other end erect in the air as A guide bord containing the follo
wing words. Open this Box and you will find a letter.

316 miles to winter Quarters, Pioneers. Lattitude 41°. (our
friends no doubt will be glad to get the letter as it contains
an account of our Journey.

We travled 6 miles & nooned then travled 4 & camped for
the night our teams are some weak in consequence of not
getting grass for several days as it was eat out by the Buff
alo there was one Buffalo, one deer & one Hare Brought
into camp by the Hunters to day, & bdistributed among the
men in camp we have what fresh meat we want daily
the grass is some better to day not but few Herds of Buff-
alo on our rout, today we passed through some miles of
dead grass which we set on fire to have new feed for
the next company it made a great fire indeed we get
our distance daily now of our travel from A mashine
fixed to a waggon wheel which gives the true distance
we camped to night by an Island of cotton wood 10 m[iles]

May 11, 1847 ~ Tuesday

11^th quite warm to day we travled 5 miles & made A short halt
then travled 3 1/2 miles & camped A little below the junktion of
the Noth & south forks of the Platt River I felt quite unwell the
use of fresh meet does not as yet agree vary well with me 8 1/2 miles
we see but few Buffalo today some Antelope & Deer &c

Professor Pratt informed me that He took an observation for
the Longitude May 7^th on the opposite bank of the Platt from
whare Freemont gives the Longitude in his travels Proffessor Pratt
made the Longitude to be 100° 5' 45" making it two seconds of
a degree less than Freemont ownly about 10 rods which was vary
close calculating. He also found the Lat 1/2 a mile west of this nights
encampment to be 41° 7' 44"

May 12, 1847 ~ Wednesday

12^th A cool morning. Mercury stands at 41, we had a strong
S. wind through the day we travled 8 miles & nooned we then
travled 4 miles & camped for the night on the bank of
the North fork of the Platt I rode onto the Bluffs to take a
survey of the country which was about 3 miles from the
river & we found both on the Hills & flatts through the
days travel that we were traveling over the Soux Hunting
ground there had been A large band from 500 to 1000 we
should Judge from there signs over the ground from 8 to 10
days before us, they took the braiens out of the large Buffalo
generally their Hides & some of the meet & broke up the
bones for the marrow, 12000 calves were found dead in one
place with nothing taken but the tongues, legs to the knee
& entrails another place 35 calves were found dead
& washed in heaps whare the Buffalo had been chased
acrosse the river & run over the calves in rising the
bank of the river. I found on the Bluff their
medicine bag tied to a stick 6 feet long stuck up in the
bank it was what is called kinikinnick composed of
tobacco & bark to smoke I Also found a saddle tied to a large
buffalo dung I supposed to show the next party which
way the Buffalo had gone I left my horse in the valley
to feed while I went onto a Bluff to see the country &
He started off not seeing the camp took the back tract

other end erect in the air as a guide bord containing the follo wing words. Open this box and you will find a letter.

316 miles to winter Quarters, Pioneers. Lattitude 41°. (our friends no doubt will be glad to get the letter as it contains an account of our Journey.

We travled 6 miles & nooned then travled 4 & camped for the night our teams are some weak in consequence of not getting grass for several days as it was eat out by the buff alo there was one buffalo, one deer & one hare brought into camp by the hunters to day, & distributed among the men in camp we have what fresh meat we want daily the grass is some better to day not but few herds of buffalo on our rout, today we passed through some miles of dead grass which we set on fire to have new feed for the next company it made a great fire indeed we get our distance daily now of our travel from a mashine fixed to a waggon wheel which gives the true distance we camped to night by an Island of cotton wood 10 m

May 11, 1847 ~ Tuesday

11th quite warm to day we travled 5 miles & made a short halt then travled 3 1/2 miles & camped a little below the junktion of the Noth & south forks of the Platt River I felt quite unwell the use of fresh meet does not as yet agree vary well with me 8 1/2 miles we see but few buffalo today some antelope & Deer &c

Professor Pratt informed me that he took an observation for the Longitude May 7th on the opposite bank of the Platt from whare Freemont gives the Longitude in his travels Professor Pratt made the Longitude to be 100° 5' 45" making it two seconds of a degree less than Freemont ownly about 10 rods which was vary close calculating. He also found the Lat 1/2 a mile west of this nights encampment to be 41° 7' 44"

May 12, 1847 ~ Wednesday

12th A cool morning. Mercury stands at 41, we had a strong S. wind through the day we travled 8 miles & nooned we then travled 4 miles & camped for the night on the bank of the North fork of the Platt I rode onto the bluffs to take a survey of the country which was about 3 miles from the river & we found both on the hills & flatts through the day, travel that we were traveling over the Soux hunting ground there had been a large band from 500 to 1000 we should judge from there signs over the ground from 8 to 10 days before us, they took the brains out of the large buffalo generally their hides & some of the meet & broke up the bones for the marrow, 100 calves were found dead in one place with nothing taken but the tongues, legs to the knee & entrails another place 35 calves were found dead & washed in heaps whare the buffalo had been chased acrosse the river & run over the calves in rising the bank of the river. I found on the bluff their medicine bag tied to a stick 6 feet long stuck up in the bank it was what is called kinikinnick composed of tobacco & bark to smoke I also found a saddle tied to a large buffalo dung I supposed to show the next party which way the buffalo had gone I left my horse in the valley to feed while I went onto a bluff to see the country & he started off not seeing the camp took the back tract