Kelly's "vision" had pictured Fort Laramie as a fortress, but in realization it proved "a cracked, dilapidated adobe quadrangular enclosure." "No wonder it was sold to the government." Bruce Husband was then in charge, and Fort Fontenelle Was in course of construction or almost completed.

A short distance above Julesburg, at a point off to Mud Springs there stands a solitary rock which bears the name of Trapper's Rock because of the awful tragedies of the plains.

Two men, and the sister of one of them, had come together into the west, and after a year one of them wanted to return. The other who was the brother of the girl had not yet his fill of the wilderness, although the sister wished to return to the settlements. The men were boyhood chums and each had absolute confidence in the other. Therefore the brother took the vow of the other that he would see the sister safely into the hands of the white people, and let them depart. Later the companion returned, and the two partners went on as before.

One day they met another who knew them,

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

and when he had an opportunity, he told of the sad fate of his sister. The vow of his partner had been broken, and the condition of the girl was such that she could not return to the same circle of friends she had left. A short time after she had died.

The brother said nothing of his horrible discovery, and together they made their way working toward the east. At the point indicated, the brother set upon and tied the other fast. He took him in this condition to the rock, and bound him fast thereon. Then he coolly built a fire, cooked his supper and ate it.