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Show [ 174 ] 146 t . . ne of these is to rob the settlements along the frontier of the States. wn . 0 and the other is to form a lea~uc between t h e van.o us tn'b es. o f t he St.o ux, nation, the Cheyennes, and Arapahoes,. and m:ike wa~ a~am5t the Crow nation, in order to take from th~m t1hetrhcountry,hwhac~ IS no~dthe .best buffalo country in the west. Thas p an t. ey . now ave In cons I erataon; d it would probably be a W<H' of extermmatwn, as the Crows have long ~~en advised of this state of affairs, and say that they. are perfectly prepared. These are the best warriors in the Rocky mountaans, and are now allied with the Snake Indians; and it is probable that their c~mbinatio~ would extend itself to the Utahs, who have long been engaged 1~ wnr ngamst the Sioux. It is in this section of country that my observataon formerly led me to recommend the establishment of a military post. The farther course of our narrative will give fuller and more detailed information of the present disposition of the buffalo in the country we visited. AmonO' the roots we obtained here, I could distinguish only five or· six differentbkinds; and the supply of the Indians whom we met con.sisted principally of yampah, ( anetlwm, graveolens,) tobacco root, ( valerwna,) and a large root of a species of thistle, ( circium Virginianum,) whirh now is occasionally abundant, and is a very agreeably flavored vegetable. We had been detained so long at the village, that in the afternoon we made only five miles, and encamped on the same river after a day's jou~· ney of 19 miles. The r ndians informed us that we should reach the brg salt water after having slept twice and travelling in a south direction .. The stream had here entered a nearly level plain or valley, of good soil, cightor ten miles broad, to which no termination was to be seen, and lying between ranges of mountains which, on the right, were grassy and smooth, unbro· ken by rock, and lower than on the left, where they were rocky and bald, increasing in height to the southward. On the creek were fringes of y~ung willows, older trees being rarely found on the plains, where the Jndr~ns burn the surface to produce better grass. Several magpies (pica l!udsomca) were seen on the creek this afternoon ; and a rattlesnake was ktlled here, the first which had been seen since leaving the eastern plains. Our camp to-night had such a hungry appearance, that I suffered the little cow to be killed, and divided the roots and berries among the people. A number of Indians from the village encamped near. '""' . The weather the next morning was clear, the thermometer at snnnseat 44o.5, and, continuing down the valley, in about five miles we followed the little creek of our encampment to its junction with a larger. stream, called Roseau a:, or Reed river. Immediately opposite, on the rtght, !he r~nge was gathered into its highest peak, sloping gradually low, and run· nmg off to a point apparently some forty or fifty miles below. Between !his (now become the valley stream) and the foot of the mountains, we J~urneyed along :} handsome sloping level, which frequent springs from !he halls made occasionally miry, and halted to noon at a swampy spring, where there were good grass and abundant rushes. Here the river was forty fe~t wide, with a considerable current· and the valley a mile and a halfrn breadth; the soil being generally go'od of a dark color and apparently well adapted to cultivation. The day had become bright a~d pleasant, with the thermometer at 71 °· By observation our latitude was 41• 59' 31", and the elevatio~ above the sea 4,670 feet. On our left, this afternoon, the range at long Intervals formed itself into peaks, appearing to terminate, about 147 [ 174 ] forty miles below, in a rocky cape; beyond which, several others were faintly visible ; and we were disappointed when at every little rise we did not see the lake. Towards evening, our way was somewhat obstructed by fields of artemisia, which began to make their appearancC' here, and we encamped on the Roseaux, the water of which had acquired a decidedly salt taste, nearly oprosite to a canon gap in the mountains, through which the Bear river enters this valley. As we encamped, the night , ~t in dark and cold, with heavy rain; and the artemisia, which was here ou r only wood, was so wet that it would not burn. A poor, nearly starved dog, with a wound in his side from a ball, came to the camp, and remained with us unril the winter: when he met a very unexpected fate. September I .-The morning was squally and cold; the sky scattered o~·er with clouds; and the night had been so uncomfortable, that we were not on the road until8 o'clock. Travelling between Roseaux and Bear rivers, we continued to descend the valley,whieh gradually expanded, as we advanced, into a level plain of good soil, about 25 miles in breadth, between mountains 3,000 and 4,000 feet high, rising ~uddenly to the clouds, which all day rested upon the pec1ks. These gleamed out in the occasional sunligl1t, mautlcd with the snow which had fall en upon them, while it rained on us in the valley below, of which the elevation here was about ·1,500 feet above the sea. The country before us pbinly indicated that we were ap,~roachiug the lake, though, ns the ground where we were travelling nfforded no elevated point, nothing of it as yet could be seen; and at a great dL tanr.c ahead were·several isolated mountains, resembling i lands, which they w~re ,t ftcrwards found to be. On this upper·plain thP. gras was every \\'h«·re dead; and among the shrubs with which it was almost exclusively occupied, ( ar tcmisia being the most abundant,) frequently occurred hand ·ome clu~ters of several species of dieleria in bloom. J:>urshict lridenlala \\as among the frequent shrubs. Descending to the bottoms of Hear ri ver, we ri)Und go ,Jd ~rass for the animals, and encamped about 300 yards aborc the mouth of Roseaux, which here makes its junction, without commu r1 ie,ltin~ a11y of its salty taste to the rnain stream, of whieh the water rf'rnains fJ£'t fect ly pure. On the river nrc only willow thickets, (salix /ongij'rdia ,) and in the bottoms the abundant plants arc canes, solidago, nnd heliauthi, and along the banks of Roseaux are lie Ids of nwlva rolundifolia. At sunset the thermometer was at 54°.5, and the evening dear nnd calm; but I deferred making any usc or it until l o'cloc·k in the morning, when l endeavored to obtain an emer. ion of the lirst ntellitc ; but it was lost in a bank of clouds, which also rend e red our usual observations indifl'erent. ~mong the useful things which formed a portion of our equipage, was an I nella-rubber boat, 18 feet long, m·ule ~omcwhat in the form of a bark canoe o~ the northern lakes. The sides were formed by two air-tight cylinders, eighteen inches in diameter, connected with others forming the bow and ~tern. To lessen the dan~er from accidents to the boat, these were divided Into four different compartments, and the interior space was sufficiently large to contain five or six persons and a considerable wei~ht of bnggage. • 1!0h e Roseaux being too deep to be forded, our boat was filled with air, and a?out one hour all the equipage of the camp, cJ.rriagc nnd glln included, ferned across. Thinkin~ that perhaps in tho course of the day we might reach the outlet at the lake, I got into the boat with Basil Lajeunesse, and paddled do.wn Bear river, intending at night to rC'join the party, which in the mean hmo proceeded on its way. The river was from sixty to on0 |
