Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/302



262 JOURNAL OF E. WILLARD SMITH

difficulty that he was extricated from his perilous situation. The middle of the day is quite warm now, but the mornings and the evenings are cool.

18th. We encamped last night on a small stream cache la Poudre, called so because powder was hidden there some time since. Our camp was just at the foot of the mountain, in a very pleasant place. During the day we passed several pools and creeks, the water of which were impregnated with salt- petre.

19th. Today we began to travel among the hills at the foot of the mountains. The change is very pleasant after the prairies in hot weather. One soon becomes tired of traveling over a prairie, all is so monotonous. The road we are traveling now is surrounded by hills piled on hills, with mountains in the back- ground. The water in all the small streams is very good and cold.

20th. Today the road became more rough. We had some very high and steep hills to climb. One would scarcely think from their appearance that a horse could ascend them, but we crossed without any great difficulty. Messrs. Thompson and Craig went before us and killed three buffaloes. Before this we had plenty of fat venison. In the afternoon they killed three deer. At night it was quite cold and frosty.

21st. Today it is quite cold. We have been climbing more hills. At noon the hunters came to us, having killed six buf- faloes and a calf. We saw a great many buffalo today. We are encamped in a beautiful valley. It is probably more than sixty miles long, as far as the eye can reach. The view from the surrounding mountains is grand. The valley is surrounded by high hills, with mountains in the back ground. Large herds of buffalo are scattered over it. There is a large stream flow- ing through it, called Laramie's Fork, tributary to the North Fork of the Platte. It has several small streams flowing into it. The timber on all these hills and mountains is yellow pine, some of it being quite large. In this plain there is a very large rock, composed of red sandstone and resembling a chimney. It is situated on a fork of the Laramie called Chimney Fork.