The party had left Fort Osage, on the first day of May, with twenty wagons drawn by oxen, and further consisted of a large number of horses with one hundred and ten men under the leadership of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville, and his able lieutenants, M. S. Cerre and I. R. Walker.

They had followed the Sante Fe trail to White riume's agency, then blazed a new trail in a northwesterly course, which has since been followed by many thousands of emigrants striking the Platte near Grand Island, then called "Great Island."

Had they reached this point some ten days earlier, they might have observed upon the north side of the river the wagon train of William Sublette, and the caravan of horses used by Wyeth's party.

On arriving at the forks of the Platte, they found the South fork impassible for fording and proceeded two day's journey up the river before affecting a crossing.

They then removed the wheels from their wagons, and improvised boats by stretching buffalo hides under the wagon boxes and smearing them with a compound of ashes and buffalo tallow. And on this identical day, June 13, 1832, William Sublette and Nathaniel J. Wyeth were fording the North fork at the point just above its junction with the "Laramie."

It would be utterly impossible to improve upon the language of Washington Irving in describing this trip. And I would not vary from it in the least, except that I want to identify spots of interest by modern landmarks, and include events connected with Bonneville's experiences, which I have obtained from other sources than Irving's narrative.