s to be prepared for any
emergency.

The wagon-master, in the language of the plains, was called the
"bull-wagon boss"; the teamsters were known as "bull-whackers"; and the
whole train was denominated a "bull-outfit." Everything at that time was
called an "outfit." The men of the plains were always full of droll
humor and exciting stories of their own experiences, and many an hour I
spent in listening to the recitals of thrilling adventures and
hair-breadth escapes.

Russell, Majors & Waddell had in their employ two hundred and fifty
trains, composed of 6,250 wagons, 75,000 oxen, and about eight thousand
men; their business reaching to all the government frontier posts in the
north and west, to which they transported supplies, and they also carried
freight as far south as New Mexico.

[Illustration: A PRAIRIE SCHOONER.]

The trail to Salt Lake ran through Kansas to the northwest, crossing the
Big Blue river, then over the Big and Little Sandy, coming into Nebraska
near the Big Sandy. The next stream of any importance was the Little
Blue, along which the trail ran for sixty miles; then crossed a range of
sand-hills and struck the Platte river ten miles below Old Fort Kearney;
thence the course lay up the South Platte to the old Ash Hollow Crossing,
thence eighteen miles across to the North Platte--near the mouth of the
Blue Water, where General Harney had his great battle in 1855 with the
Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. From this point the North Platte was
followed, passing Court House Rock, Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluffs, and
then on to Fort Laramie, where the Laramie River was crossed. Still
following the North Platte for some considerable distance, the trail
crossed this river at old Richard's Bridge, and followed it up to the
celebrated Red Buttes--crossing the Willow creeks to the Sweet Water,
passing the great Independence Rock and the Devil's gate, up to the Three
Crossings of the Sweet Water, thence past the Cold Springs, where, three
feet under the sod, on the hottest day of summer, ice can be found;
thence to the Hot Springs and the Rocky Ridge, and through the Rocky
Mountains and Echo Canon, and thence on to the Great Salt Lake valley.

We had started on our trip with everything in good shape, following
the above described trail. During the first week or two out, I became
well acquainted with most of the train men, and with one in
particular, who became a life-long and intimate friend of mine. His
real name