Rocky Mountain Adventures. 
One of the most interesting books of Western 
exploration and travel that it has been my good 
fortune to acquire is that written by Edwin 
Bryant who, in the year 1846, made an overland 
trip with wagons to the gold fields of California 
which, at that time, drew thousands from their 
homes in the search of the quick wealth. This 
book is noteworthy for the interest of its de¬ 
scriptions of the country passed through, and 
of the daily incidents. The story is told in diary 
form by one of unusual talent and studious bent 
and offers a wealth of fact about the country 
and the Indians, and is filled to the brim with 
adventure. 
Mr. Bryant and two companions set out for 
skirting the sides, a scene of animation never 
again to be witnessed !• 
In Kansas they were joined by a grandson of 
Daniel Boone and his family. They were eagerly 
welcomed, and everything was done to make 
things comfortable for them. Mr. Bryant con¬ 
tinues in his pleasant manner through the form 
of his diary: 
"l he stream on which we are encamped is 
called ‘Soldier Creek,’ from the circumstance, as 
I learned, that some years since a company of 
traders having smuggled into the Indian terri¬ 
tory a quantity of whiskey were pursued by a 
detachment of United States soldiers and over¬ 
taken at the spot where our wagons are formed 
into a corral. Their whiskey was taken and 
emptied into the stream, and the soldiers hav- 
wagons and 350 cattle. Two divisions were 
made of the wagons for convenience in march¬ 
ing. We were joined to-day by nine wagons 
from Illinois, belonging to Mr. Reed and the 
Messrs. Donner, highly respectable and intelli¬ 
gent gentlemen, with interesting families. They 
were received into the company by a unanimous 
vote.” 
The next ten days went along smoothly with 
now and then the meeting with bands of Indians 
who were in all instances friendly and curious 
to trade with the immigrants for beads and 
trinkets, their furs and native wares. At all 
times they were good natured. Sickness was 
common in camp, owing no doubt to the change 
of water. Few of the company had been used 
to the outdoor existence and the exposure and 
TIGHTENING THE PACKS. 
Photograph by Rutherford rage. 
Louisville in the spring of 1846. Their start¬ 
ing point was to be Independence, Mo. At the 
latter place, Air. Bryant purchased three yoke 
of oxen which he deemed sufficiently powerful 
to carry their baggage and provisions on the 
trip. A cook was engaged who had been trap¬ 
ping in the Rockies for several years, and the 
trip was begun. For the first few days a rain¬ 
storm impeded their progress, but this difficulty 
passed. As they proceeded they fell in with 
other parties westward bound, and on the tenth 
of May were joined by ten wagons carrying emi¬ 
grants moving to California, among them some 
well known men, including an ex-Governor of 
Missouri. The next day a company was formed 
and officers were chosen to direct the march. 
An inspection showed that there were sixty-three 
wagons in the company, one 'hundred and ten 
men, fifty-nine women and one hundred and 
nineteen boys and girls. Of live stock there 
were seven hundred cattle and one hundred and 
fifty horses. What a picturesque outfit it must 
have been as they trailed out on to the prairie, 
the long line of covered wagons and the riders 
ing encamped here during these proceedings gave 
its present name to the creek. The bank of the 
small rivulet was lined at an early hour after 
breakfast with fires, kettles, washtubs and piles- 
of unwashed linen, showing conclusively that a 
general lustration was to be performed by the 
female portion of our party. The timber on the 
creek consists of oak, linden and some maple 
trees. T hey are of good size, and in several 
places the bends of the stream are well covered 
with them. I had heard reports of the creek 
being richly stocked with a variety of fish, but 
after two trials of several hours each, without 
a single nibble at my hook, I was compelled to 
entertain strong doubts of the accuracy of the 
reports. The whiskey poured into the stream 
may have poisoned the fish, as it would have 
done the Indians, had the traders been success¬ 
ful in their designs.” 
Meantime they must have lost some of their 
company, for the author says: 
“A new census of our party was taken this 
morning, and it was found to consist of ninety- 
eight fighting men, fifty women, forty-six 
privation of camp life. Bryant continues: 
“Our faces are nearly as dark, from the ef¬ 
fects of the sun and the weather, as those of 
the copper-colored inhabitants of these plains 
whom we have so often met. Before our eve¬ 
ning ablutions after camping are performed, and 
the black dust of the prairie is laved from our 
skins, if a friend from the ‘settlements’ were to 
meet us, clad as we are in our grotesque and 
careless costume, he might very naturally mis¬ 
take us for a company of the savages who roam 
over this wide wilderness. Once a week is as 
often as the most particular and fastidious ex¬ 
quisite of the party consults his pocket mirror 
and admires his physiognomy, and the not very 
delicate nerves of most of them it must be ad¬ 
mitted are then often severely shocked, and they 
regard their own images with feelings of terror 
and aversion rather than with emotions of ad¬ 
miration. The anecdote of the very ugly man 
who, after surveying himself in the glass, ex¬ 
claimed: ‘Not handsome, but d-d genteel!’is 
not applicable to any of us. No one is either 
genteel or handsome. 
