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Ex. Doc. No. 41. 525 



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nt we were so comfortably situate*! that we f^id not heed it rauch. 



'his morning it was still blowing with great violence, althoiTtrh at 

 cur bdiks; our mules travelled slowiy, and would not go fast. We 

 savf great numbers of antelope, but killed none. After marching 

 sixmiles we reached a canon railed the ''Willows,'^ tbroi^ 

 the *'Timpa'' flows. I hail intenrled encamping there, but the wind 

 lushed through the gorge at such a rate that our tents could not 

 iiave siood a singi-e instant. We therefore proceeded two miles 

 further, and encamped again in a grove of cedar trees, on the mar- 

 gin of the valley of the '*Kio Timpa.'^ We could not find any dry 

 'Wood anrl were obliged ^to use the green cedar, which made pretty 



ood fires, and as it crackled in the, cheerful flames gave forth a 



elightful odor. 



The Timpa was quite hidden frolrf' view, as the banks are per- 

 pendicular and about 20 feet high. Although a few cotton wood 

 trees grew along the bottom of the stream, they were hardly tall 

 enough to be seen. The ice was so thick that it was with difficulty 

 j 'We could obtain water for ourselves and our agimals. We tound 



that it was not so salt as that nearer the mouth of ihe stream. 

 J January 18. — We left camp as the sun w^as rising. The air, al- 

 though still, was biting cold. Our breath condensed instantly 

 'Wpon the collars of our coats, every pnrt of our faces was covered 

 with frost-work. Our road being level and in good order, we pro- 

 gressed rapidly. Passing a little to the north of the usual camping 

 grou'id we encamped. 



Here we found a few sticks of wood, which had been left by 

 some preceding travellers, and the greatest abundance of prairie 

 , S^ge, *'artemisia," w.bich burns brilliantly and throws out a great 

 teat. But it consumes so rapidly <hat it keeps several persons 

 busily engaged supplying the fire with fuel. One of my men killed 

 ^n antelope during the march. Although we saw a great quantity 

 ^i game daily, still the extreme cold deterred every one from 

 hunting. 



As we approached the three conical "buttes,'^ which are described 

 «nd figured in the report of the journey pursued by Lieutenant 

 I*eck and my|elf, in 1845, we found an innumerable quantity of 

 fossil shells of the genus inoceramusj the calcarious rock on which 

 these shells are found is of a slaty fracture, and breaks into very 

 *hin sheets, which are covered on both sides with impressions of 



those shells. . * , 



January 17.~We bad a long search this morning for our mules, 

 ^^ich had wandered off to a-great distance during the night. It 

 ^as ten o'clock before we succeeded in catching them all. I now 

 started for Bents' Fort, havinij. given directions to my party to 

 ^acap as soon as they reached the Arkansas river, I reached the 

 f^rt at 24 o'clock after a rapid rot over a distance of 27 miles. 

 Herds of antelope abounded on both sides of the ro;!d. They 

 ^ere feeding among the wild sage which covers the valley of the 

 Timpa. As my approach set the herds in motion, the startled hare 

 ^ould soring up before them and dash across my road. 



HavincT reached the fort, I immediately made my arrangements 



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