144 
EVENTS AT 
I have not mentioned the loss of animals, save 
on two or three occasions, although several other 
instances of this misfortune occurred to us. The fine 
horse which was bitten by a rattlesnake died a few 
days after. On the last day, two horses which had 
been led for several days lay down, and refused to go 
further. They were left within ten miles of our 
journey’s end. I sent a man back immediately on my 
arrival with corn and water ; but he was too late, both 
were already dead. But though the losses of this kind 
were few on the march, they were great after we got 
in. There were no sheds or barns in which the animals 
could be placed to protect them from the cold winds 
which prevailed at this season of the year ; and the 
grass was very poor. I procured corn for them at 
once, and sent them to a grove a few miles above the 
town, where they would be better protected than if 
running at large over the open plain. But about a 
week after my arrival a severe norther came on, 
bringing with it the cold blasts .Aii" moun- 
tains, which had such an effe- " Ma- 
tures, that twelve or fourteen mules and horses perisned. 
Provisions of all kinds were exceedingly high at 
this time : flour, thirty-two dollars a barrel ; pork, 
sugar, and coffee, fifty cents a pound ; and other articles 
in proportion. Corn too, was selling at eight dollars 
a fanega of two and five-eighths bushels. The arrival 
of my party rather tended to increase prices ; for the 
population was so limited, that the addition of forty 
men and sixty animals, with a knowledge that a large 
train with the main body of the Commission and its 
escort would soon arrive, led the owners of such pro- 
