JOURNAL OF E. WILLARD SMITH 253
new outfit of horses. From this encampment Smith and two companions venture to penetrate the wintry wilderness ahead to secure from the fort the necessary horses with which to convey the party and its collection of furs to the fort. In- superable difficulties of travel and signs of proximity of large bands of Indians ahead of them bring dismay. They return to the encampment and a more successful venture is made by their leading trader, Biggs. Resupplied with horses, and their packs of beaver brought up, they were on their way to the South Fork about the middle of April. From their fort the trip to St. Louis was made in a "Mackinaw" boat.
There are interesting references to the I. R. Walker, who as assistant to Captain Bonneville had in 1833 penetrated from the Great Salt Lake to California. Smith mentions him as commissioned to guide another party to California. It is said of him that he "requested the epitaph on his tombstone record the fact that he discovered the Yosemite wonderland."
There are also interesting references to the natural won- ders that have since been included in the Yellowstone National Park.
JOURNAL
August 6th, 1839. Left Independence. The party at start- ing consisted of thirty-two persons under the command of Messrs. Vasquez and Sublette. There were four wagons loaded with goods, to be used in the Indian trade, drawn by six mules each. The drivers accompanied the wagons, the rest of the party riding on mules. These men were French, American, Spanish and half breeds.
After leaving the boundary line of Missouri State we lost all traces of civilization. The soil appeared to be very fertile for about one hundred miles, being well watered by streams running south into the Arkansas. On the banks of these streams were many dense groves, while the intervening country con- sisted of prairies. The grove on the last stream we met with was called Council Grove, one hundred miles from the state
