Saturday, October 9
We have had no disturbance from Indians. We started at six o'clock and went on five miles to get better feed. We then halted for breakfast. The remainder of the day's travel was mostly over dog towns. A United States soldier came up to the wagons and went with us a few miles. He says there are ninety of them on the island surveying and looking out a place to build a fort. We traveled seventeen and a quarter miles today, then camped near a low bench of land where there is plenty of grass and water and willows for fuel. A number of the soldiers came over to camp. They say the Pawnees are perfectly enraged and savage and that the worst band of between four and five hundred are on the north side the Platte about forty miles below.