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Show [ 39 J 8 and thence up its north branch to its source in the Rocky mountains. Here I had to make a de pol. of merch andise and proper ty, which is done by b urying it in th e ground, the Indians having completed their desip:ns upon our hoi·ses by stealing the la1't of th em. I h ad set out from Council Bluffs with one hundred and four of these indispensable animals, and was left to make the transit of the mountains almost w ithou t any The snow was deep, but the ascent and descent easy, being a depression of the mountain to such a degree that a carriage would cross without the least difficulty . T he deprcssior. was not only low, but wide-something like a v alley through the 1nountains, say thirty or forty miles wide, the river Colorado taldng its rise from the opposite side. I passed the winter 1827 and '28 on t he Colol'ado. In the spring of 1828, with horses obtained from the Snake Ind ians for the purpose, one of my partn ers r eturned to the depot on the 'vaters of the Platte~ but found a co n ~id erable part of the mP.rchandise destroy ed, the water having penetrated the place where it was buried. The r emnant. saved from t his mi ~fortunp, was carried across the mou ntains to the small lake called Bear !alee, a little to the west of the so urces of the Colorado, then a rendezvous for hunters and tradcrE~. H ere our traffic with these people was completed. My partners and most of the men set out on their return to the Council Bluffs; and m.y self, with nine men ' comme nced a tour to the northwest, with the view of exploring the r c(J'ion of the Colun1bia river to . h . t) ' ascertain t e att r actwns and capabilities for tracle. This was in July 1828 and. the excursion which I then e ngaged in occupied me till June, IS30, (~ perwd of nearly two years,) 'vhen 1 returned to St. Louis. It is of the observations which I m.adc in this excu~·sion that I propose to give you some account-the precedwg ~tate m ?nt bemg for elucidation, and to explain the ?harac~cr of a voyage which might otherwise appear e x traordinary, if not Incredtble. Afte~ lea.ving B ear lake, I proceeded northwardly, kcepinO' to the west of the n~am .ndge of the Rocky ~ountains, to L ewis's river~ and thence to Clar!t s rtver, both of them bemg branches of the Columbia. W e were destitu~e of .horses-had to climb rugged mountains incessantly, and to pro~ ure Wtth difficulty the mean~ of subsistence. Four months were consumed 111 this ·way, and, ?n the first of December, the mountains having become deeply covered With snow, we took up our abode for the winter. This was nt a lake called Flathead lake- a beautiful sheet of water in a low dee11 va.l ley · Th.e 1a k e I·S a bo ut t I1 ·1 rty-five md· es I· n lenoth, 'b y five or ' SI·X I· n 'vldth. This lake communicates with Clark's river 0 and is formed by its northern branch ~ It is· su r·: oun d e d b y 1o f ty mounta·m' s, whose summi· ts, I· n many ~laces,. are cove red w1th perpetual snow. It lies in a valley , which is ~xt~~~Ive, nch, a~d would support a considerable population. The valley Itse. IS cov~red w1th luxuriant grass, and the foot of the mountains with a Ya]rlt ety of timber 'a nd .v eOo 'et a t'I On, l· ll d'I Cat·m g the n·c hest SO·i l. B eS'td e s t hI' S va ey, .many spots ?f nch ground were seen on Clark's river . Rut It was not n ch I d th t I . . F b . an a was 111 search of· and In the month of e ruary 1n the y ear 1829 I ' ' . . th I ' h 1 ' recommenced my travels still proceedmg nwoerr e · a ·n t te atter end f th · ' 1 ° e. sprmg, some horses which I had procured small p~::n sf 0 en. A: ~hort time subsequent to this loss, I fell in with a ter and '~ho r~n,~ Wit whom I had passed a part of the preceding ·winof St. L . 0 ~h ormerly been attached to the interests of a gentleman suffering~u~. u .e &reater part of my men being dishearte ned with the n pnvat10ns they endured, and having no ultimate prospect~ 9 [ 39 ] sufliciently bt:illianl .to bear them up under present h1rcl hip·, rlesired to retur.n; and d tschargt ng a~ l but. one, to ret urn with their country men, 1 deterrnwc~ to pcrs~vere wtth 1Hm, and complete, if possible, the tour of observat1on and discovery which I had marked out Before I left the neighborhood of the Flathead lake, I fell in with a trcntleman of the Hudson's Bay Company, who hud ~ ecn loner expected tl~·re and who had come out to mal~c his annual trade 'IVith the Flathead lndiaus' For the p~rpos.c of this tr~de, the lludson's Bay Company have a small post_: a mere wintcrmg establishment- situate on Clark's fork, about 250 miles acco~ding to my estima~e, above its junction with the Columbia. The post comnsts of a few log cabins and a stockade, and has nothing permanent in its app~arance. and ~10 ?th~r defen~e than the usual precautions required against Inc~mns. B~ the Invi tat~on.of th1s gentleman, I accompuniod hilll on his return to iort Col VIlle,. the I?rmc1pa~ establishment of the fi udson's Bay Co mpany for the moun tam rcgwn. vV c descended Clark's fork for five days in batteaux_, and th~n made a portage of about sixty 1niles, to avoid the falls of tl~ at nv~r, wht~h render its na~7 igation, near i t~ junction with the Columbia, w~)olly Irrn~I~actt cal?lc. 'Ve arr~ved at fort .Col:rllle on the fir~t of S?ptewbcr, 1S....,9. flu:; post 1s on the mam Columbia nver, about thtrty mtlcs below t he mouth of Clark's fork, and on the south side of the river, in latitude 48 degrees 38 minutes. A. proprietor of the company , a couple of clerks, and about 25 men, are statiOnary at this post. It con~isteu, when I saw it, of log houses for.thc accommodation of the company, and for storehouses for the mcrcha11clise and furs. A stockade was bcO'un before I left there. Some swivel~, in addition to conanon fire-arm;;, we~·e all the defences which I saw. About 60 or 70 acres of ground were under cultivation, and the crops V\'ere fine and abundant. \iVhcat, barley, oats, Indian coru, Irish pola.Loes, peas, and ga.rclen vc~etables of every description, grow 'vell, and were equal In the quality and 111 the product to any in this country. The wheat was ground at the post on hand mills, thotwh a windmill wa, erectiuO' and a I . f Ll L'l' }> entl ul . upply of flour obtained. Of domestic animals, there were cattle, h~gs, and horses; the post being well supplied with its own bacon, butter, 1ndk, &c. The situation of the post is beautiful, being at the foot of the last ranO'e of mountains, and nt the principal f<1lls on the upper part of the Columb~. l\1any spots of ground arc fit for cultivation, and thP- climate is healthy and agreeable. This post, as I have said, is the principal depot for the mountain t~a<lc. ~ts s?ppli.es of merchandise nrc received by the way of the Colum? w., comtng ll1 sh1ps as high up that river as fort Vancouver, and afterwards I n battcat~Xj the distance fr01n the sea bei11g about six hundred miles. The 1nerchand1se .thu.s. brought up to· fort Colville is traded partly at that post, a?d part! y distnhuted to the Flathead post, a!ld another on l\1cG i ivray'~ ~·1 ver, anot~cr ?ranch of the Colum uia, coming from the south, and falling ,Jnto the ma1n nver about twenty-five mile above the mouth ofCl:-~rk's river. The furs collected at all these places ar~ sent down the Columbia in batteaux to fo~t Vanc~uver, and thence shi pp.ed to England and other places. Besides the furs ol~ta t ncd from these posts, others arc got by trappingj for which purpose, ~art.tcs have gone as far south as the Colorado, for six or seven years pas t. I rema10ed twenty days at fort Co,lvillc, received the most kind and hospitable treatment from the gentlemen of the post; and having received from them an offer of the protection of their annual express or p a-cket along the line of their posts and establishments, across the continent to lake , .Vionipec, I dctermin- 2 |