LARAMIE PLAINS — ALARM. 251 



Laramie Plains, and travelled over a beautiful rolling country, 

 covered with grass, with here and there a small lake or pond, 

 formed in the low grounds by the drainage from the neighbouring 

 hills. A meridian observation gave the latitude 41° 28' 16''. 

 From this point we took a course a little to the south of east, for 

 a prominent landmark which rises near the heads of Lodge-pole 

 Creek, an affluent of the South Fork of the Platte, and in ten miles 

 reached the western fork of the Laramie River, upon the left bank 

 of which we encamped. The river is twenty feet wide and eight or 

 ten inches deep, flowing with a rapid current over a bed of peb- 

 bles. The bottom is about four miles wide, with abundance of 

 fuel and grass. The trace to-day has been rather undulating ; but 

 an excellent road can be located without difficulty. Buffalo have 

 been very numerous and tame. Day's march, twenty-one miles. 

 Latitude, by observation, 41° 19' 43".4. Long. 105° 57' 12". 



Friday, September 27. — Clear and calm. Ther. at sunrise 

 41°. Slight frost on the grass in the low grounds. Crossing 

 the west fork of the Laramie River, our course was nearly due 

 east, over a gently rolling prairie. The trace is smooth, and had 

 we crossed the Laramie Fork about a mile to the northward, it 

 would have been as level as could possibly be desired, with not a 

 bush or ravine to obstruct the passage. The timber which clothes 

 the hills on the south ceases at their base. Artemisia has entirely 

 disappeared. 



About eleven o'clock, two of the scouts who had kept on the left 

 flank of our little party were descried descending from the hills at 

 full gallop, waving their hats, and giving the alarm of Indians. 

 We were at the time in the midst of a broad prairie, toward which 

 rolling ridges sloped gently on either hand, and at a considerable 

 distance before us rose a bold prairie ridge : not a bush or a tree 

 was to be seen which could be converted into a covert for defence. 

 The train was immediately halted, the pack-mules and loose ani- 

 mals caught up and led by their halters to prevent them straying 

 from the band, and the men were formed into two lines behind our 

 little wagon, between which the led animals were driven, the 

 whole being closed up by a guard in the rear. In a few minutes 

 our simple arrangements were completed, and we moved forward 

 over the plain, prepared to make as stout a resistance as circum- 

 stances would permit. 



In a hollow on our right lay two lakes, or ponds, and some three 

 miles ahead ran the main fork of the Laramie. Herds of buffalo 



