OCR Text |
Show Lewis and Clm~ke' s Exped.ition, tbis place is a handsome stl~eam or very clearwater, a hundred yards ~ide wHh low banks, and a bed formed entirely of' gravel: It has cve1·y appearance of being navigable, but as it contains no salmon, we presume there must be some fall below which obstJ~ucts theit· passage. Om· guide could not inform us where this river discharged its waters; he said that as far as he knew its course it ran along the mountains to t. h.e north, and that not far fJ"om our present ·p osition it was J?me~ by another stream nearly as large as itself, which rises In the mountains to the east near the' Missouri, aml fto.ws th~o~g1~ an extensive valley or open prairie. Through thts pratrJC Is the great Indian road to the water·s of the Missouri; and so dit·ect is the route, tltat in four days' journc! from this place we might reach the Missouri about thirty miles above what we called the Gates of the Rocky ~ouutains, ot· the spot where the valley of that river widens Into an extensive plain on entering the chain of mountains. At ten miles from our camp is a small e~·eek falling in from the eastward, five miles below which we halted ~t a lat·ge stt:eam. which empties ilself on the west side of the river. It 15 a fine bold creek ol' clear water about twenty yards wide, and we called it l'1'Ct:Velle1''s-1·est creek· fop as out• P'uide told us t h at we should here leave the t•iv' cr we deter~m ined to remain fot• the purpose of making celesti~l observations and collecting some food, as the count1·y tht·ough which we are to pass has no game f'ot· a gr<'at distance. . ~he valley or the l'iver iht•ough which we have been passwg ts gene1·ally a p1·airie f't·om five to six miles in width, and with a cold gravelly white soil. ri'hc timber which it possesses is almost exclusively pine, chjc:fiy of the long-lea. fed kind ' witlt so me• spruce, an<1 a S}lec.i es of fit~ resem-blmg the Scotch fir: near the water courses are also seen a few narrow -leafed co tto nwoo d trees, and the only under-brush is the redwo od ' h oneysuc kle , and t•osebushes. Our ga~e. was four deer, three geese, four ducks, and three prairie fowls; one of the hunters b1·ought in a red-headed Up the .Missout'i. woodpecker of the large kind common in the United States, but the first of the kind we have seen since leaving the fl. linois. Tues<lay, 10. The morning being fair all the huntei'& were sent out, and the rest of the party employed in repairing their clothes: two of them were sent to the junction of the river fr·om the east, along which the Indians go to the Missouri: it is about seven miles below rrravellel"s-rest creek; the country at the forks is seven or· eight miles wide, level and open, but with little timber: its course is to the north, and we incline to believe that this is the river which the Minnetarees bad described to us as running from south to north along the west side of the Rocky mountains, not far from the sources of Medicine river: there is moreover reason to suppose, that aftet• going as far northward as. ~he bead-waters of that river it turns to the westward andJOIDS the Tacootchctessce. Towards evening one of the hunters returned with tlu·ee Indians, whom he bad met in his excursion up Traveller's-rcst m·eek: as soon as they saw. him they prepared to attack him with arrows, but he qu1eted them by laying down his gun an<l advancing towards them, and soon persuaded them to come t o the camp· Om• Sho-shonee guide could not speak the language of the.se pe?ple, but by the universal language of signs and ?est1Culat10ns, which is perfectly intelligible among the lndJ~ns, he f?nnd that these were three Tushepaw Flatheads m pursUJt of two men, supposed to be Shoshonees, who bad st~len twe~tythree of their horses: we gave them some boded .vemson and a few presents; such as a fishhook. a steel to strJke.fire, and a little powder; but they seemed hetter pleas~d w1th a piece of riband which we tied in the hair ~f t~ach of them. They were however in such haste, lest thcll' horses should be carried off, that two of them set otfaftcr sunset in que~t of the robbers: the third howevet• was pt-rsuaded to .remain with us and comluct 118 to his rdation!!i: these be s~ul were numerous, and resided on the Columbia in the plam below |