RECREATION. 



395 



CROSSING THE PLAINS 



in '61. 



Maj. W. H. Schieffelin. 



The reading of the history of Lewis 

 & Clark's expedition, and of Fennimore 

 Cooper's tales, awakened in us a spirit 

 of unrest and a desire for travel and ad- 

 venture. By us, I mean Mr. 

 E. N. Lawrence, Mr. W. M. 

 Cary, the well known artist, 

 and myself. We determined 

 on a buffalo hunt, and a jour- 

 ney across the continent, and 

 after securing complete hunt- 

 ing outfits, including saddles, 

 bridles, blankets, clothing, 

 tents, cooking utensils, cur- 

 rant jellies and other lux- 

 uries, not needed and not 

 often seen on the plains, we 

 set out for St. Louis, at that 

 time the rendezvous of nearly 

 all west-bound travelers. 

 <• About the 12th of May, 



I 1861, having letters to Mr. 

 § Pierre Chouteau, of the Amer- 

 ce ican Fur Company, we left St. 

 M Louis on two of that com- 

 pany's steamboats, the 

 " Spread Eagle" and the 

 " Chippewa," for Forts Union 

 and Benton, on the upper 

 Missouri. These boats made 

 but one trip each year, and 

 that in the spring, when the 

 water was highest. 



The distance from St. Louis 

 to Benton is 3,000 miles. It 

 took us about six weeks to 

 make the trip, traveling by 

 day only. At night we made 

 fast to the shore, or, in case 

 of danger from hostile 

 Indians, anchored in the mid- 

 dle of the river. The vessels 

 were loaded principally with goods 

 for the trading posts in the far North- 

 west, there being but few passengers 

 for that remote country in those days. 

 Every afternoon a landing was made, 

 and the crews were employed for two 

 hours or more in cutting wood and put- 

 ting it on board for use during the next 

 day. These stops gave us ample oppor- 

 tunities for hunting, and there was always 



