CHAPTER II. 
From Pawnee Fork to the crossing of the Arkansas river at the mouth of the Apishpa .— 
July 14 to August 2, 1853. 
Forks of the Santa Fe road.—Coon creek: bad water.—Indian hunting grounds.—Dryness of the country.—Bois de vache.— 
Wolf in pursuit of a rabbit.—Beturn to the Arkansas river.—Comanche Indians.—Fort Atkinson.—Dryness of the Arkansas 
river at times.—Kioway camp.—Indian war party against the Pawnees.—Shaved-Head, a Comanche chief: his leave-taking.— 
Captives among Indians.—Ascent from Pawnee Fork.—Grass of the country.—Blulfs and rolling prairie.—Islands in the 
river.-—Citnmaron route ford.—Line of proposed road from Fort Eiley to this ford.—Sandy road.—Plains of the river 
bottom.—Scarcity of fuel.—Dull monotony of the Arkansas.—Winds.-—Altitude above Fort Atkinson and distance from it: 
altitude above the Gulf of Mexico.—Unsuccessful sportsmen.—Prairie dogs in great numbers.—Incrustations of salt.—Iron 
ore.—Big Timber.—Bent’s trading station.—Sandstone bluffs.—Scarcity of grass—Purgatory creek.—Bent’s Fort.—Game.— 
Fords.—Advantageous position for a military post.—Timpas creek.—Eailroad route indicated.—Smoky atmosphere.—View 
of the Spanish peaks.—Artemisia.—Game.—Crossing the Arkansas at the mouth of the Apishpa.—The river easily bridged.— 
Hills and bluffs.—Grades for thirty-four miles.—View of the mountains and peaks. 
July 14.—Five miles from camp the road forks, (we are still upon the Santa Fe road,) and one 
branch follows nearly the windings of the Arkansas, to secure grass and water, while the other 
appears to push off for a “ short cut” and “dry route” to Fort Atkinson, near which they again 
unite on the Arkansas river; but this appearance is deceptive; for after going a few miles it 
abruptly turns southward, and follows but a few miles from, and parallel with, the other road, 
keeping it generally in sight, as it does also the trees and sand-hills upon the banks of the 
Arkansas river, and is, except in the rainy season, without good grass and badly watered. We 
followed the cut-off route, and having made 21 miles, searching diligently for the last five or six 
for water, yielded to our fortunes, and encamped on the headwaters of Coon creek, on buffalo- 
grass and buffalo-wallow water, where we are surrounded by immense herds of these animals, 
which afford us a happy relief from our salt meat diet. We passed the Sacs, Osages, and Kansas 
Indians, on the extreme verge of their territory at Pawnee fork; and here intervenes a tract of 
undefined dimensions, the Neutral or Hunting Ground, which separates them from their Comanche 
and Kioway neighbors. The buffalo are this season more than usually crowded on this tract, 
which causes the Indians to extend their camps to their extreme border creeks—an unmistakable 
evidence that the buffalo, hunted by all, is rapidly disappearing. The country rises gently on 
this route for ten miles, and then gradually descends to our present camp. The short, dry 
buffalo-grass alone grows over the whole surface of the country, with here and there a few 
scattered weeds and flowers; but nature has here lost all her freshness and sweetness, and at this 
season only wears a gray, sterile, and forbidding aspect. On this route we see no wood, which, 
for fuel, is supplied, in dry weather, by the bois de vache, which was in 1849 an article of 
important local traffic among the Zuni Indians, in the western part of New Mexico, as I passed 
through their pueblo. A thunder-storm swept over us, and heavy showers of rain during the 
night prevented the use of the transit theodolite, which we had set up in the evening. 
July 15.—A fine badger was killed near camp this morning, but it was too much injured for 
preservation. Soon after leaving camp we were enlivened by the sight of a wolf in hot pursuit 
of a, rabbit. It was an animating sight, which quite aroused the sympathy of the party, as the in¬ 
tended victim, panting with exertion, and straining every nerve for life, pursued by his rapacious 
enemy, snapping at him at almost every jump, crossed and re-crossed the road a few yards in 
front of us; but by his skilful angular turns he avoided these deadly bites until he had nearly 
