THE GREAT ENCAMPMENT As the long columns of the great wagon train broke through the screening sand hills there was disclosed a vast and splendid panorama.

The valley of the Platte lay miles wide, green in the full covering of spring.

A crooked and broken thread of timber growth appeared, marking the moister soil and outlining the general course of the shallow stream, whose giant cottonwoods were dwarfed now by the distances.

In between, and for miles up and down the flat expanse, there rose the blue smokes of countless camp fires, each showing the location of some white-topped ship of the Plains.

Black specks, grouped here and there, proved the presence of the livestock under herd.
Over all shone a pleasant sun.