“I congratulated them on the zealous performance of their duty, gave them a cordial invitation to go on, and whatever their determination, even should they leave us here, promised them an honorable discharge. All seemed desirous of going on, and not one availed himself of the opportunity to leave the expedition.

“By the great vigilance exercised on the march, the animals had been constantly improving, gaining flesh and becoming cured of sores, so that, though we started from the Mississippi with forty disabled animals, all but one were serviceable on our arrival at Fort Union.

“The whole distance from St. Paul to Fort Union is by odometer measurement 715.5 miles, and we had accomplished it in 55 days, and, excluding halts from time to time, in 48 traveling days. The rate of traveling was therefore about 15 miles a day, most of the way over a country almost unknown, without roads, and with such an imperfect knowledge of the distances to be made between camps as to cramp our movements much more than if the route had been measured and itineraries constructed for our use.”

“Fort Union is situated on the eastern bank of the Missouri, about two miles and three quarters above the mouth of the Yellowstone. It was built by the American Fur Company in 1830, and has from that time been the principal depot of that company. It is framed of pickets of hewn timber, about sixteen feet high, and has two bastions, one at the northwest and one at the southeast corner. The main or front entrance is on the side opposite the river. The fort is 250 feet square. The main buildings, comprising the residence of the superintendent and the store, are on the front or eastern side. They are two stories high, and built of wood. The shops and dwellings of the blacksmith, the gunsmith, the carpenter, the shoemaker, the tailor, and others are of adobe or of wood, and occupy the other sides. These mechanics are mostly French half-breeds, and have half-breed or Indian wives and many children. There is a grassy plain around the fort, extending to the base of the rising ground, which is a full mile distant on the eastern side. The Assiniboines, the Gros Ventres, the Crows, and other migratory bands of Indians trade at this fort, exchanging the skins of the buffalo, deer, and other animals for such commodities as they require. Mr. Culbertson, who has occupied the position of chief agent of the company during the past twenty years, has under his supervision not only Fort Union, but Forts Pierre and Benton also. He is a man of great energy, intelligence, and fidelity, and possesses the entire confidence of the Indians. His wife, a full-blooded Indian of the Blood band of the Blackfoot tribe, is also deservedly held in high estimation. Though she appears to have made little or no progress in our language, she has acquired the manners and adapted herself to the usages of the white race with singular facility. Their children have been sent to the States to be educated in our best schools.”

“I desire to meet you on the way, and assure you of the fatherly care and beneficence of the government. I wish to meet the Blackfeet in a general council at Fort Benton. Do not make war upon your neighbors. Remain at peace, and the Great Father will see that you do not lose by it.”

“From the 2d to the 9th of August we were closely occupied in preparing for the continuation of the survey. The men were engaged in making Pembina carts, and additional transportation was purchased of the fur companies. Our experience thus far had shown how well adapted ox-trains were to transportation, and accordingly two additional teams were added at Fort Union. In all these arrangements both the fur companies zealously coöperated, placing at my disposal not only all the animals they could spare, but guides, hunters, and their information in regard to the country. We were much pleased and benefited by the good offices of the Indian women at the two posts, the wives of the officers, who fitted us out with a good assortment of moccasins, gloves, and other guards against the severity of the weather in the fall and winter.

“The voyageurs belonging to the fur companies’ posts thought it a good practical joke to spread bugbear stories about the immense snows to be expected early in the season, and many of the men got to believe that they would find snow knee-deep before they reached Fort Benton, and that it would be twenty feet deep in the passes of the Rocky Mountains in October, and the men became exceedingly alarmed. Fortunately I had with me some books of travel in that country, particularly De Smet’s ‘Oregon Missions,’ and had carefully investigated the climates of the country west of the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Culbertson and the officers of the companies also gave me reliable information in reference to the lightness and lateness of the snow this side of the mountains, and therefore little difficulty was found in satisfying the men that they had been trifled with in this matter.”

started on the 10th from Fort Union at about twelve o’clock, followed by a war party of the Blackfeet, consisting of twenty Blood Indians and forty Piegan Indians, who arrived at Fort Union on the 8th on a visit to my party, and with whom I had had the most friendly interchange of civilities. I desired their company for two or three days in order to impress them fully with the beneficent policy of our government towards the Indians, and with the peaceable character of my own duties and objects, intending then to dispatch them on their way to their several tribes, and to make generally known to the Blackfoot nation our objects in passing through their country. I camped that evening with Lieutenant Grover on the Little Muddy River, when, towards night, a serious difficulty came near happening between them and our party. Mr. Culbertson and myself, however, succeeded in arranging the matter, and we spent a most interesting evening with the principal men in conversing about the Blackfeet and the Indian policy of our government. On this occasion I presented the subject of a general council to be held at Fort Benton the ensuing year, to make peace between the Blackfoot Indians and the hunting tribes west of the mountains, and to preserve peace with the white children of the Great Father. On this as on previous occasions, Mrs. Culbertson, a native of the Blood tribe of the Blackfeet, was unwearied and efficient in her good offices.

The next day we reached the Big Muddy River. The crossing was at a difficult ford, and we were all highly gratified at the zeal and efficiency of one of the Blackfeet, who pulled as steadily at the rope as any man of my party.

Before leaving the Big Muddy I had a long conversation with the White Man’s Horse, the chief of the war party of Blackfeet. He had frequently visited the Bitter Root valley, and stolen horses from the Flatheads. He observed, “I take the first Flathead horse I come to; it is sure to be a good one.” He and one of his men had just returned from the Flathead country, and they gave a very favorable description of the route, assuring me, pointing to my wagons and Pembina carts, that there would be no difficulty in taking them through the mountains. The country between Fort Union and this point is broken and rolling, with occasional formations of the mauvaise terre and outcroppings of sandstone. On the Big Muddy there is quite a large and open valley of a very good soil and excellent grass, with a very heavy growth of cottonwood near its junction with the Missouri.

On starting from the Big Muddy on the 14th of August, the command was in most excellent condition and spirits. Two of the mule teams were strengthened by an additional pair of mules, and the wagons were somewhat overloaded; for I determined to take nearly all my provisions along, so there should be no possibility of suffering for want of food, even though the depot of provisions in the Bitter Root valley had not been established by Lieutenant Saxton. We made eleven and a half miles, and encamped at a most beautiful point in the midst of luxuriant grass. The day was very sultry, some rain fell, and one ox died from the heat.

August 15. Excellent road all day. Crossed Poplar River and encamped on the west side, distance eighteen miles. I now felt the importance of renovating my health in order to prepare for the mountain work. It had been my custom thus far to continue at work till midnight, and to be up with the first in the morning.

August, 16. The road to-day was over the level river-bottom of the Missouri. Timber in sight all day, the route running through timber for about a mile. Reached a camp where there was excellent water, grass, and abundance of timber at five o’clock, making twenty three and two thirds miles. I issued this evening an order directing every person in the expedition, so far as it was consistent with his duties, to walk a portion of the way each day; for in approaching the mountains my effort was that the animals should be increasing rather than diminishing in flesh, and our experience had taught us that, by care in all these particulars, long marches could be made and the animals improved each day.

August 17. Made fifteen miles to-day, and camped on the Missouri at two o’clock. The road was over the level river-bottom. Much side work has been done since leaving the Big Muddy by Lieutenant Grover, Mr. Lander, and Mr. Tinkham, and the meteorological observations have been as numerous as they were on the route up to Fort Union. We organized to-day a day guard for the care of the animals, the object being to keep them in the best grazing without picketing as long as possible.

August 18. Passed through to-day villages of prairie dogs. Crossed the Porcupine River about five miles from camp. Encamped on Milk River, sixteen miles being the day’s march. Here we determined to remain a day to prepare charcoal for the blacksmith, and to make observations for the geographical position of its mouth, which is considered a very important point in the survey. Our camp was surrounded by a large grove of cottonwood, and near it was a delightful spring of water. The valley of Milk River is wide and open, with a heavy growth of cottonwood as far as the eye can reach, which is also to be found along the adjacent shores of the Missouri.

At this camp, which I named Camp Atchison, in honor of the acting Vice-President, I reduced to writing, and issued in an order, the instructions for the government of the expedition and the distribution of duties, under which we had been moving by my verbal instructions from the Big Muddy River. I availed myself of this opportunity to express my sense of the services of the several members of my party. On the 19th there was some little alarm in camp in consequence of false reports about the vicinity of a war party of Blackfeet.

We left Camp Atchison on the 20th, and after moving fifteen miles reached a very pleasant camp, with excellent grass, wood, and water. In the evening there was a very heavy thunder-storm. My order was read to the gentlemen of the party this evening, and was the subject of general congratulation, and not a little mischievous by-play or joking.

August 21. This morning was clear, cool, pleasant, and delightful for moving. Engineer parties, both yesterday and to-day, have been actively at work getting in the country bordering the route of the main party. I dispatched a small party across Milk River to Panther Hill to observe the country. Game was very abundant; plenty of buffalo, antelope, and beaver. A heavy rain and thunder-storm occurred about noon. Wild horses were reported as having been seen to-day by the reconnoitring parties. A fine eagle was shot and brought in to Dr. Buckley, our naturalist. To my exceeding regret, I found that there were points arising regarding the relations of army officers and civilians, and I concluded that the only way to overcome all difficulty was to pursue a firm, steady course, according to the terms of my written order. The distance to-day was seventeen and two thirds miles.

August 22. We crossed Milk River five miles from camp, and took a cut off to the south. We made our camp, after moving nineteen and a half miles, a quarter of a mile from the river, in the vicinity of a very heavy growth of cottonwood, there being a high bluff between us and the river. As usual, the evening was spent in considering the question of the proposed Blackfoot council, and in examining the work of the parties, and preparing for the work ahead. We passed through large herds of buffalo to-day.

August 23. We left camp late in consequence of the oxen straying, and about a mile from camp crossed Milk River. The order to walk some miles each day has been carefully observed, and the effect was to be seen upon our animals. On reaching our camping-ground, we found a deputation of Gros Ventres, consisting of seven of their chiefs, five of whom were accompanied by their wives. Among these was the Eagle Chief and his son, White Eagle, and the Little Soldier. The wife of the son of Eagle Chief was a very pretty woman. Her name was the White Antelope. They welcomed us in the most cordial manner, and were dignified in their deportment, which was marked by the strictest propriety. We were invited to visit their camp, about thirty miles farther on. After smoking and talking for some time, lunch was served up about dusk, consisting of coffee, rice, etc., after which they made us presents of horses, giving one to myself and two to Mr. Culbertson, to whom they seemed to be much attached. There was a large tent put up for their accommodation, and supper was provided about ten o’clock.

As my health had now been rapidly improving for some days, I determined to push ahead as rapidly as possible with two advance parties in order to examine the approaches to the mountains. Accordingly I organized two parties, under Lieutenant Grover and Mr. Lander, for the above purpose. To Mr. Lander I assigned four and to Lieutenant Grover five members of the party. Each was provided with reserve horses, and with fifty days’ rations of flour, sugar, and coffee. These arrangements delayed me, so that on the following morning,

August 24, I got off somewhat late, and was obliged to go into camp seven and a half miles this side of the Indian camp. Our Indian friends were again with us to-night, and we treated them with bread and coffee.

I learned to-day that a feud has lately broken out between the Gros Ventres and the Blackfoot tribes. A Gros Ventre was married to a Blackfoot woman. Traveling along, he was attacked, killed, and a fleet horse of his stolen. His wife was with him at the time, and the assassin proposed that she should marry him, go northward, and the Gros Ventres would never learn of the death of one of their tribe. She assented. He gave her the slow animal, upon which he had ridden himself, mounting the fast horse, which had been taken from her murdered husband. They soon arrived at water; she went off to get some, and on her return pressed him to go, as the water was very good. He did so, leaving his horse with the squaw. After he had gone some two or three hundred yards she mounted the fast steed, and, pursuing a contrary direction, joined the tribe of her deceased husband, and gave such information as would lead to the revenge of his untimely death. I find these Indians determined to revenge this outrage, and they are now fitting out war parties for the purpose of cutting off straggling Blackfeet, and stealing their horses.

August 25. Took an early breakfast, making to-day twenty-two and a half miles, when we reached the camp of Gros Ventres on the bank of Milk River, at half past three o’clock. This camp consisted of three hundred lodges, at least one thousand horses, and over two thousand Indians. We were soon waited on by others of the tribe, dressed in their finest costumes, among whom I would name the Cloudy Robe, who presented me with a horse; the Eagle, Big Top, the Discoverer or Ball in the Nose, the Man who goes on Horseback, the White Tail Deer, the Running Fisher, the Two Elks, the Wolf Talker, the Bear’s Coat, White Bear, the Clay Pipestem Carrier, the Old Horse, the Sitting Squaw, the Little White Calf. Accompanied by the gentlemen of the party, I visited their camp and the lodges of the principal chiefs, at all of which we were treated with the utmost kindness and hospitality. They first received us in a large lodge prepared for the occasion, some twenty-five feet in diameter, within which some sixty were seated. We here smoked, drank, and ate, talked some time, and then visited the lodges. I was much struck with the prominent characteristics of this tribe. Polygamy is universal; several of the chiefs above named having four, five, and even six wives, one of whom is the especial favorite and mistress of the household. The husband will appropriate any of them to purposes of prostitution when he can profit by so doing. They are filthy in the extreme in their habits, many of the women actually eating the vermin out of each other’s heads, and out of the robes in which they sleep. Being improvident, it is always feast or famine. Returned to camp about eight o’clock, and fixed the next day for a council.

August 26. The Pembina train arrived shortly after breakfast, and the main train about noon. The necessary preparations were made for the feast, and about one o’clock the Indians were seated around in squads of twenty or thirty to the number of two hundred. Before the feast the Indians seemed to be in high glee, passing the time in singing their songs, accompanying them with rattles made of the hoofs of antelopes strung very fancifully upon a piece of wood about a foot long, with which they marked time.

Shortly after the feast was over we had a council, at which the chiefs and many of the principal men were present. Mr. Culbertson acted as interpreter. When I first commenced talking with them, I found they were deeply enraged against the Blackfeet for the cause alluded to in the journal of the 24th; that they were determined to wage war against that tribe. I determined to put an end to this, and at once made a proposition to them to settle with that tribe on their delivery of the offender, or making a suitable reparation. I then explained the folly of going to war; how much they would suffer from it and how little was to be gained; that it was the desire of the Great Father that all his children should be at peace with each other; that while war parties of both tribes were scouring the country, the road was dangerous to the whites who should go there; and it was my duty to demand that they should not so act as to endanger the life of a single man of my own party, or any white man who should hereafter travel through this region.

I then proceeded to explain the objects of the expedition in passing through their country. I wished to make a treaty of peace between the Gros Ventres, Blackfeet, Piegans, and Bloods, and between these and the Indians west of the mountains who resort to the plains of the Missouri to hunt the buffalo. I then proceeded to explain the advantages which would arise to the Indians from entering into such a treaty, and receiving from the government directly what they now get from other Indians. They would then obtain goods, provisions, etc., in the way of annuities; could keep their horses, instead of being obliged to go with their horses and purchase of other Indians at an increased price, what the liberality and benevolence of the Great Father, in his fostering care over his children, would at once freely and abundantly supply them. “Think well of the matter. Suspend for the present your difficulty with the Blackfoot Indians. Let some of your chiefs come with me to Fort Benton, and we will try to settle the difficulty between the tribes. If it cannot be settled there, let it be referred to a commissioner sent here by the Great Father, who will settle all your differences at a council of the tribes to be held next year, where the grievances of both parties will be fully heard. But I must insist on the safe conduct of every white man through this country.”

They then held a consultation with their braves and principal men. In about an hour we met again. They assented to every proposition made. Some of their chiefs consented to accompany me to Fort Benton, and the whole tribe announced their willingness to wait until some time next year, and refer their difficulties to such a council. We continued the talk for some time, after which the Indians were invited to come over to the camp of the main party and witness the firing of the howitzer, which seemed to give them much pleasure. About five o’clock we made a distribution of the presents and provisions designed for this tribe, consisting of blankets, shirts, calico, knives, beads, paint, powder, shot, tobacco, hard bread, etc. They received them with the greatest satisfaction; no grumbling or envy was manifested. They continued about our camp, loitering, smoking, and talking, all the afternoon and evening.

August 27. Busy this morning in the purchase and exchange of horses with the Indians. We secured several very good horses in place of six very indifferent mules. Several members of the expedition bought horses for clothing, guns, etc., their private property, thus relieving for the use of the expedition their present riding animals. By the distribution of presents and provisions, and consumption at camp, we lightened our loads some two thousand pounds, apart from the issue to the detached parties, and have received twelve serviceable animals in place of unserviceable ones, besides four new ones purchased by members of the party, two presented to me, and two purchased by Mr. Culbertson.

August 28. I made to-day twenty-four and a half miles with the advance parties. I was very much pleased with the good offices of the Running Fisher, who brought into camp two of our missing horses. By my invitation he will accompany us to Fort Benton.

August 29. The road to-day was not as good as usual: the river-bottom was much dried up, with deep cracks in the soil, and the numerous holes made by the prairie dogs were even, at times, a worse obstacle to our progress. Made our halt about twelve miles from camp, where we dined. By an accident, the wind being high, the prairie took fire, which extended over considerable surface. Our dining-place was on a branch of Milk River, flowing from Cypress Mountain. Parallel to this, and some three miles farther on, crossed a second branch, issuing also from the Cypress Mountain. By a bend, the two branches nearly meet, forming what is called the junction.

Mr. Culbertson estimates the number of the Gros Ventres at about three hundred lodges, ten persons to the lodge, of which the proportion of men to women is one to two, the number of men being about six hundred. On his arrival in the country twenty-three years ago, they numbered four hundred lodges. In 1838–39, by a junction of the Crees and Assiniboines, some sixty lodges were entirely destroyed at Julius Mountain. A few years subsequently another attack was made at Cypress Mountain, in which sixty more lodges were exterminated, three men only escaping on this occasion, one of whom was the Sitting Squaw, father of the one already mentioned. Soon after Mr. Culbertson’s arrival in the country, he and four or five other whites, with a party of Blackfoot Indians, were attacked by a war party of Assiniboines, numbering some seven or eight hundred. The field was contested all day, night only ending the conflict. In the morning the Assiniboines did not resume the attack, and abandoned many of their dead on the field. A considerable number of the Blackfeet were also killed, but none of the whites.

August 30. Yesterday we were in sight of the Bear’s Paw, quite a broad and rugged mountain upheaval, stretching from Milk River to the Missouri. I sent off Lieutenant Grover, Mr. Lander, and Mr. Stanley, to make an examination of the Bear’s Paw, so far as it could be done by ascending one of its highest peaks, estimated to be about seventeen or eighteen miles distant. I moved on myself with the remainder of the party, having determined that I would no longer ride in the ambulance, but would make the effort to push forward either on horseback or on foot. After moving seven or eight miles I suffered so exceedingly from riding that I walked some five or six miles with great difficulty, until, coming to a good camp on our second crossing of Milk River, and the point where we were to leave it on our way to Fort Benton, I halted the party and rested for two hours. This gave me strength enough to mount my horse and ride to camp, eighteen miles farther on, on a tributary of the Box Elder Creek. We crossed several branches of this creek, which is a tributary of Milk River, that has its source very near the Missouri and is on our general line to Fort Benton. The ascent is very gradual from Milk River to our camp; the soil generally is very good. The view this afternoon was delightful. Bear’s Paw itself presents a rugged, grotesque appearance, and it requires no great stretch of the imagination to see in it the paw of a grizzly bear, ready to spring upon the plain.

The Three Buttes, or the Sweet Grass Hills, some sixty miles to the northward of us, are a favorite resort of the Blackfeet, who say that Providence created these hills for the tribe to ascend and look out for buffalo. Southward we have a view of mountains on the other side of the Missouri. Our distance to-day was twenty-nine and a half miles.

August 31. We made an early start this morning, and in twelve miles came to the upper waters of the Box Elder Creek, which is a clear, limpid stream, affording an unfailing supply of water. We then pushed on five miles over a fine rolling prairie to a coulee in the hills, where there was a spring, and here we halted to dine. This spring is a great resort for buffalo. Considerable water flows from it, but the ordure of the buffalo was in such great quantities about it that it infected the water, and moreover they had trampled all the ground, and had stirred up the water of the spring with their feet. We however thought it would be well enough for us to make coffee, and we managed to get up a very respectable meal. After stopping three hours, we continued on over a very good road. There was a shower of rain and hail about four P.M. At five the Missouri was in sight, the Belt Mountains looming up beyond it at a distance of not less than fifty miles. After a march of thirty-three miles from our morning camp, we came to a place called the Springs; here the water was dried up, and there was no wood, but excellent grass. We pitched our camp in a coulee surrounded by high hills, and went to work to dig wells for water, in hopes to procure some for our animals. We succeeded in getting only a small quantity for each. There was a very high wind and a heavy thunder-shower until near midnight. Our Indian friends assisted us very much in the night in looking out for our animals. Grover, Stanley, and Lander have not come in, which gives me a good deal of apprehension. The Running Fisher told me a story to-day illustrating one of the phases of Indian life. The Bear’s Paw, as one would infer from its wild and stern appearance, has been a scene of Indian fight and massacre. Seven years ago a fight occurred in the Bear’s Paw between their tribe, allied with the Blackfeet, and the Crows, in which he killed one of the latter. The Crows occupied an impregnable post, from whence they could shoot down all who approached within twenty paces. A Blackfoot was shot in the head through a fissure in the rocks. The Gros Ventres then determined to surround and starve them out; at night the Crows got off with the loss of one man, killed by Running Fisher.

September 1. This morning we made an early start, and, crossing over a high, rolling prairie, in eleven miles and three quarters came to the Marias River. The descent to this river on the trail is somewhat steep, the prairie plateau being over two hundred feet above the river-bottom. The river itself here presents a beautiful view. It is a clear, limpid stream, flowing over a pebbly and sandy bed, the bottoms lined with cottonwood of heavy growth, with thickets of the service and other berries. The Belt Mountains are very distinctly visible in the distance, as is also Citadel Hill, called so because its base rests upon the Missouri, and it rises perpendicularly like a bastion some two hundred feet high. Near by is Square Hill, so called from its supposed resemblance to that geometrical figure.

At our noon halt, or near by, was the scene of a sanguinary conflict between the Gros Ventres and the Crows in 1849, in which the latter were all killed. Several of those traveling in our company figured in the action. A party of Crows to the number of twenty-two were concealed in the hollow just in advance of where we dined, for the purpose of stealing horses from the Gros Ventres’ camp, consisting of two hundred lodges. Being discovered, the Gros Ventres surrounded them, and threw up dust in the air, which was carried by a strong wind in the faces of the Crows, blinding them, when the Gros Ventres rushed in upon them, and killed the whole number without losing a man. None were left to carry home the news.

We were off about noon; passed over the prairie, and descended in the valley of the Teton, where we met Mr. Clarke, in charge of Fort Benton, who came out to meet us. We arrived at Fort Benton at 3.30 o’clock, where we were received with a salute of fifteen guns.

Fort Benton stands on the eastern bank of the Missouri, near the Great Bend, and three hundred and seventy-seven miles by the trail taken by me above Fort Union. The river is here perfectly transparent at most seasons of the year. The Teton River empties into the Missouri six miles below Fort Benton, the Marias twelve miles below, and the Milk two hundred miles below. The falls of the Missouri are seventy miles above this fort. The muddy character of the Missouri has its commencement at the mouth of Milk River, which takes its name from the whitish muddiness of its waters. The ascent from the wide, grassy plain in which the fort is located to the high table-land is somewhat abrupt, the only passage on a level with the plain being close to the river on the south and very narrow. Fort Benton is smaller than Fort Union. Its front is made of wood, and the other sides of adobe, or unburned brick. It usually contains about a dozen men, and the families of several of them. The Blackfoot Indians are the principal traders here. It is the custom of the several bands of this tribe to locate in sheltered and otherwise eligible places in the vicinity of wood, water, and grass in the early winter, where they remain as inert as possible until the melting of the snow. At such times the half-breeds of the fort visit them with goods upon horses and mules, and exchange their merchandise for the skins and furs captured by the Indians.

Fort Campbell is situated on the same plateau with Fort Benton, about half a mile above it, and is built in very much the same way as the latter place.

I was agreeably relieved by the missing gentlemen coming into the fort September 3. They were in fine spirits, although they had eaten but little food since they left me on Milk River, had traveled a very long distance, partly on foot, and had been a good deal annoyed at the loss of so much time.

“We have reached this point with our full number of scalp-locks, and now are preparing to cross the mountains. Up to this point we have proceeded with wonderful success, and have done what no American expedition has done before us. We have not felt the slightest hardship, but the journey of over one thousand miles has been made with as much ease and comfort as we could possibly have experienced in traveling at home fully equipped. Our train, of forty wagons and carts, over two hundred animals, and more than one hundred men, has safely arrived. Not a man has died (except one who accidentally shot himself), nor has there been a single case of serious illness. Not more than a dozen or fifteen animals have been lost, and as a general thing they are now in as good condition as when we left the Mississippi. We are now eighty miles from the Rocky Mountains. On Monday we leave with a train of twelve wagons, with which we hope to make a comfortable crossing of the mountains in twenty days. Yesterday the fort was the scene of the greatest confusion, growing out of the preparations making to fit out four ‘war parties,’ as we term them. The first, under Mr. Lander, explores the Marias Pass, the most northern and nearly in the latitude of the boundary line. The second, under Lieutenant Mullan, goes to the Muscle Shell. The third war party is under the direction of Lieutenant Donelson, and is to survey the approaches to Cadotte’s Pass, the one which will be taken by the main train. A fourth war party is the major’s own to a camp of Piegan Indians. Lieutenant Grover is already in the mountains. The major’s health is excellent, and though the labor is enormous, he is the only man who could have carried the expedition through in so glorious a manner. If he succeeds in getting the wagons through, he will have opened a good emigrant road from the Mississippi to the Pacific, and you may be sure the attempt will be most vigorously made. If fortune continues with us, within two months we shall reach Puget Sound, that looked-for garden-spot. We have met the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre bands of Indians, and by both were hospitably received. Upon the Sheyenne River we first came upon buffalo, and from that point until a week’s journey back we have met them in the greatest abundance. Buffalo meat has, therefore, been our principal article of food, and we ask nothing better.”

“I very frankly and explicitly stated that to continue the survey, and to carry out the instructions with regard to the work to be accomplished, it was absolutely necessary to incur a deficiency: believing that, if the facts as they existed were known to Congress and the department, their instructions would be for me to continue the exploration, I determined to incur the deficiency and make the survey. My instructions required me to examine into the question of the snows on the route, into the freshets of the streams, and the period of time they were locked up by the ice, to do which it was indispensable that there should be winter posts established at Fort Benton, and in the Bitter Root valley; and it was desirable, in connection with these posts, to have such arrangements made, and such facilities afforded, as would enable the gentlemen in charge of them to continue the explorations of the passes and the adjacent country.”

I gave my instructions to Lieutenant Donelson on the 9th instant, inspected the train, found everything in good order, the men cheerful, satisfied, and confident as to going on, and the means of transportation ample, and set off towards night, having been preceded a few hours by Mr. Lander, on the way to Cypress Mountain. I encamped that night on the Teton, fourteen miles from Fort Benton. Besides the party of Mr. Lander, I was accompanied by Mr. Culbertson, special agent; Mr. Stanley, artist; Augustus Hammell, interpreter; and three voyageurs.

September 10. We had been joined last evening by a considerable party of the Blackfeet, who accompanied us to-day, the principal men being the Little Dog, the Three Bears, and the Wolf that Climbs. Started before seven, and after traveling three hours reached a fine spring, with excellent grass, at a celebrated landmark known by the name of the Rotten Belly Rocks. It is a formation of sandstone, and has the characteristic of Les Mauvaises Terres. Columns with capitals, resemblances to the human figure, etc., etc., abound. Beneath, in the coulee, passes the broad Indian trail leading to the Piegan camp. Here was killed Rotten Belly, the Crow chief, in an encounter between one hundred of his braves and eleven well-armed Gros Ventres of the prairie. This celebrated chief, urged on by his people, had previously beleaguered Fort McKenzie. He captured all the animals of the fort,—thirty-five horses. The place was in charge of Mr. Culbertson, and there were but nineteen men to defend it. For a month this little force baffled all the attempts of the Crows to get possession of the fort. Being, however, in a starving condition, and it being apparent that it could not hold out much longer, resort was had to stratagem. All the squaws, twenty-nine in number, were dressed in men’s clothes, and with arms in their hands were distributed around the fort in sight of the Crows, who, thus deceived in reference to the force defending the place, became disheartened, drew off, and separated. Rotten Belly, with a portion, mortified at his failure, declared that he would go north and seek death in battle. On reaching the rocks, and seeing the Gros Ventres, he said: “Here I will die to-day; you have brought me to this!” And, rushing upon his enemies, he killed two, and then received his death wound. Before his death he advised his people to be the friends of the whites, saying it was their only chance to escape defeat and utter ruin.

Kept on through the afternoon, passing over a rolling country, and reached the Marias about half past four o’clock, where we camped. This stream at our crossing was about fifty yards wide, one foot deep, and of somewhat rapid current, and the river valley was about a mile wide. There was plenty of cottonwood, and we had a most excellent camp. Spent the evening in conversing with the Indians who accompanied us.

September 11. We were off about seven o’clock, and after traveling until near noon halted at a spring, where we procured a small supply of water. Continuing on without unsaddling, in less than an hour I was overtaken by Baptiste Champagne with an express from Lieutenant Donelson, inclosing a brief report from Lieutenant Grover, to the effect that he met Lieutenant Saxton near the dividing ridge, and that they were returning together to Fort Benton. Lieutenant Grover intimated in his brief letter that Lieutenant Saxton reported the route could not be traversed by wagons. This changed the aspect of affairs, and I determined to send Mr. Stanley to the Piegan camp with the interpreter Hammell, and to return immediately with Mr. Culbertson to Fort Benton. I determined, also, to defer the examination of the Marias Pass to another season. There was not that harmony in Mr. Lander’s party which I deemed indispensable to making the examination which I had intrusted to him. Accordingly I ordered him to return with me. Stanley continued on to the Piegan camp, and I started back on my way to Fort Benton. It made a long march for us, for to get a good camp it was necessary to reach the Marias. Our Indian guide made his way pretty directly to the camp: one hour and a half we traveled in the dark. The descent to the river was steep and difficult. We succeeded in getting into a good camp about eight o’clock. Before starting on my return, I dispatched an express to Lieutenant Donelson to push on with his advanced party, but to keep the main train till my arrival.

September 12. Started early, and, pushing rapidly, reached the fort by three o’clock.

Lieutenants Saxton and Grover also reached Fort Benton the same day. The former successfully led the western subsidiary party by way of Pend Oreille Lake to the Bitter Root valley, from which point Lieutenant R. Macfeely, with twenty-six men and sixty animals, no longer needed, returned to the Dalles, crossing the Bitter Roots by the southern Nez Perces trail, a more direct but vastly more difficult route than that of the lake. Lieutenant Richard Arnold, with his brother, Mr. Daniel Lyman Arnold, and four men, remained with the supplies at Fort Owen in the valley; while Lieutenant Saxton, with seventeen men, pushed on across the mountains, and was met by Lieutenant Grover at the summit on September 8; and, as the governor remarks, “He felt rejoiced that the plan of our operations had been successful and the object of the expedition accomplished, as a party from the Atlantic and one from the Pacific, each in search of the other, had met by appointment, after traversing thousands of miles of unknown country, at the foot of the dividing ridge between the oceans.”