5 [26] 
MEMOIR, 
INDEPENDENCE, Mo.,, 
Having left St. Louis on the 4th of May, I arrived t 
well known frontier town of Missouri, the usual startin 
whose name is very well gute: in the Santa Fe trade for his onde T- 
severance and fearlessness, afforded me all the facilities of doing so. Yr. 
Speyer’s preparations not being quite finished, and longing myself for the 
Indepenc 
metrical observations during my stay in Independence gave as its elevation 
above the sea 1,040 feet. 
Big Blue Camp, May 15.—A charming spot is this first camp in the 
prairie. It lies just on the western boundary line of the State of Missouri, 
the military road from Fort Towson to Fort Leavenworth passing by it. 
This road forms the dividing line sated the last settlements and the In- 
dian country. Situated thus at the very junction of civilization and wil- 
derness, we could overlook them both yer a single glance. ‘Towards the 
east we ra the blessings of civilization—fine farms, with corn-fields, 
orchards, dwelling-hauses, and all the sweet comforts of home: towards the 
west, the lonesome, far stretching prairie, without house or cultivation—the 
abode of the restless Indian, the highway of the adventurous white man. 
The scenery was enlivened by thousands of stock grazing around us, and by 
the daily arrival of new wagons and prairie travellers, who take their final 
start from here to the prairie. Amongst this b bustle and activity of the 
whole caravan, I had to remain ge a week. I made some astronomical 
and barometrical observations of o rceamp. ‘The first gave me 38° 59, 
. 27" north latitude; the latter, an slonatien of 1,020 feet. 
fay 22.—-Our ‘who le caravan started, consisting of 22 large wagons, a 
(each drawn by 10 mules,) several smaller vehicles, and 35 men. I had I 
vided myself with a small wagon on springs, to carry my baggage and in 
struments, and as a comfortable retreat in bad weather. 'The confusion and 
bustle of such a first start, the inexpresnre of some of the drivers, and the 
fractiousness of the mules, render it advisable to make the first day’s march 
merely a trial. If everything socks ire, one may go ahead afterwards. For 
