Those
gold-seekers who had been driving their cattle hard began to appreciate
the warnings they had been given back in Missouri. The cattle began to
go lame and to give out. Along the trail, under the fantastic line of
cliffs, were scattered trunks and iron stoves; piles of bacon; bags of
coffee; broken wagons; sugar on which turpentine had been poured lest
any succeeding emigrant should use it; clothing torn to ribbons so that
it could not be worn.
The limitless horizon narrowed. Walls of hard clayey rock (above) rose up and bounded the bottoms of the North Platte. Conspicuous among the landmarks were "Court House Rock" and "Jail Rock" (below).
