e Platte consumed one entire day"]

We forded the Platte at a point something like one hundred and fifty
miles westward from its confluence with the Missouri. There was no
road leading into the river, nor any evidence of its having been
crossed by any one, at that place. We were informed that the bottom
was of quicksand, and fording, therefore, dangerous. We tested it, by
riding horses across. Contrary to our expectations, the bottom was
found to be a surface of smooth sand, packed hard enough to bear up
the wagons, when the movement was quick and continuous. A cut was made
in the bank, to form a runway for passage of the wagons to the water's
edge; and the whole train crossed the stream safely, with no further
mishap than the wetting of a driver and the dipping of a wagon into a
place deep enough to let water into the box. Fording the Platte
consumed one entire day. We camped that night on the north shore.

The train continued along the general course of the river about four
hundred miles, as far as Fort Laramie, through open country, in which
there was an abundance of feed for the animals, but where wood for
fuel was scarce.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] As late as March, 1850, Daniel Webster said in the United States
Senate: "California is Asiatic in formation and scenery; composed of
vast mountains of enormous height, with broken ridges and deep
valleys. The sides of these mountains are barren--entirely
barren--their tops capped by perennial snow."

CHAPTER II.

LARAMIE FASHIONS AND SIOUX ETIQUETTE. A TROPHY. CHIMNEY ROCK. A
SOLITARY EMIGRANT. JESTS AND JINGLES

The Laramie and Sioux Indians were in those days the lords of that
portion of the plains over which we traveled during the first several
weeks.

They were fine specimens of physical manhood. Tall, erect, well
proportioned, they carried themselves with a distinct air of personal
importance and dignity. They had not taken to the white man's mode of
dress. Each had, in addition to his buckskin breeches and moccasins, a
five-point Mackinaw blanket, these comprising for him a complete suit.
The blanket he used as an outer garment, when needed, and for his
cover at night. Many of the more important "big injins" owned also a
buffalo robe. This was the whole hide of the buffalo, with the hair on
it, the inner side tanned to a soft, pliable leather, and the
irregularities of its natural shape neatly cut away. It furnished the
owner an excellent storm robe, su