Wednesday, 9th. Spent the day in crossing the S. fork of Platte — a buffalo was killed from a herd that came within 300 yards of the camp. We crossed the river by fording, the water being sufficiently shallow — width of river here about 2/3 of a mile — its waters are muddy like those of the Missouri.

The painting below, by William Henry Jackson, gives a good idea of what fording the river was like for a much larger group of emigrants.