266 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



366. View on Upper Missouri ; " brick kilns," volcanic remains, clay bluffs, two 



hundred feet, supporting large masses of red pumice, nineteen hundred 

 miles above Saint Louis. Painted in 1832. (See Itinerary for 1832.) 

 (Plates Nos. 37 and 38, page69, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years. 



367. View on Upper Missouri; foot war-party on the march; beautiful prairie; 



spies and scouts in advance. Painted in 1832. (No plate.) 



368. View on Upper Missouri; Prairie Bluffs at sunrising, near mouth of Yellow- 



stone. Painted in 1832. (No plate.) 



369. View on Upper Missouri; mouth of the Platte; its junction with the Mis- 



souri, nine hundred miles above Saint Louis. 



(Plate No. 124, page 12, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



Now Plattsmoutb, Nebraska. Population about 3,500. 



The mouth of the Platte is a beautiful scene, and no doubt will be the site of a large 

 and flourishing town soon after Indian titles shall have been extinguished to the lands 

 in these regions, which will be done within a very few years. The Platte is a long 

 and powerful stream, pouring in from the Rocky Mountains, and joining with the Mis- 

 souri at this place. — G. C. 



370. View on Upper Missouri; magnificent clay bluffs, eighteen hundred miles 



above Saint Louis ; stupendous domes and ramparts, resembling some an- 

 cient ruins ; streak of coal near the water's edge ; and my little canoe, with 

 myself and two men (Bogard and Batiste) descending the river. Painted in 

 1832. 



371. View on Upper Missouri; Cabane's trading-house; fur company's estab- 



lishment ; nine hundred and thirty miles above Saint Louis, showing a great 

 avalanche of the bluffs. Painted in 1832. 



372. View on Upper Missouri ; view in the Grand Detour, nineteen hundred miles 



above Saint Louis. Magnificent clay bluffs, with red pumicestone resting 

 on their tops, and a party of Indians approaching buffalo. Painted in 1832. 

 (Plate No. 39, page 75, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



373. View on Upper Missouri; beautiful grassy bluffs, oue hundred and ten miles 



above Saint Louis. Painted in 1832. 



374. View on Upper Missouri; prairie meadows burning, and a party of Indians 



running from it in grass eight or ten feet high. Painted in 1833. 

 (Plate No. 127, page 17, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



These scenes are terrific and hazardous in the extreme when the wind is blowing a 

 gale. 



375. View on Upper Missouri ; prairie bluffs burning. 



(Plate No. 128, page 17, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years.) 

 MR. CATLIN'S DESCRIPTION OF BURNING PRAIRIES. 



The prairies burning form some of the most beautiful scenes that are to be witnessed 

 in this country, and also some of the most sublime. Every acre of these vast prairies 

 (being covered for hundreds and hundreds of miles, with a crop of grass, which dies 

 and dries iu the fall) burns over during the fall or early in the spring, leaving the 

 ground of a black and doleful color. 



There are many modes by which the fire is communicated to them, both by white 

 men aud by Indians — per accident; and yet many more where it is voluntarily done 

 for the purpose of getting a fresh crop of grass, for the grazing of their horses, and 

 also for easier traveling during the next summer, when there will be no old grass to 



