28 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



Mr. Bennett and I left Boston for Bismark, on the Upper Missouri r 

 May 27, via New York, Chicago, St. Paul, Duluth and Fargo, the other 

 members of our party joining us at New York. Passenger trains were then 

 running over the Northern Pacific only as far as Fargo, North Dakota. 

 Construction trains were in use beyond this point, running "on orders" at 

 irregular and uncertain intervals. On reaching the 17th siding, some 

 twelve miles or more east of Bismark, we had orders to wait over till the 

 next day for a train, or return to the 16th siding, signifying at least a day's 

 delay. The terrain here was a wet grassy prairie, the home of myriads of 

 mosquitoes ; the shelter for the night was a box car, without seats, blankets, 

 food, or even potable water. It seemed better to complete the journey on 

 foot, and with two of my party and a sergeant from Fort Lincoln, with the 

 mail for Forts Lincoln, Rice and Buford, as guide, we reached Bismark at 

 midnight. The distance from Fargo to Bismark is 200 miles, which re- 

 quired nearly three days to make. 



Reported the next day at Fort Lincoln, opposite Bismark, and made 

 arrangements for transportation to Fort Rice, some twenty miles south of 

 Fort Lincoln, and the rendezvous of the Yellowstone Expedition, where we 

 arrived on the 8th of June. Here our party was most cordially welcomed 

 by Gen. D. S. Stanley, commander of the Expedition, who assured us of 

 every assistance possible in our work. Captain H. M. Lazelle, Company H, 

 8th Infantry, L T . S. A., an officer greatly interested in several lines of scien- 

 tific research, was detailed to take charge of the Scientific Corps, which was 

 assigned to the Headquarters Division of the Expedition. In due time we 

 were provided with the necessary equipment, comprising two (later five) 

 six-mule baggage wagons, five tents, five saddle horses, and a detail of a 

 sergeant and three soldiers to look after our comfort and belongings, one 

 of them serving as cook. 



The previous year the survey of the Northern Pacific Railroad route was 

 seriously impeded in the Yellowstone region by hostile Indians. Hence a 

 heavy military escort was this year provided for the protection of the engi- 

 neer corps. The present escort comprised 1400 troops and 400 civilian 

 employees, accompanied by a train of 300 wagons, each drawn by six mules, 

 and 1200 beeves on the foot to furnish fresh beef en route. The escort 

 comprised the famous Seventh Cavalry, with Gen. George A. Custer in 

 command, and parts of the Eighth and Twenty-second Infantry, and a 

 company of Indian scouts. 



The military escort broke camp at Fort Rice on June 20, following the 

 engineers who had taken the field some ten days before. Our course was 

 nearly due west, and the first objective point was the Great Bend of Heart 

 River; a later landmark was the crossing of Big Muddy Creek, where we 



