22 COLONEL COOPER. 



in the trade ; and early in the following May, 

 Colonel Cooper and sons, from the same 

 neighborhood, accompanied by several others 

 (their whole number about fifteen), set out 

 witli four or five thousand dollars' worth of 

 goods, which they transported upon pack- 

 horses. They steered directly for Taos, 

 where they arrived without any remarkable 

 occurrence. 



The next effort of Captain Beckaell was 

 attended with very different success. With 

 a company amounting to near thirty men, and 

 perhaps five thousand dollars* worth of goods 

 of various descriptions, he started from Mis- 

 souri, about a month after Colonel Cooper. 

 Being an excellent woodsman, and anxious 

 to avoid tlie circuitous route of the Upper 

 Arkansas country, he resolved this time, after 

 having reached tliat point on the Arkansas 

 river since known as the ' Caches,' to steer 

 more directly for Santa Fe, entertaining httle 

 or no suspicion of the terrible trials which 

 awaited him across the pathless desert. With 

 no other guide but the starry heavens, and, it 

 may be, a pocket-compass, the i^arty embark- 

 ed upon the arid plains which extended far 

 and wide before them to the Cimarron river. 



The adventurous band pursued their for- 

 ward course A\ithout being able to procure 

 any water, except from the scanty supply they 

 carried in their canteens. As this source of 

 rehef was completely exhausted after two 

 days' march, the sufferings of both men and 

 beasts had driven them almost to distraction. 



