After we had "lowered the
river six inches," as Jack declared, we went into camp.
We were up early in the morning, and Jack went down the river
with his gun and got a brace of grouse. There was one house near
the crossing, which was the post-office. The man who lived there
told us it was a hundred and twenty-five miles across the
Reservation to Pierre, and twenty miles to Peno Hill, the first
station at which we should find any one. The ford was deep, the
water coming up to the wagon-box, and there was ice along the
edges of the river. It was a fine clear day, however, and the
cold did not trouble us much. We wound up among the bluffs on the
other side of the river, and at the top had our last sight of the
Black Hills. We went on across the rolling prairie, black as ink,
as .the grass had all been burned off, and reached Peno Hill at a
little after noon. There was a rough board building, one end of
it a house and the other a barn. All of the stage stations were
built after this plan. We camped here for dinner, and pressed on
to reach Grizzly Shaw's for the night.
Pages:
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164