But occasionally great droves of antelope could be seen in the open or passing over some distant ridge. The timbered hills to the southward afforded plenty of blacktail deer, and when the hunters first appeared among them they were too wild to be scared. Upon the approach of the white man they would bound out of the thicket only a few feet away, and turn and stand looking at one, with wide and wondering eyes.

Early in March, the ice went out of the river, and on the eighth of the month, the party embarked in their canoes, and proceeded d.-iwn the turbulent stream. Only a few miles below they encountered snags and sand bars, obliging them to abandon their canoe and continue their journey on foot. Near the eastern extremity of Grand Island, they met an Otte (Otoe) Indian, who directed them to the camp of two white traders, who were on their way into the wilderness. From them they procured an elkhide boat and continued their journey to St. Louis by water.

These arc the men who made the' wonderful and hazardous trip, without the loss of a man, in the worst part of the year, who discovered and traversed the most practical route across the continental divide, and laid the foundation for a great national, ocean to ocean high-

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

wey, and to whom a stone shall be raised that will fittingly commemorate their achievements : Robert Stuart, Ramsey Crooks, Robert Mc-

Clellan, Ben Jones, Joseph Miller, Francis Le- Clerc and Andri Valler.