Morgan Pioneer History Hinds Us 'together After this experience, we saw them every day and were always successful in getting one whenever we needed meat. They were so numerous we could stop the train and watch the vast herds pass. There were lots of buffalo bones and we began to learn somewhat concerning the advance company, for they would write their messages on the skull bones and set them by the road side, and we, in likewise, left messages to the companies still to come. "In our traveling on the north side of the Platte River for several days, we could see thousands of buffalo on the south side of the river, but none on the side we were on. When we had used up all of the meat supply, it became necessary for some men in the company to cross the river and obtain a new supply. So my father, Ephraim Lindsay and George Hicks waded the river to kill some buffalo. When night came on and no one returned, it greatly alarmed the rest of the company, and I never expected to see my father again. I was afraid that the Indians had killed my father. The next morning a search party was organized, but before they were ready to start, the lost party came toward the camp carrying all the meat from the carcass they could. They explained that in the darkness the night before, they dared not cross the river back to camp. "As we advanced farther up the river, small bluffs and cedar were in sight; the cedar, however, were on the other side of the river. After traveling several days, we passed Ash Hollow, the bluffs looked like decayed stone. There were small trees and flowers. We came to Castle Bluffs where there were many cedar trees. Since many of the wagon tires were getting loose and cedars were plentiful, we camped by a small bluff while the men with their shovels dug the earth around a huge rock which was used for an anvil block. In the meantime, some other men had crossed the river to get a load of cedar. On their return, they made a pit by setting the cedars on and in the form of an Indian wigwam. After they had covered it with grass and dirt, they set it afire. The next morning the men, using the charcoal, cut and welded the tires and set them. My father had been a smithy in Nauvoo and had built and repaired many wagon tire rims. "The next place of importance was Chimney Rock and could be seen for a long way before arriving to it. We then traveled twelve miles arriving at Scotts Bluff. They were steep and rugged and frequently darkened by storm clouds. A shower could arrive suddenly, bringing ferocious winds and a flood of rain and then leave just as quickly. "The sand dunes made it very hard to travel, but sixty-four miles later we arrived at Fort Laramie. In the meantime, we had to cross to the south side of the Platte, joining the Oregon Trail. Here the North Platte was a pretty river, clear water, swift current and rock bottom. We stopped at Deer Creek where the washing for the camp was done. While we were stopped here, my father and I went hunting for buffalo. We saw a herd of about fifty head which had run out on a large plain. We soon discovered that two other men were after the same herd from the other side. The other men began shouting at the herd which caused the herd to stampede up over the hill where we were on top. As the herd approached to being within fifty yards of us, father shot one which fell to the ground while the others kept coming, and finally, after having seen us, parted just enough to keep from killing us. When they stampeded, they sounded just like thunder and trampled everything in their path. We went down to where the buffalo lay and found that he was not dead, so father not wanting to waste precious gunpowder by shooting him again, he ran and jumped onto the back of the animal, took hold of its mane, reached down under the animal's head and cut its throat. The two men that were on the opposite side came over to where we were. They said they belonged to the Welch Company. Father cut out and packed as much meat as he could carry and left the rest to them. They told us as we were leaving, that this would be the first buffalo meat that they had had on their trip. "When we reached Fort Laramie, we learned that we were still many miles from Winter Quarters. The fort there was built of clay, the walls were very high and houses were built on the inside walls, with a central yard. We traveled a few more days and stopped again for repairs which consisted mostly of setting wagon rims and shoeing the oxen. As we continued along the Platte River, we finally reached a point where we crossed over again to the north side. Brigham Young had said the Muddy Creek was just about the worst place to cross. It was near here that it was a muddy, boggy, stinking salt marsh. It wrenched the wagon hubs on the trail of rough terrain. Animals died from drinking too much of the salty water. "We passed Independence Rock. People had scribed their names in the rock. Next we came to near Devil's Gate and discovered that we had very little tar left. However, we found some pitch pine which we split into small pieces and drove as tightly as possible into a big sugar kettle which belonged to someone in our company. We turned the kettle bottom side up on a large flat rock and made a fire over the kettle and we were successful in obtaining enough tar to grease our wooden axles and linch pins to last us to the end of our journey. 60