| 21st June
1850
Headed through Sioux country today. As we travelled today we saw lots of Sioux Indians watching from the hilltops. I hope these Indians are friendly and not annoyed that we are crossing their territory and killing the buffalo.
23rd June 1850 As we crossed the trail today again the Indians appeared,
this time they started to come nearer. Two Sioux Indians on horse back
road up to Captain Wayne with vegetables and buffalo meat. They wanted to
exchange them for some tobacco and whisky. Captain Wayne agreed, as he
wanted to stay friendly with the Indians. 25th June 1850 I'm sick of wearing the same clothes every day and fed up
of living in a wagon. I wish I could just get to Oregon to a proper house
and a comfortable bed. 28th June 1850 We passed a village of Sioux Indians today. The Indian squaws had moccasins and beads which they traded with the women on our wagon train for bread.
29th June 1850 In the middle of the night we heard gunfire. Young Indian
braves had been trying to steal our horses. Because it was dark one of the
men guarding our camp had accidentally shot and killed another guard from
our wagon train, he thought he was an Indian. Everyone was shocked at the
accident. 30th June 1850 Crossed the South Platte today and cut across country to North Platte. At midday we stopped at Courthouse Rock and its neighbour Jail Rock for nooning. We have been travelling for five hours and we are all very hot and tired, we stay here for an hour to rest and eat the leftovers from breakfast.
1st July 1850 Today we arrived at Chimney Rock. Captain Wayne said that it is the most spectacular landmark on the entire trail.
2nd July 1850 We were starting to run low on food; thank goodness we have reached Fort Laramie. The cavalry are stationed at Fort Laramie, but as well as being a military post it is a trading place and a resting-place for us. Mother says the food is very dear but luckily she had been saving for the journey so we could afford to buy some food. We stopped here for a days rest.
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