"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.
"July 7. Approaching the Shayenne; country as yesterday for some half
dozen miles; bordering on the river the ground is broken with deep
coulees 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.
"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.
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