266 VALLEY OF THE CHUGWATER — SEVERE INJURY. 



Humboldt. The distance will not exceed one hundred miles ; and 

 the object to be attained renders it certainly well worthy of a care- 

 ful examination. Should the result prove favourable, we have 

 then a perfectly practicable trace from the forks of the Platte to 

 the valley of the Humboldt, preferable in many respects to that 

 presented by the Sweetwater, the South Pass, and the Soda 

 Springs. 



With these general observations upon a route hitherto untra- 

 versed, I leave the subject, and return once more to our encamp- 

 ment at the head of the Lodge-pole. 



The interval until the 6th of October was occupied in making 

 an examination of the country to the northward of the heads of 

 Lodge-pole ; in the course of which we crossed the several sources 

 of Horse Creek, and entered the picturesque valley of the Chug- 

 water. The character of the country did not vary materially from 

 that farther south. In several localities the ground was strewn 

 with fragments of white quartz, and jasper of a blood-red colour. 

 In the bed of the Chugwater, and on the sides of the adjacent hills 

 were found immense numbers of rounded blapk nodules of magnetic 

 iron-ore, which seemed of unusual richness. The Chugwater 

 winds from side to side of a level, well-sheltered valley, clothed 

 with abundance of grass, and is handsomely timbered with box- 

 elder and willow thickets, affording covert for great numbers of 

 deer, which were more plentiful here than anywhere upon the 

 route. The valley is a favomrite wintering spot for the Cheyenne 

 Indians. 



While encamped on the Chugwater, I sustained a severe injury 

 by a fall, which not only incapacitated me from mounting my 

 horse, but confined me altogether to my bed until our arrival at 

 Fort Leavenworth. This unfortunate accident obliged me, although 

 with the greatest reluctance, to forego the projected reconnoissance 

 of the valley of the Lodge-pole and of the Republican Fork, to 

 which I had looked forward with the most sanguine anticipations. 

 It was a source of much satisfaction, under this severe disappoint- 

 ment, that the great object with which we left Fort Bridger had 

 been successfully attained. 



An express was sent to Fort Laramie for surgical aid, and for 

 an ambulance, which arrived on the 9th, and on the 12th we 

 reached the fort. Here every kindness was extended to us by the 

 officers of the post ; and on the 16th we left our hospitable friends, 

 the train being in charge of Lieutenant Gunnison. Taking the 



