"the morning clear and cold [ ] four of the brethern started back on hunt of the lost horses and we resumed our journey by striking across towards the Platt [ ] the country we passed through was dry sandy and barren [ ] we halted about 10 oclock to refresh our teams [ ] some of the brethern shot an antelope and a hare during the day [ ] we then traveled on till we came to a beautiful stream of water where we camped for the night [ ] we had a slight shower of rain [ ] our brethern returned from the horse hunt without them [ ] said they saw 15 Indians who tried to rob them of their horses but they drawed their pistols and the Indians desisted but fired on them as our brethern retreated [ ] about sunset a rifle was accidentally discharged in a wagon and the ball struck the leg of a fine mare belonging to Lewis P Barney which broke the bone and rendered her entirely useless [ ] thus we have lost 4 horses within a few days by nothing but carelessness [ ] this day we traveled about 16 mile
**************
They are going through a place in Nebraska which is now called The Sand Hills. It is a very hard area for them especially when it came to the oxen as it was rough for them in trying to pull the wagons over this part of Nebraska. Water is also rare here so that is another problem. They try to dig and do find some moisture, but not enough for drinking. They have also run into some fear with some Pawnee Indians until they found out what they wanted most was tobacco. The pioneers didn't have any which didn't make the Pawnees happy. The pioneers had six shots fired at them upon in retaliation which, luckily, no one was injured. They deduced that these Indians had been following them for several days now, and are following them still. I love the aerial view here.
