James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 2

by Edwin James; Stephen H. Long; Thomas Say

We had now ascended about eighty miles from the mouth of Grand river. The country we had passed is fertile, and presents such an intermixture of forests and grassy plains, as is extremely pleasing to the eye. Towards the north the hills became gradually more and more elevated. The discontinuance of the horizontal limestone, the disclosure in the deep vallies of the more ancient varieties of sandstone, and the frequent occurrence in the soil of small round masses of granite, gneiss, and other primitive rocks, indicate an approach towards the margin of the secondary basin. In the deepest vallies, about the sources of Grand river, we observe a very hard semi-crystalline sandstone, in rather indistinct strata, and containing apparently few remains either of plants or animals. It is, in almost every respect, similar to that sandstone, which, in the valley of Lake Champlain, rests along the skirts of the granitic mountains of Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Westport, and supports there a small stratum of compact limestone. Containing few fragments rounded by attrition, being almost destitute of cement, and retaining much uniformity of character in different localities, it has a manifest resemblance to that most ancient of sandstones, which, in the mountains of New England, is associated with the granular limestone, and has sometimes been called {106} granular quartz.[65] Indeed we have no hesitation in believing, that at some point near the sources of the De Moyen and Grand river, the primitive rocks approach near the surface. There is here a stratum of newer sandstone, superimposed upon that above noticed, and bearing marks of having been contemporaneous to some formation of coal; but it is not of sufficient thickness, in the parts we examined, to justify an opinion, that it contains any valuable beds of that mineral. Leaving the immediate neighbourhood of the river, there is an ascent of several miles to the level of the great woodless plain. The bottom, and part of the sides of the vallies, are covered with trees; but in proportion to the elevation, the surface becomes more unvaried and monotonous. These vast plains, in which the eye finds no object to rest upon, are at first seen with surprise and pleasure; but their uniformity at length becomes tiresome.

For a few days the weather had been fine, with cool breezes, and broken flying clouds. The shadows of these coursing rapidly over the plain, seemed to put the whole in motion; and we appeared to ourselves as if riding on the unquiet billows of the ocean. The surface is uniformly of the description, not inaptly called rolling, and will certainly bear a comparison to the waves of an agitated sea. The distant shores and promontories of woodland, with here and there an insular grove of trees, rendered the illusion more complete.

The great extent of country contemplated at a single view, and the unvaried sameness of the surface, made our prospect seem tedious. We pursued our course during the greater part of the day along the same wide plain, and at evening the woody point in which we had encamped on the preceding night was yet discernible.

{107} Nothing is more difficult than to estimate, by the eye, the distance of objects seen in these plains. A small animal, as a wolf or a turkey, sometimes appears of the magnitude of a horse, on account of an erroneous impression of distance. Three elk, which were the first we had seen, crossed our path at some distance before us. The effect of the mirage, together with our indefinite idea of the distance, magnified these animals to a most prodigious size. For a moment we thought we saw the mastodon of America, moving in those vast plains, which seem to have been created for his dwelling place. An animal seen for the first time, or any object with which the eye is unacquainted, usually appears much enlarged, and inaccurate ideas are formed of the magnitude and distance of all the surrounding objects; but if some well-known animal, as a deer or a wolf, comes into the field of vision so near as to be recognized, the illusions vanish, and all things return to their proper dimensions.

Soon after we had left our encampment, on one of the bright sunny mornings which occurred, when we were in the country near the sources of Grand river, we discovered, as we thought, several large animals feeding in the prairie, at the distance of half a mile. These, we believed, could be no other than bisons; and after a consultation respecting the best method of surprising them, two of our party dismounted; and creeping with great care and caution, about one-fourth of a mile through the high grass, arrived near the spot, and discovered an old turkey, with her brood of half-grown young, the only animals now to be seen.

On the evening of the 20th of May, we encamped in a low, muddy bottom, overgrown with nettles and phacelias; but the only place we could find combining the three requisites—grass for our horses, and wood and water for ourselves. Here we were so tormented by the mosquitoes, harassed and goaded by the wood-ticks, {108} that we were glad to seek relief by mounting our horses, at the earliest appearance of light on the following morning. The dew had been so heavy, that it was falling in drops from the grass and weeds where we had lain, and our blankets were dripping as if they had been exposed to a shower. We proceeded on our course about thirty miles, and encamped early in the afternoon. Having ascended Grand river nearly to the point, where we believed Field's trace must cross it, we directed our course more to the west, and had already crossed several streams running to the south, supposed to be the upper branches of the Little Platte.

The utmost uniformity prevails in the appearance of the country about the sources of the Little Platte, Nishnebottona, and other northern tributaries of the Missouri. Near one of these small rivers we discovered the trace of an Indian war party, which appeared to have passed very recently towards the Missouri. After our arrival at Council Bluff, we had farther information of these Indians, who were a war party of Sauks and Foxes from the Mississippi, and had committed many depredations upon the Missouri Indians, and some upon the whites. We were considered very fortunate in not having fallen in with them, as it was believed, they would not have hesitated to rob, and perhaps destroy, any party of whites as weak as ours.

Remains of bisons, as bones, horns, hoofs, and the like, are often seen in these plains; and in one instance, in a low swamp surrounded by forests, we discovered the recent track of a bull; but all the herds of these animals have deserted the country on this side of Council Bluff. The bones of elk and deer are very numerous, particularly about certain places, which, from the great number of tent poles, scaffolds, &c. appear to be old Indian hunting camps; and the living animals are still to be found here in plenty. As we rode along these boundless meadows, {109} every object within several miles became visible; the smallest shrub rising a few inches above the surface of the green expanse, could be seen at a mile distant.[66] Some large agarics, and a gigantic lycoperdon, peculiar to these regions, are the most conspicuous objects by which the uniformity of the plains is varied; and these may be seen sometimes at the distance of two or three miles.

On the evening of the 24th, we arrived on the bank of a beautiful river, at a grove of ash and cotton-wood trees. We had scarce dismounted from our horses, when a violent thunder-shower commenced; the rain fell in such torrents as to extinguish our fire, and the wind blew so violently that our blanket-tent could afford us no protection. Many large trees were blown down in the point of woods where we lay, and one fell a few yards from our camp. As the night was extremely dark, we thought the danger of moving at least equal to that of remaining where we were; and spent part of the night in the greatest anxiety, listening to the roar of the storm, and the crashing of the timber. As our horses were dispersed about the wood, we had scarce a hope they could all escape uninjured.

On the day following, after we had rode about eighteen or twenty miles, we observed the surface of the country to become suddenly hilly; and soon after were surprised by an unexpected view of the wide valley, the green meadows, and the yellow stream of the Missouri. A little after noon we encamped in a meadow on the river bottom, and by ascending one of the neighbouring bluffs; sufficiently elevated to overlook a large extent of the surrounding country, we were enabled to discover that we had arrived at the Missouri, at a point about {110} six miles below the confluence of the great river Platte.