52 FROM FORT KEARNY TO FORT LARAMIE. 



strewn over the ground. Young pines, however, are rapidly taking 

 their place. What could have caused this singular phenomenon ? 

 In former years the valley of the Platte was similarly covered with 

 these dead cedars, brought down by the freshets, but now there are 

 none to be found, they having all been converted into fuel by the 

 emigrants. Three miles from the Chimney Rock, the road 

 gradually leaves the river for the purpose of passing behind 

 Scott's Bluff, a point where a spur from the main ridge comes 

 so close to the river as to leave no room for the passage of teams. 

 There was no water between these two points, a distance of more 

 than twenty miles, and we were consequently obliged to go on until 

 nine o'clock, when we encamped at the bluff, on a small run near 

 a delicious spring, after having been in the saddle sixteen hours 

 without food, and travelled thirty-one and a-half miles. The march 

 was a severe one upon the animals, as they were in harness, after 

 the noon halt, for seven successive hours, without water. The 

 afternoon was oppressively hot, and the gnats and musquitoes 

 almost insufferable. There is a temporary blacksmith's shop here, 

 established for the benefit of the emigrants, but especially for that 

 of the owner, who lives in an Indian lodge, and had erected a log 

 shanty by the roadside, in one end of which was the blacksmith's 

 forge, and in the other a grog-shop and sort of grocery. The stock 

 of this establishment consisted principally of such articles as the 

 owner had purchased from the emigrants at a great sacrifice and 

 sold to others at as great a profit. Among other things, an excellent 

 double wagon was pointed out to me, which he had purchased for 

 seventy-five cents. The blacksmith's shop was an equally profit- 

 able concern ; as, when the smith was indisposed to work himself, 

 he rented the use of shop and tools for the modest price of seventy- 

 five cents an hour, and it was not until after waiting for several 

 hours, that I could get the privilege of shoeing two of the horses, 

 even at that price, the forge having been in constant use by the 

 emigrants. Scott's Bluff, according to our measurement, is five 

 hundred and ninety-six miles from Fort Leavenworth ; two hun- 

 dred and eighty-five from Fort Kearny, and fifty-one from Fort 

 Laramie. 



Thursday, July 12. — Bar. 26.13 ; Ther. at sunrise, 53°. We 

 arrived to-day at Fort Laramie, and encamped a short distance 

 above, on Laramie's Fork, a fine, rapid stream, about fifty yards 

 wide. Here we remained until the 18th, recruiting our animals, 

 getting them shod, repairing our wagons, and making the necessary 



