The opening of Chapter I
Things to be thought of before plunging into the woods--Composition of the party, and reasons why it was not more numerous--First night's encampment--Preliminaries--Sleep in a deserted Indian lodge--A singular variety of the Fox Squirrel--The Pack Horse escapes--Cross the elevation called the Pinery--Reach the outskirts of the settlements in the valley of the Fourche A'Courtois.
Whoever would venture into the wilderness, should provide himself with such articles of personal comfort or safety, as habits, forecast, or the particular object of pursuit or observation, require. Every one will think of arms and ammunition, but there are other things required to make life pleasant, or even tolerable in the woods. This, prior excursions had already taught me, but the lesson was repeated by those of greater experience. There were two persons who had agreed to go with me, and stick by me, to the end,--the one a native of Massachusetts, and the other, of Connecticut, both like myself, new in the field, and unacquainted with life in the woods. What they lacked in this art, they more than made up, I thought, in intelligence, enterprise and resource. The name of the first was Brigham.