THE BLACK 
HILLS—CROSSING THE 
NORTH FORK 
ae HE next morning (June 15th), we left 
Fort Laramie to journey again in west- 
erly direction through the wilderness. 
Our way led over the Black Hills above 
mentioned, leaving the Laramie River 
ag to our left, and ascending the North 
Fork at a moderate distance from it. The North 
Fork winds here through rocky walls so steep that the 
river is seldom in view, and there is no traveling on 
its banks. The hills consisted of sand and lime stone, 
and show here and there a pine or cedar. To the 
left another high mountain chain is in view, the Platte 
Mountains, where, as we afterward learned, the 
North Platte has its source. On the top of the high- 
est mountain of this chain snow was still lying. For 
four days we camped on little streams that flow into 
the North Fork, and found at times very pleasant 
camping grounds, for instance, at Horse Shoe Creek, 
