Days on the Road: Crossing the Plains in 1865Herndon, Sarah Raymond
History
Days on the Road: Crossing the Plains in 1865
Herndon, Sarah Raymond
Overland journeys to the Pacific; West (U.S.) -- Description and travel
“I was so weak that Mr. Curry had to help me to get on my feet. I
declared I could go no further. Mr. Curry prevailed on me to try, for
we must be near Green River. I made a desperate effort, and dragged
on for half a mile perhaps, Mr. Curry carrying my blanket, when I
positively could go no further, and told Mr. Curry to go on and leave
me and try to save himself. Mr. Curry was desperate. He said: ‘I must
find something to eat.’ He covered me with the blankets and went to
look for some kind of game.
“When he had gone about a hundred yards he saw a bird about the size
of a partridge sitting on a limb ready to be shot. He took careful aim
and shot its head off. He hastened back to where I lay, made a fire,
skinned the bird, and held it on a sharpened stick before the fire and
roasted it thoroughly. I would have eaten it when half done, but Mr.
Curry would not let me have it until well cooked, for fear it would
make me sick.
“I never tasted fowl that tasted so good as that did, although we ate
it without salt. After eating I felt better, and made another effort to
move on. We had gone only a little way when Mr. Curry stopped, listened
a moment, and exclaimed: ‘There, hear the rushing of the river?’
“I could not hear it at first, but soon I heard the glad sound too.
It gave us courage, and with renewed energy we pushed on, and before
eleven o’clock we reached the river. We slacked our thirst, cautiously,
at first, then had a bath and were refreshed.
“While I rested on the bank, Mr. Curry looked up and down the river for
the trail, which had gone into the river. He did not find it. We then
started for the road, which we came into in about an hour, just below
the ranch at the junction.
“A party of emigrants had stopped for noon, who gladly gave food and
refreshment to us weary wanderers. While I was resting, Mr. Curry
investigated the ranch, looked among the horses in the pasture, peeped
in stables, but did not find his horse.[B]
[B] Those men at the junction did steal Mr. Curry’s horse. The
men in the Hardinbrooke train saw them in their corral, and
asked, “Where did you get that horse?” They answered, “From
a man by the name of Curry. Paid $150 for him.”
“After Mr. Curry had given up getting his horse he was all eagerness
to get back to his family, but considering how very weak I was, he
consented to stay with the kind people we had fallen in with until
morning, so we traveled with them, and I rested in a wagon all
afternoon.
“At the first peep of dawn Mr. Curry was up and awakened me. I felt
refreshed and ready for our early walk. Mr. Curry explored the
grub-box, found some bread and meat, which he appropriated, leaving
green-backs to pay for our entertainment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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