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Show 438 Lewis and Clm•ke' s Expedition which they ohtain~d, and a deer and a few salmon killed by the party, we were still well supplied. Two beat• also were woundt>d but we could procure n~ithcr of 4h '" em. Monday 2. This morning all the Indians left us 1 . , except the o d gmde, who now conducted us up F 1''-h k . "' cree : at one mile and a half we passed a lwanch of the l'iver · · h , comm; m t •·ough a low ground covered with pine on the left d t~vo and a half miles further is a second branch fro~ ~~e right; after continHing our route alonoo the hi'll d • • • b s covere With p1~e, and a low ground of the same g•·owth, we a•·rived at the distance of three and a half miles at the forks of the creek. The road which we were following now turnt>d up the east side of these forks, and as out· guide informed us led to the Missouri. We were the•·~fo1•e left without any track· but as no time was to be lost we began to cut our road u~ the west branch of the creek. This we effected with much difficulty! the thickets of trees and brush through which we ~ere obhg~d to cut our way required great labout·; th~ road Itself was over the steep and rocky sides of the hills where the. horse.s could not move without danger of slipping down, while their feet were bruised by the rocks and stumps of t~ees. Accustomed as these animals were to this kind of lJfe they suffered sevet·ely, sevca·al of them fell to some distance down the sides of the hills, some tua·ned oYer wilh the baggage, one was CJ•ippled, and two ooave out exhausted with fatioouc Aft · 1 h ::; • er crossmg t 1e creek several times we at last made five m1'Ie s, wa· t h g•·eat fati.g ue and labou1·, and encamped on the left side of the creek in a small stony low ground. It was not, i1owever, till after dark that the whole party was collected, and then, as it r·aincd. and we killed nothing, we passed an uncomfortable night. 'rbe pa1·ty had been to•o busilY occuplt·> d W·i t h the horses to make any hunting excursiOn ' and tho ugh as we came along F1. sh creek we saw many beaver dams we saw none of the animals themselves. In the morning, ITp the ~issouti. .},39 Tuesdays, the horses were very stiff an~ weary. We s~nt back two men for the load of the horse wlnch bad been crippled yesterday, and which we had been forced to leave two miles behind. On their return we set out at eight o'clock, and p.roceeded up the creek, ma~ng a passage th.rougb the ~rush and timber along its borders. The country IS generally supplied with pine, and in the low grounds is a great ab~ndance of :fir trees and under bushes. The mountains are lugh and rugged, am' l those to the east of us, covered W'itb . ~now. With all our precautigns the horses were very much InJUred in passing over the ridges and steep points of the h~ls, and to add to the difficulty, at the distance of eleven miles, the high mountains closed the creek, so that we were o~liged to leave the creek to the right, and cross the mountain ab- 1·uptly. ,.rhe ascent was here so steep, that several of the horses slipped ami hurt themselves, but at last we succeeded .in crossing the mountain, and encamped on a s~all ~ran<~~ ofFish creek. We had now made fourteen miles In a direction nea1·ly north from the river; but this d~stance, though short, was very fatiguing, and rendered still mo1·e disa(preeable by the rain which began at three o'clock. Jlt d~sk it commenced snowing, and continued till the ground was covered to the depth of two inches, when it changed into a sleet. We here met with a serious misfortune the .Last of our thermometers being broken by accident. After making a scanty supper on a litttle corn and a few pheasants killed in the course of the clay, we laid down to sleep, and next morning, Wednesday~' found every thing frozrn, and the ground covered with snow. We were obliged to wait some time in or·der to thaw the coTers of the baggage, after whir,h we began our journey at eight o'clock. We crossed a high mountain which forms the dividing ridge between the waters of the creek we had been asceuding, and those running to the north and west. We had not gone more than six miles over the snow, when we I'eached the head of a stream |