Sweet Water to Platte by road is about forty-three miles. Wood and water scarce. Plenty of salt water and mountain sage and chamisso,[1] which answers as a substitute for wood. In fact, salt lakes and salt springs may be found all through this country.
Monday, July 31.—Left the encampment near Independence Rock about 11:00 o'clock. Came up to Martin's company about 2:00 o'clock, and found some very sick men in the company. Among the rest were Mr. Payne and Stevenson. The latter seemed very dangerous of fever, and flighty, uttering incoherent sentences. His situation excited my sympathy, to see a fine, stout young man reduced to a wreck by disease, far from his home and friends. I took a parting look, never expecting to behold him again. We went three miles beyond Martin's company and camped, trailed seven miles. We have in company thirteen wagons and thirty-one men, a small band, indeed, but all seemed determined to go on through. We camped on Sweet Water, with a high range of mountains on the right, or Northwest, the mountains composed principally of solid rock. Applegate and Childs ahead. Old Zachary, a man fond of rows, has been excluded from Martin's company for defrauding a young man by the name of Matney out of his provisions, and throwing him off in the wilderness. The old rogue, with the two Oteys, is encamped about a mile ahead alone; a small camp, but a big rascal. Visited the Canyon of the Sweet Water. The cut is in a rock about eight feet wide and 200 feet high.
Tuesday, August 1.—Traveled twenty miles. I went hunting with three others, killed a bull. Vasques and Walker's mountain party came up with us. We all camped close to Child's company at Sweet Water under a point of mountain. Twenty miles.
- ↑ Chamisso: A small evergreen shrub, of the genus Adenostoma, natural order Rossaceae, bearing clusters of small awl-shapped leaves, and a small white flower. In California, two species of the plant cover much of the dry area with a dense undergrowth, and are called locally chamisal. The plants ordinarily grow in scattered clumps, and are from four to eight feet high.
