Search -
Winter In The West (2 Volumes) (BCL1 - United States Local History)
Winter In The West - 2 Volumes - BCL1 - United States Local History Author:Charles Fenno Hoffman Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LETTER XXVI. Peoria, Illinois, March 4th. ! I have gone through a variety of amusing and some vexatious adventures in crossing the country from Galena to t... more »his central place; but you have now been with me so long upon the prairies that I shall not fatigue you by detailing more of a traveller's passing mishaps and petty encounters. The great melting of the snows that detained me at Galena was followed by a sharp frost, which, crusting over the swollen streams, made their passage very painful for the horses. In passing through the Winnebago swamp, we drove for the distance of a mile through water up to the chests of our horses, and so heavily coated with ice, that it was as much as the leaders could do to break a way with their fore feet. My fellow-traveller, however,—for I started with but one from Galena,— proved to be an old campaigner and capital travelling companion, and we managed to extract some amusement from every occurrence, however annoying; and whether we were jolting over the frozen ground in an open wagon, without springs or seats, or keeping the freezing night-wind away by stuffing our bed-clothes in the crevices, as we shared a pallet together in some half-constructed log-edifice, the spirit of fun and good-humour has been sympathetic between us. About a day's journey from Galena, we passed over a reach of prairie, some twelve or fourteen miles in extent, where my companion, who is a middle-aged man, was fortunate enough, a few winters ago, to be the cause of saving a great many lives. A train of sleighs, holding more than a dozen people, among whom were several females, started immediately after breakfast to cross this narrow arm of the prairie; and though the distance was only as I have stated it, they contrived somehow to lose their way in the snow, and ni...« less