For the next three days nothing happened to interfere with our journey.  The third day brought us to the foot of Look Out mountain, which is a spur of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  In the eastern part of what is now the State of Nevada, but which was at that time one of the wildest countries in all the west, this particular portion I am speaking about was inhabited solely by the Ute Indians, which at that time was a very large tribe, and one of the most barbarous tribe that ever inhabited North America.

It is now fifty years ago since the events I am speaking of took place, and after all that Uncle Sam has done for them, they are not civilized yet.

At the time I speak of, this tribe inhabited all of the country from Snake river on the north to the Colorado river on the south and probably four hundred miles east and west, and at that time it was one of the greatest game countries west of the Rocky mountains.  Such game as Buffalo, Elk, Antelope and Deer ranged all through that country in countless numbers.  The Buffalo traveled much less in that particular portion of the country than they did in the country east of the Rocky mountains.  The Buffalo that inhabited this part of the country scarcely ever crossed Snake river on the north or strayed as far as what is now known as the States of Oregon and Idaho, and it was no uncommon sight to see from fifty to two hundred and fifty Elk in one band.  It would seem unreasonable at this period to tell how many Antelope one could see in one day.

But to return to the emigrant train and our camp at the foot of Look Out mountain, just before I got to our intended camping place, I crossed a trail where the Indians had just passed.  I followed this trail for some distance, and judging from the signs I decided there was quite a large band, five hundred or more of them.

I went back to the main trail and signaled to my scouts to come to me.  I selected one to go with me, gave the others their orders what to do, telling them to be sure and tell Bridger to not look for us until he saw us, for I was going to follow a trail until I found where the Indians went into camp.

Myself and my assistants now took the trail of the Indians, and we had followed it about five miles when we came to a high ridge, and as we looked down into the valley we saw the Indians in camp.

I was now satisfied that the Indians had not seen us and would not see us, so we turned and rode back to the place where we started from.  When we reached the camping ground, Jim had just got the train corralled.  I reported to him what I had seen and where the Indians were.  After listening to my report, Jim said, “That is good.  There is no danger from that band anyway.”

We passed a quiet night at this camp.  The next morning we were up very early and got an early start on the road, for we had a long drive before us that day, as it was all of twenty miles before we could reach water again.