12 SUDDEN RISE OF WATER. 



]\£ a y is. — At 6 o'clock this morning we resumed our march, taking 

 a course leading to the crest of the "divide," as we thereby avoided many- 

 ravines which extended off upon each side towards the stream, and were 

 always sure of a good road for our wagons. This ridge runs very nearly 

 on our course, but occasionally takes us some distance from Red river ; 

 as, for example, our encampment of last night was about nine miles 

 from the river, and we only came in sight of it once in the course of our 

 march yesterday. 



As soon as the train was under way this morning, Capt. McClellan 

 and myself crossed over the dividing ridge and rode to Red river. We 

 found the bed of the stream about seven hundred yards wide ; the val- 

 ley enclosed with high bluffs upon each side ; the soil in the bottom 

 arenaceous, supporting a very spare herbage; and the water very turbid, 

 and spread over a large surface of sand. The general course of the 

 river at this point is a few degrees north of west. 



We are all in eager expectation of soon falling in with the buffalo, 

 as we have seen the fresh tracks of quite a large herd to-day. As we 

 advance, the country away from the borders of the water-courses becomes 

 more barren, and woodlands are less frequently met with ; indeed, up- 

 on the river there is no other timber but cotton wood (Populus angu- 

 lata,) and elm ( Ulmus Americana?) and these in very small quantities ; 

 for the most part the valley of the river along where we pased to-day is 

 entirely destitute of trees. 



We have seen near here several varieties of birds, among which I ob- 

 served the meadow lark (Stur?iella ludoviciana,) the pinnated grouse or 

 prairie hen {Tetrao cupido,) the Virginia partridge [Ortyx Virginiamis,) 

 the killdeer (Charadrius vociferous,) and several varieties of small birds. 

 We encamped upon a small affluent of Cache creek, where on our arrival 

 we found no water except in occasional pools along the bed; however, 

 in the course of an hour some of the men who had gone a short distance 

 up the creek came running back into camp and crying, at the top of 

 their voices, "Here comes a plenty of water for us, boys!" And, indeed, 

 in a few minutes, much to our astonishment and delight, (as we were 

 doubtful about having a supply,) a perfect torrent came rushing down 

 the dry bed of the rivulet, filling it to the top of the banks, and continued 

 running, turbid and covered with froth, as long as we remained. Our 

 Delawares regarded this as a special favor from the Great Spirit, and 

 looked upon it as a favorable augury to the success of our enterprise. 

 To us it was a most inexplicable phenomenon, as the weather for the 

 last three days had been perfectly dry, with the sky cloudless If the 

 sti earn had been of much magnitude we should have supposed that the 



