ardly half way_.[74] I felt tired & weary, O the
luxury of a house, a house! I felt what some one expressed, who had
traveled this long & tidious journey, that, "it tries the soul." I would
have given all my interest in California, to have been seated around my
own fireside, surrounded by friend & relation. That this journey is
tiresome, no one will doubt, that it is perilous, the deaths of many
testify, and the heart has a thousand missgivings, & the mind is
tortured with anxiety, & often as I passed the fresh made graves, I have
glanced at the side boards of the waggon, not knowing how soon it might
serve as a coffin for some one of us; but thanks for the kind care of
Providence we were favored more than some others.

[June 26--74th day] We proceeded onward, crossed Sweet Water for the
last time,[75] here it is a real mountain torrent, we soon arrived at
the summit, or Pass[76] of the Rocky Mountains, this has more the
appearance of a plain, for it is some 5 ms across, & nearly 30 ms wide
from north to south. The road is sandy, & some rocky, but not steep in
no place here. We traveled about 25 ms to-day, & encamped below the
Pacific Springs,[77] poor place to camp, for where there is any grass,
it is so miry that it is dangerous for stalk [stock] to go, 2 or 3 of
ours got in the mire & a good many others, they were got out, but with
much difficulty. We now consider ourselves about half way, but the "tug
of war" is yet to come. We have now bid adieu to the waters, which make
their way into the Atalantic, & now we drink of the waters which flow
into the Pacific. Our faithful team still looks well, they, nor we, have
not yet suffered only fatiegue, they have generally had plenty of grass
& water, but according to the guides we may suffer for both, but hope to
find it better than some have represented. More than half of the cattle
on the road have the hollow horn,[78] the man who is traveling with us
has lost, several head & there are two or three more which will not go
much farther.[79]

FOOTNOTES:

[58] So called from their having a dark appearance in the distance by
reason of the small cedars which grow upon them.--_Original note._ The
name Black Hills was used collectively to denote all of the ranges in
the region of the Laramie Mountains, which are situate in the southwest
corner of Wyoming and form a curvilinear or semi-circular range, of
which the lower part has now the restricted name of Black Hills. _Cf._
Dela