| Summary: | tion will use up huge quantites of this for all the supplies freighted to Fort Totten and the Indian Agency go by our door along this trail. Herds of antelope pass near grazing as they go, for in this valley is fine grass and running water, which is not often to be found, for you may travel miles upon the prairie without finding water. The geese and ducks and prairie chickens are here in immense numbers and sometimes they cover vast spaces. The sand hill cranes look at a distance like huge herds of cattle. About the lake is the breeding place of the ducks and they will remain until the frosts send them Southward. You asked me about the buffalo. There are no buffalo here now as they left the region around Devils Lake about 1868. They used to be very numerous about here as the grass is good and there is plenty of water but the Indians and Red River halfbreeds became so numerous and hunted them so persistently that they went west and south. They made pemmican of their flesh in immense quantities and sold it to the Hudson Bay and American Fur Companies. are covered with them and as they begin to bloom so early there is no grass and the leaves come after the flowers. We welcomed them eagerly as they are the first —but we will have abundance of wild flowers all summer long. The lake is full of fish and as they go up Slummegullion Creek (so named by me because it is such a tiny stream beside our creeks at home) we get numbers which are a welcome change in our menu though they are not so fine as the salt-water fish at home. Oh, how homesick I get for the sight of a white woman's face. I have seen none since I came here in September. The Indian women visit us frequently. Five came a few days ago. One is always the spokeswoman and introduces the other by pointing to them, "this Lizzie" this "Fanny" this "Mary." We always have to give them lunch when they come as they will remain until they are fed. We had five or six fat little puppies and Mr. Larrabee gave each of them one which was received with broad smiles and great pleasure. I was glad he had given them something that pleased them so much. Dakota Territory May 24, 1877 Dear Patty: We have no neighbors nearer than Fort Totten except the Indians who visit us frequently and so far as I know I am the only white woman in Foster County. We have a new baby at our house, a boy, which we have named Berkley Terry Larrabee whose arrival on the 12th (May) was very much dreaded by me because we had no doctors or nurses. This baby so far as we know is the first white child born in Foster County. The little girls have come in with their hands full of some beautiful flowers and wanted to know what they were called. Hunting out my old Botany I found that they were the Pasque Flowers with their quaint furry hood which cover the buds. The hills Dakota Territory September, 1877 Dear Patience: Have just got settled after moving. We moved about a mile south of our last habitation. Mr. Larrabee has built a six room frame house the first one in the county—where we will be much more comfortable than in the old log house. We will move all the buildings here and here we will keep our relay station. It is in the bottom of the valley on the banks of the river James and is much more sheltered. The round topped hills are on the north and west and cut off our view but to the south it is open with gently rolling prairie in the direction of the river. The trail travels along this rolling Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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