Exploration of the Red river of Louisiana, in the year 1852 / by Randolph B. Marcy, captain Fifth infantry U.S. Army ; assisted by George B. McClellan, brevet captain U.S. engineers ; with reports on the natural history of the country and numerous illustrations.

United States Department of War

Date:: 1854

Credit: Exploration of the Red river of Louisiana, in the year 1852 / by Randolph B. Marcy, captain Fifth infantry U.S. Army ; assisted by George B. McClellan, brevet captain U.S. engineers ; with reports on the natural history of the country and numerous illustrations. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$twenty-five miles towards Fort Arbuckle, we struck the trail of the wagons, and following it two miles, overtook them. They had been detained several days by heavy rains, which had rendered the ground very soft, and in many places almost impassable. In consequence of this, some of the wagons had been broken, and the repairs caused a still further detention. Early on the following morning, after packing the horses with provisions, we returned to where we had left the command, and on our arrival found that the water in the river had fallen suffi- ciently to admit of fording. Accordingly, on the morning of the 12th, during a violent rain, we commenced the crossing, which was anything but good, as the quicksand in the bed of the river was such as to make it necessary to keep the wagons in constant motion. The moment thgy stopped, the wheels would sink to the axles, requiring much force to extricate them. By placing a number of men upon each side of the mules and wagons to assist them when necessary, we, however, suc- ceeded in reaching the opposite bank without any serious accident. The latitude at the point where we crossed is 34° 29'. The river is here two hundred yards wide and four feet deep, with a current of three miles per hour; the banks upon each side low and sandy, but not subject to over- flow. Passing out through the timbered land on the bottoms, we ascended the high bluff bordering the valley by a gradual slope of about a mile, which brought us upon a very elevated prairie, with the valley of Cache creek in view directly before us. We arrived there on the.evening of the 13th, but found that the train had not yet come up. During our march to-day we passed a small stream flowing into Red river, and directly at the point of crossing, in a gulley washed out by the rains, we found many pieces of copper ore, of a very rich quality, lying upon the surface.* Our time, however, was too limited to admit of a thorough examination of the locality. Cache creek is a stream of very considerable magnitude, one hundred and fifty feet wide and three feet deep, with a current of four miles per hour, flowing over a hard clay and gravel bed between high abrupt banks, through a valley one mile in width, of rich black alluvion, and bordered by the best timber I have yet met with west of the Cross Timbers. * An analysis of this oro by Professor Shephard Copper \with traces of iron) Silica Oxygen and water gives the following results: 35. 30 30. 60 34. 10 100. 00$