Thursday, 20. The day was tolerably pleasant. Our road was interrupted by small streams which crossed our course in every 2 or 3 miles during the day. The land was prairie, except the narrow groves which accompanied every stream — timber principally, burr-oak, black walnut, elm and white hickory. Traveled this day about sixteen miles and encamped in a beautiful grove of timber, through which meandered a small stream.

Point, Nicolas, 1799-1868, “Passage d’un ravin bourbeuse ,” Jesuit Archives Digital Collections and Resources, accessed May 16, 2020, https://jesuitarchives.omeka.net/items/show/132.

Father Nicholas Point made several pencil sketches along the way. This one, “Passage of a Muddy Ravine,” shows how the wagon train negotiated those narrow groves and stream beds. The Nicholas Point Missionary Drawings Collection can be accessed at the Jesuit Archives.