The six lumbering wagons were drawn up in a circle, the space inside being about a hundred feet across. In the center of this a fire was kindled from the driftwood brought from the bank of the Platte, where all the animals were allowed to drink, after which a number of vessels were filled and brought to camp. While the water was roiled and not specially attractive in appearance, no one felt any objection to it. As one of the men remarked, it “beat a raging thirst all hollow.”