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heavy grass (this is a hundred miles west of the Mississippi River), about eighteen inches high, winding between wooded lakes to a heavy ravine, with a small and sluggish rivulet in its bottom; sides steep, and laborious for the wagon train.

"Prairie sloping towards the western branch of the Chippeway River; a stream when crossed, about one hundred and forty feet wide, three or four feet deep, with a marked current and firm bottom; no wood. "Camp on a small lake, fairly wooded, with luxuriant grass, and good water.

"June 27. Undulating prairie, rich soil, covered with a heavy growth of grass, with small ponds and marshes; woods continue in sight a short distance on the left of Elbow Lake, a well wooded lake, of form indicated by its name.

"Rolling prairie, with two bad sloughs, to Rabbit River, which is crossed with the wagon with but little difficulty, where it issues from a small lake. It is a small stream, but spreads out from one hundred to three hundred feet, with marshy borders; camp on the small lake, with good grass, wood, and water.

"June 28. Rolling ground, with small ponds and marshes, to a small brook twelve feet wide; the Bois des Sioux prairie, a smooth, flat prairie, without knoll or undulation-an immense plain, apparently level, covered with a tall, coarse, dark-colored grass, and unrelieved with the sight of a tree or shrub; firm bottom, but undoubtedly wet in spring; small brook, when the train made a noon halt.

"Same smooth prairie as above to Bois des Sioux River, sometimes soft and miry; camp on river bank; wood and grass good-river water fair; many catfish caught in the river.

"June 29. Cross Bois des Sioux River; seventy feet wide, four to seven feet deep; muddy bottom; steep and miry banks; goods boated over; wagons hauled through, light, with ropes; bad crossing, but passable; smooth flat prairie, as on the east side of Bois des Sioux, occasionally interrupted with open sloughs to Wild Rice River, and camp with wood, water, and abundant grass.

"June 30. Wild Rice River, about forty feet wide and five and a half feet deep, with muddy and miry bottom and sides, flowing in a canal-like channel, some twenty feet below prairie level; river skirted with elm-bridged from the steep banks, being too miry to sustain the animals, detaining the train but little more than half-a-day; small brook without wood, flowing in a broad channel cut out through the prairie; crossing miry, but made passable for the wagon by strewing the bottom with mown grass.

"Firm prairie to camp on edge of above small stream; good grass and water; no wood; elk killed by hunter.

"July 1. Smooth prairie extending to Shayenne River; sand knolls, ponds, and marshes frequent as the river is approached. The marshes were not miry-firmer bottom; good wagon road; night encampment on bank of river; sufficient grass for

train; wood abundant; river water good; many catfish caught in river.

"July 2. Shayenne River, sixty feet wide, fourteen feet deep; river had been previously bridged by Red River train, from the poplars and other trees growing on the river, and this bridge we made use of in crossing our wagons; camp on the west bank of the river; water, wood, and grass good.

"July 4. Prairie undulation, interrupted with marshes, small ponds and occasional small rivulets, to Maple River, about twenty-five feet wide, three and a half feet deep, firm bottom, and easily passed by the wagons; river tolerably well wooded, and the camp on its edge is furnished with water, wood, and good grass. The rich black soil of the valley of this stream is noticeable.

"July 5. To a small stream thirty feet wide, two feet deep, clayey bottom, easily crossed by the wagons; prairie high, firm, and almost level for some thirteen miles, becoming more rolling and with small ponds in the last seven miles of the march; on the edge of some of the ponds are salt incrustations; camp on the river; water good; grass good; no wood, and the bois de vache is used for fuel.

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July 6. Country wet and marshy; not a tree in sight; prairie with low ridges and knolls, and great number of ponds and marshes; night's camp by a small pond; no wood, but plenty of bois de vache; grass good.

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July 7. Approaching the Shayenne; country as

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yesterday for some half dozen miles; bordering on the river the ground is broken with deep coulées and ravines, and to keep away from them the train kept at some distance from the river, encamping by a small marshy pond; no wood; plenty of bois de vache; grass good; water tolerable; first buffalo killed to-day. July 8. Prairie swelling with ridges; descend to the Shayenne, which flows some one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet below the prairie by a steep hill; camp in the bottom of the river; wood and water good; grass rather poor; the bottom of the Shayenne, some half a mile wide, is often soft and miry, but when crossed by the train firm and dry.

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July 9. Cross the Shayenne, fifty feet wide, three and a half feet deep; immediate banks some ten feet high, and requiring some digging to give passage to the wagons.

"Prairie with swelling ridges and occasional marshes to camp, to a slough affording water and grass; no wood; buffalo very abundant.

"July 10. Prairie swelling into ridges and hills, with a frequency of marshes, ponds, and sloughs; camp at a pretty lake, near Lake Jessie; fairly wooded, with water slightly saline; grass scanty, having been consumed by the buffalo. Prairies covered with buffalo."

I take this valuable sketch of the natural features of the country from volume 1 of Explorations and Surveys for the Pacific Railroad (page 353-356); for which I am indebted to the learned Secretary of War.

LETTER XV.

ST. CLOUD TO ST. PAUL.

Importance of starting early-Judge Story's theory of early rising-
Rustic scenery-Horses and mules-Surveyors-Humboldt-Baked
fish-Getting off the track-Burning of hay stacks-Supper at St.
Anthony-Arrival at the Fuller House.

ST. PAUL, October, 1856.
I WAS up by the gray dawn of the morning of
yesterday, and after an early but excellent break-
fast, crossed the river from St. Cloud, in order to
meet the stage at Sauk Rapids. As we came up on
the main road, the sight of a freshly made rut, of
stage-wheel size, caused rather a disquieting appre-
hension that the stage had passed. But my nerves
were soon quieted by the assurance from an early
hunter, who was near by shooting prairie chickens
while they were yet on the roost, that the stage had
not yet come. So we kept on to the spacious store
where the post office is kept, where I waited and
waited for the stage to come which was to bring me
to St. Paul. It did not arrive till eight o'clock. I
thought if every one who had a part to perform in
starting off the stage from Watab (for it had started
out from there that morning), was obliged to make
the entire journey of 80 miles to St. Paul in the

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