Ever since Alonzo and the Mormon train began the following North Platte River, he and Silas Richards, the Mormon captain, make mention in their journals of the quantity of buffalo which they hunt for meat to eat at the time and dry for future use.
Alonzo – “August 14 . . . any quantity of buffalo in sight on the plains and on the bluffs. Buffalo are getting to be of no rarity. Wolves howl tremendously. They startled me the first time I heard them.”
Silas Richards – “August 14. Camped at the west foot of sand bluffs, a good place for grass. Passed a number of large herds of buffalos on each side of the river. We were scarcely out of sight of them during the day.”
The Sand Hills/bluffs mentioned by Richards are an area of Nebraska consisting of mixed-grass prairie in the north-central portion of the state and cover about one quarter of its area.
The World Wide Fund for Nature designated the Sand Hills as an eco-region, distinct from other grasslands of the Great Plains. A high percentage of the Sand Hills region is intact natural habitat, the highest level in the Great Plains. Most of the Sand Hills land has never been plowed. They sit atop the large Ogallala aquifer, and a portion of them become visible after leaving the city of Ogallala. They are quite beautiful to drive through and photographs cannot capture the true vistas they continually present.
(Click on the photos for a larger image)
About seventy-five miles east of Ash Hollow, The Latter-Day Saints’ Emigrant’s Guide by William Clayton warns, “You will find no more timber on the north side of the river for two hundred miles except one lone tree. Your only dependence for fuel will be buffalo chips and driftwood.” There was little timber because any seedlings were washed away in spring floods, trampled by buffalo, or consumed by prairie fires.
William Clayton was a member of the original pioneer company led by Brigham Young that consisted of 142 men, 3 women, and 2 children, and 72 wagons when they left the outfitting post of Winter Quarters [Omaha], Nebraska in 1847. They covered the 1031 miles of the trail in 111 days. Clayton was also the writer of the Emigrant’s Guide originally published in 1848 by the Republican Steam Power Press of St. Louis, MO. It appears that this was the guide that Alonzo had in his possession.
Alonzo’ Journal – Ash Hollow Aug.21 – “Passed the Lone Tree. Dined opposite Ash Hollow on the bank of the river [Platte].” Ash Hollow was a major stopping place on the Oregon Trail and is now the Ash Hollow State Historical Park.
Travelers began following the Platte River shortly after leaving Council Bluffs so it was an important feature in the daily lives. Much as the emigrants depended upon it they couldn’t resist commenting on its peculiarities, “A mile wide, a foot deep, too thin to plow, too thick to drink.” By the time they leave it in Wyoming the Platte will have been their companion for over six hundred miles.
The Platte is a braided river, identified as one that has a channel with a network of small channels separated by small and often temporary islands. Braided streams occur in rivers with high slope and/or large sediment loads. There are other braided rivers in the world, the Yellow River of China for example, but the Platte is the only one in the forty-eight contiguous states.
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