CHAPTER IV.
Country from the frontiers to Big Blue; its geological character, &c. Novel cure for fever and ague. — Indian trails. — Game. — Large rabbits. —Antelope, and their peculiarities. —Beaver cuttings. — Big Blue and its vicinity. — Dangerous country. —Pawnee bravery. —Night-alarm, (Prairies on fire.) —Platte river. —Predominant characteristics of the Grand Prairies, and theory explanative of their phenomenon. — Something to laugh at. —"Big Jim" and the antelope.
Sept. 26th. WE are now camped upon a small creek, nearly destitute of timbers within two miles of Big Blue, or the N. W. branch of the Kansas river. The geography of this part of the country is incorrectly described upon all the published maps I have yet seen. The Republican Fork, which is the principal branch of the Kansas, is uniformly represented as the most northwesterly branch of that river, forming a junction with it at or below the usual crossing. This is not the case.
The two forks of Blue, from the northwest, united, form a large and important stream, which, according to my impression, discharges its waters into the Kansas itself, and not into the Republican. Of this, however, I am not quite positive. But be that as it may, admitting the Republican to be the main stream, Big Blue must be, as a matter of course, the most northwesterly branch of the Kansas river.
Proceeding up the Blue, the geological character of the country under goes an entire and radical change, and the traveller is introduced to a different order of things from that previously observed.
Perhaps, therefore, it is not out of place to present a general review of the territory thus far.
The interval from the frontier of Missouri to Big Blue, a distance up wards of two hundred miles, affords great uniformity in all its more prominent characteristics. It generally comprises beautifully undulating prairies, of a moist argillaceous soil, rich in sedimentary deposites and vegetable matter. It is somewhat rocky in places, but well watered by the almost innumerable streams that find their way into the Kansas, Platte and Arkansas rivers. The creeks, with but few exceptions, are heavily timbered with oak, hickory, walnut, maple, cottonwood, and other varieties found in more eastern forests. The hills too, in some parts, are more than usually abundant in springs, and covered with stately groves, as tastefully arranged as if planted by the hand of man, while luxuriant grass and fragrant flowers usurp the place of underbrush. The prairies, hemmed in on every side by the woodlands skirting the water-courses, present to the eye proud oceans of flowery verdure, tossing their wavelets to the breeze and perfuming the air with the breath of spring.
The streams are clear, with rocky or pebbly bottoms and high, steep banks — abounding in choice specimens of the finny tribes and varieties of the testaceous
order, of the genus muscula. The valley of the Kansas is
