CACHE CREEK. 7 



twenty-five miles towards Fort ArbucHe, we struck the trail of the 

 wagons, and following it two miles, overtook them. They had been 

 detained several days by heavy rains, which had rendered the ground 

 very soft, and in many places almost impassable. In consequence of 

 this, some of the wagons had been broken, and the repairs caused a still 

 further detention. Early on the following morning, after packing the 

 horses with provisions, we returned to where we had left the command, 

 and on our arrival found that the water in the river had fallen suffi- 

 ciently to admit of fording. Accordingly, on the morning of the 12th, 

 during a violent rain, we commenced the crossing, which was anything 

 but good, as the quicksand in the bed of the river was such as to make 

 it necessary to keep the wagons in constant motion. The moment 

 they stopped, the wheels would sink to the axles, requiring much force 

 to extricate them. By placing a number of men upon each side of 

 the mules and wagons to assist them when necessary, we, however, suc- 

 ceeded in reaching the opposite bank without any serious accident. The 

 latitude at the point where we crossed is 34° 29'. The river is here two 

 hundred yards wide and four feet deep, with a current of three miles per 

 hour ; the banks upon each side low and sandy, but not subject to over- 

 flow. Passing out through the timbered land on the bottoms, we ascended 

 the high bluff bordering the valley by a gradual slope of about a mile, 

 which brought us upon a very elevated prairie, with the valley of Cache 

 creek in view directly before us. We arrived there on the evening of the 

 13th, but found that the train had not yet come up. During our march 

 to-day we passed a small stream flowing into Red river, and directly at 

 the point of crossing, in a gulley washed out by the rains, we found 

 many pieces of copper ore, of a very rich quality, lying upon the 

 surface.* Our time, however, was too limited to admit of a thorough 

 examination of the locality. 



Cache creek is a stream of very considerable magnitude, one hundred 

 and fifty feet wide and three feet deep, with a current of four miles per 

 hour, flowing over a Hard clay and gravel bed between high abrupt 

 banks, through a valley one mile in width, of rich black alluvion, and 

 bordered by the best timber I have yet met with west of the Cross 

 Timbers. 



* An analysis of this ore by Professor Shephard gives the following results : 



Copper (with traces of iron) 35. 30 



Silica 30.60 



Oxygen and water 34. 10 



100. 00 



