The expedition returned by the same route and
arrived at the mouth of the Platte on the 1st of October.
Before reaching Laramie's Fork, he met on the 28th of June a party
of fourteen trappers, in the employ of the American Fur Company,
making their way on foot with their blankets and light camp equipage
on their backs. Two months previously they had started from the mouth
of the Laramie River in boats loaded with furs destined for the
St. Louis market. They had taken advantage of the June freshet, and
were rapidly carried down as far as Scott's Bluffs. There the water
spread out into the valley, and the stream was so shallow they were
compelled to unload the principal part of their cargo. This they
secured as well as possible, and left a few of their men to guard it.
They continued struggling on with their boats in the sand and mud
fifteen or twenty days longer, then, farther progress being impossible,
they cached their remaining furs and property in trees on the bank of
the river, and, each man carrying what he could on his back, started
on foot for St. Louis. The party was entirely out of tobacco when
they were met by Fremont, who kindly gave them enough to last them
on their homeward journey.
During the next decade the Platte Valley witnessed a wonderful change.
From the habitat of the lonely trapper, hunting on its many streams,
it became the chosen route of a vast migration, seeking possession of
the virgin soil of far-off Oregon, or attracted by the discovery of
gold in California.
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