LITTLE SANDY — VALLEY OF THE LITTLE BLUE. 27 



above the carboniferous series. The white sandstone was very 

 fossiliferous. 



Thursday, June 14. — Ther. at sunrise, QQ° ; Bar. 28.58. 

 Heavy dew ; wind N. W., quite fresh and cool. Leaving Little 

 Sandy, the road follows the ridge between it and the Little Blue, 

 over decomposed red sandstone. Halted to noon on the right 

 bank of the Big Sandy, a tolerably bold stream when the water is 

 high ; but at present it stands only in pools, on a bed of white sand two 

 hundred feet in width. The afternoon march was on the south side 

 of the ridge, which forced us to cross the heads of numerous ravines 

 and small runs putting into the Blue, upon one of which we encamped, 

 having accomplished twenty-one miles. We met to-day, for the 

 first time, several new plants, indicating an approach to regions of 

 a different and less fertile character than those we had hitherto 

 traversed. The aloe and the prickly-pear were found in the sand- 

 hills, as were the Commelina and the saxifrage. The prairie-rose, 

 Amorpha, (Enothera, and Artemisia abound. A blue lupine and a 

 white mallow were also gathered. 



In the afternoon we met Major Belger, of the quartermaster's 

 department, on his return from Fort Kearny, with an escort of 

 dragoons. He had fallen in with a band of five hundred Pawnees, 

 who, however, did not attack him. He confirmed the rumour that 

 a force had been sent from the fort after them. A fight had taken 

 place on the north side of the Platte, between the Indians and 

 two parties of emigrants, in which the former were defeated, with 

 the loss of their chief, five others killed, and six wounded ; the 

 whites having one man wounded and a horse killed. A large 

 number of plover were seen to-day. 



Monday, June 18. — Bar. 28.13 ; Ther. 86°. We have been 

 travelling for the last three days up the valley of the Little Blue. 

 Where we first struck it, the stream is eighty feet wide, apparently 

 deep, very crooked, with a swift current. It is fringed, sometimes 

 on one side, sometimes on the other, with a narrow belt of cotton- 

 wood and willows. The valley presents a tolerably uniform ap- 

 pearance, bounded by ridges, seldom more than a mile or two apart, 

 the intervening bottoms sloping gradually down to the river. The 

 grass is generally very abundant, and prele (the common scouring- 

 rush) is found in great plenty. Our mules ate it with avidity. 



In the morning we passed a government ox-train, laden with 

 provisions for the new post about to be established in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Fort Hall. It consisted of thirty-one heavy wagons, 



