Ex. Doc. No. 41. 543; 



+ w 



a little more until we could get at the ridge pole of the tent, whicli 

 we cut in two with our axes. We now drew Preston out of tbe 

 drift, which had like to have proved his grave. His bed-fellow, who 

 had been much weakened by sickness, was already dead- he wsi^ 

 tlie man whom we had dragged from Jackson's grove to "'Paw;.iee 

 forkj where he had been picked up by Mr. Brown; feince which 

 itne he nad been recovering fast. Poor fellow ! it ^.Is his deainv 

 to leave nis bones on the desert prairies, where wolves howl his 

 requiem. I caused the men to dig him also out of the drift, and to 



Jetton Wood fl^rk '^^^""' ''' ''''^'' ^^""^ ""'^ ""'^^^ ^'"'^ ^^'"' '^ ^^^ 

 Preston complained bitterly of the cold; the sudden chill which 

 he experienced when we dragged him forth (for he seemed at first 

 -to be in a perspiration) instantly stiffened his limbs. He be^^ed 

 he prayed, that we would^bring him near the fire; but we i)ut him' 

 into a wagon, and, wrapping him in buffalo robes, we started on 

 our march. ^ " 



Several mules had already been frozen to* death. As ive mo 

 ceeded, mules, that had started off in apparently good condition 

 ^vould drop down in the harness, and their limbs would become 

 periectly rigid. Even one of the oxen fell down benumbed with 

 •cold. In a few hours we lost six mules and one ox, so that OHr 

 road was marked out with dying animals. As we approached our 

 aestmed camp grouad, we saw a wolf that was so badly frozen as 

 Jo be unable to move. One of the men put an end to its sufferintrs 

 oy a bullet from his rifle. ^ 



The snow on the general surface of the prairie was no-t luore 

 than three or four inches in depth, so that I accomplished the 

 aiarch without any great difSculty by twilight; but none of the 

 teams arrived until 11 o'clock that night. 



x^'fu^^i^^^^ 22.— I now made all my arrangements for go'in<r orf 

 witti Mr. Smith, leaving my men to await the movements c f "^Mr 

 ^rown, who had agreed to transport their provision and bedding ai 

 lar as Independence, Missouri. 



During the day, we dug a grave for the unfortunate man who- 

 ^as suffocated beneath the snow. On a high bluff point, thaJ. over- 

 hangs a deep pool of quiet water, close to the spot where the road 

 crosses Cotton Wood fork, is the last resting place of poor 

 Pilcher. . 



Mr. Brown was in great embarrassment all day about the safety 

 of his teams. Several of them had not yet arrived; the poor ani- 

 mals had been out another night upon the prairie, where they could 

 ^ol get a morsel to eat. 



. In the evening, Preston came into camp; he had been put 

 into a w^agon that remained last night upon the prairie, about 8 

 I'li^les distant. This morning he started and walked to camp. He 

 looked as if he had been sick for a long time, so great was the 

 shock his constitution had sustained. He told us that when he 

 first awoke, he felt very comfortable, and had no difficulty in ' 

 hrePthing. At length he perceived his companion was dying. lie 

 flow made efforts to escape from his perilous situation, and found 



more 



