The wilderness about it, and the people at the fort, were startled by the scream of a steam whistle, and so far, as was within the knowledge of man here, there was no such thing nearer than the Missouri river.

The winter previous had 'been one of considerable severity and much snow had fallen in the mountains. The spring had turned off bright and warm, and the river presented much the same aspect as it did in June, 1908, when it will be remembered, it was full from bank to bank.

From the lookout of the fort, the first and only steamboat that was ever in the Scotts Bluff country, could be seen ascending the river. The El Paso, as it proved to be pulled into the bank below the fort, where now R. S. Hunt's stock go down to water, and made fast for the night. The next day the El Paso continued its journey up the Platte, and continued to the mouth of the Platte canyon, where the current proved too strong for it to

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

proceed farther, and the return journey was commenced.

The advance up the river was made at the rate of about thirty-five miles per day, below the junction of the rivers, and from that point to Platte canyon the average was about twenty-five miles. On the return the boat travelled from seventy-five to ninety miles per day.

On the trip both ways it was also found necessary at times to use green cottonwood and ash for fuel, and to keep the fires burning required liberal quantities of rosin and tar.