16 FEOM FORT LEAVENWORTH TO FORT KEARNY. 



frightened at the danger and disgusted already with the trip. It 

 was here that we first saw a train " corralled.'' The wagons were 

 drawn np in the form of a circle and chained together, leaving a 

 small opening at but one place, through which the cattle were 

 driven into the enclosed space at night, and guarded. The ar- 

 rangement is an excellent one, and rendered impossible what is 

 called, in Western phrase, a "stampede" — a mode of assault prac- 

 tised by Indians for the purpose of carrying off cattle or horses, 

 in which, if possible, they set loose some of the animals, and so 

 frighten the rest as to produce a general and confused flight of the 

 whole. To a few determined men, wagons thus arranged form a 

 breastwork exceedingly difficult to be carried by any force of un- 

 disciplined savages. — -Occasional showers during the day. Even- 

 ing clear and pleasant, with a bright moon. Day's travel, twelve 

 miles. 



Saturday, June 2. — Bar. 29.17 ; Ther. 64°. The general course 

 to-day has been north-west, over a rolling prairie country, in- 

 dented by deep ravines, formed by numerous small streams flow- 

 ing into the Missouri, which runs eight or ten miles to the north- 

 e'ast. In crossing a steep ravine in the forks of one of these 

 aflSuents of that river, a part of one of the wagons was broken, 

 the repair of which occupied the remainder of the day, and obliged 

 us to encamp on the left bank of the stream, the bluff of which 

 was quite steep. Near the top of the bank was a stratum of shale 

 about two feet thick ; the overlying limestone being considerably 

 undermined by disintegration : over the limestone was a layer of 

 light-coloured friable sandstone. In the shale, no fossils were dis- 

 covered, but the limestone contained stems of encrinites. The 

 strata appeared to be horizontal. Grass and water are here very 

 abundant, and fine springs are to be found on the south side of the 

 stream, which is richly wooded. Day's travel, seven miles. 



Sunday, June 3. — Bar. 29.01 ; Ther. 80°. Camp not moved to- 

 day. The cliff on the north side of the creek was traced for 

 about a mile up the stream. The shale continues horizontal. In 

 some parts it was dark, and apparently carboniferous, but no fos- 

 sils were discovered in it. Above it the limestone was sandy and 

 ferruginous, and the upper layers contained many fossils, — spirifer, 

 productus, &c., — mixed with small shells. The cliff was from one 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred feet high, facing north-west. 



Monday, June 4. — Bar. 29.18 ; Ther. 65°. The road in the 

 morning was very sinuous, from its following the crest of a high 



