Page:Recollections of My Boyhood.djvu/22

Rh men, bold as they were, were almost captured already by those lovely warriors.

The train had been moving along westward across a level country for days it may have been, where no tree was to be seen, but looking ahead, far in the distance I saw a bush, which as we moved along, continued to grow until the shades of evening began to darken into night and we went into camp. In the morning about the first object that attracted my attention was that bush, which now appeared to have grown to be quite a sapling. By noon it had grown to be a tree, and about sunset we were under its branches, and, I believe, went into camp near it. It was a very large pine tree, the round straight trunk towering up like a great column and supporting a spreading top. This was the "Lone Pine." For several years after I could hear of the Lone Pine from immigrants following our trail, but later I was told that it had been cut down for fire wood.

I can remember incidents, places, and things that I find I cannot locate. In attempting to do so I may be three hundred miles off. Where was Chimney Rock? Somewhere on the plains. It was near the line of march and we could see it, it seems to me, for several days before we passed near it. At first we could only see a pinnacle afar off, looking much like a chimney flue or church steeple, but as we traveled on, it appeared to be somewhat divided into two or three points at the top, but one pinnacle was much higher than the others. Nearer, we could see that the chimney-like pinnacles were on the top of a mountain or high hill, and that beyond and not far from it was an irregular range of mountains. I could not form an opinion as to the heighth of this Chimney Rock, but it seemed to me to touch the sky. We went into camp not far from it, as we supposed. Some of the young men that evening visited the Rock and returned quite late at night. They declared it was ten miles away. Immigrants afterwards told me that Chimney Rock had continued to crumble and fall away from year to year until now there is scarcely anything left of that unique and far-famed land mark.

We must have traveled across vast stretches of almost level country where there were no forests of timber and, in fact, where there was very little timber. Where we camped