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CHAPTEE YI. 



CROSSING THE DESEET EETWEEN THE SM0E:Y HILL FORK AND 



TnE ARKANSAS EIYER. 



Leave Fort Wallace. — How the Surveyors " Eun a Line" on tlie Tlains. 

 First Night.— Second Day, find Buffalo and, Water.— Third Day, Twcnty- 

 tliree Miles of " Line" surveyed.— No Water, Sufferings of the Animals.— 

 Miseries of a Dry Camp.— Eeach the Valley of the Arkansas.— Excitement 

 of the Horses and Mules on reaching the Water on the Fourth Day.— The 

 VaUey, Fertile but Uninhabited.— We follow the Stream for Forty-two 

 Miles to New Fort Lyon.— Euined Forts passed en route .—Reach New 

 Fort Lyon, July 14th.— The Building Stone.— First Glimpse of the Eocky 

 Mountains.— A Hunting Party arrive.— Threatened with Cholera.— Spread 

 of the Epidemic over the Plains. 



Distance travelled 114 miles. 



The country between Fort Wallace and the Arkansas Eiver 

 was very little known ; no road traversed it, and no one ever 

 crossed it but tkc hunter and trapper, and they but rarely. 

 It was thought to consist of an undulating plain covered with 

 buffalo grass, and to be almost entirely destitute of water. 

 The best maps of that section of country had placed one 

 stream, "Sand Creek," between the head waters of the 

 Smoky Hill Fork and the Arkansas Eiver ; but this was re- 

 ported to be only an arroyo, usually dry. General Wright s 

 wish was to cross this country obliquely, and strike the 

 Arkansas Eiver either at or a little below IS'ew Fort Lyon, a 

 post then being formed at the mouth of the Furgatoire, one of 

 the southern tributaries of the Arkansas Eiver. The distance 

 was estimated at about seventy-two miles, and as no guide 

 could be obtained, the imperfect maps of the coimtry had 

 alone to be relied upon to direct our course. 



