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Journal of Western Travel
by John McTurk Gibson
edited by Weldon Hoppe
June 1st, 1859 -- The first of June, and cold as Greenland this morning, a nice day to drive however. We have made first rate time passed the junction of the North and South Platte, and have a glorious time generally, feeding on the fat of the land: wild ducks and antelopes, the latter tender, juicy and good, better in any opinion than any venison I ever tasted. Powell caught a young wolf and traded it off for whiskey enough to treat the crowd. We saw a deer but none of us got to shoot. We are now camped on a slough that puts down from what are called Fremont's Springs.Powell
Travelled twenty miles. We have arrived at the head of the Freemont Springs. We found a spring rising from the edge of a slew. We passed our first prairie dog town. They make a great barking. We passed two trading posts this evening. I swaped off a pair of boots at a trading post for a pair of shoes and two pair of moccasins. There are some twenty wigwams by the posts of the Indians. We passed Ophalan's Bluffs, they received their name from a man by that name. He was going west with goods, got in a terrible storm and returned home. We killed an antelope to day.