[I. Getting Started]
[II. We get a Taste of the Desert]
[III. The Real Thing in Deserts]
[IV. Kelso, California]
[V. Off Again]
[VI. The Dixie Country of Utah]
[VII. Along the Rio Grande Western Railroad]
[VIII. Salina Canyon]
[IX. Castle Valley]
[X. Green River to Grand Junction]
[XI. Grand Junction, Colorado]
[XII. The Mountains]
[XIII. The Plains of Colorado]
[XIV. Our Party Grows Smaller]
[XV. Alone in a Prairie Schooner]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
[Sunset on the Mojave Desert]
[Cacti Forest]
[Provisioned for the Desert]
[Entering the Mojave Canyon]
[Emerging into the Desert]
[A Desert Camp]
[The Business Section of Kelso, California]
[Joshua Palm, or Giant Cactus]
[We Stop for Water]
[Our First Camp East of Las Vegas]
[A Sample of Mormon Architecture]
[Mormon House and Irrigation Ditch]
[A Ranch in Bear Valley]
[Salina Canyon]
[A Glimpse of Castle Valley]
[The Clay Buttes near Green River]
[We Abandon our Water Barrels]
[A Camp on Black Mesa]
[The Two Normans]
[The Black Canyon of the Gunnison]
[A Camp Site on the Gunnison]
[Continental Divide]
[Camp Below the Divide]
[A Log Cabin on Bailey’s Mountain]
[Nearing Civilization]
[The Outfit Coming into Denver]
[The Cook]
[The Hostler]
[Norman Bradley and Kate]
[Norman Harris and Dixie]
[Our Horses on the Open Range East of Denver]
[A Mid-day Camp]
[We Arrive at Kemah]
[The Last Anchorage of the Prairie Schooner]
[We turn Kate Out to Pasture]
[Bess also is Turned Out: “Good Old Bess”]
THE CRUISE OF A SCHOONER
Chapter I—Getting Started
In planning an extended trip in this country, or Europe, the first thing one usually does is to consult, if convenient, friends who have been there before. After deciding when you will start, you look up time-tables or the departure of boats, reserve accommodations for your party, pack your grips or trunks, and you are ready to start. In driving overland it is different; you may find some one to consult with who has made the trip before you,--but the chances are that all those who have done so are dead. You will have no time-tables to consult and, if you go as we did, no reservations to make.
It all looked so easy, while I was only thinking about it, that it seemed simplicity itself. Just get a team of horses and a wagon, and start. Incidentally, I would have plenty of company,--so many folks had said they would like to go. We would have a tent, cots, cook, guide, and all the necessary outfit.