121 [ 1 ] 



principally of thick strata of sand stone with a perpendicular ledge towards 

 the river. 



I examined along the side of one of the largest hills for fossils, but found 

 none, except a very small piece of bone. At the base of this hill I found 

 the large petrified roots of which No. 37 is a part ; it was taken from 

 a stum}) about three feet in diameter, hollow in the middle, and about six 

 inches thick ; nearly the whole stump rising about one foot above ground, 

 still remains. Within a few inches of it are the remains of another, appa- 

 rently still larger. The formation is different from that of the Bad Lands 

 of White river. Some of the stones No. 36 came from this spot ; there 

 was quite a heap of red colored stone in this place, which exhibited every 

 app<3arance of having been under the action of fire. One piece in particular, 

 about the size of half a bushel measure appeared to have been melted to 

 nearly a liquid state, and then stuck together. If these red places were 

 once volcanoes, the country must have been full of them. Coal cropped 

 out just at the base of the burnt hills towards the river. Large veins of it 

 were seen at least once this morning, in one of the steep banks immediately 

 above the water. 



I asked Mr. Picotte about the smoking hills mentioned by Nicollet and 

 was informed that he himself had seen smoke coming from them for years 

 at a time, but that years ago they fell in and since then have ceased to 

 emit smoke. They are about fifteen miles below Fort Lookout on the east 

 side of the river. 



A few hours ago we met a skiff from Fort Union, in which were Mr. 

 Clark, of the Blackfoot Post, the Crow interpreter and two men ; they 

 were coming to meet the boat and had left the fort this morning, not ex- 

 pecting to meet us in several days. Alexander and Joe Howard have just 

 left us to ride to the Fort, where they will arrive in four or five hours. We 

 have for some time been passing along a l)eautiful prairie, and although the 

 day has been very windy, the evening is calm and lovely. The sun set 

 beautifully a few minutes ago, and it appeared as though I had got beyond 

 sun.set, for it seemed to go down almost behind us, probably because our 

 course is mojje southwest. 



I feel rather sad at the prospect of parting so soon with my brother who 

 has been so kind to me. May God bless him and his for his goodness to one 

 of the humblest followers of Christ. 



Monday, June J 7. — Yesterday afternoon at four o'clock the boat landed 

 at Fort Union, having made the trip of twenty-five hundred miles in thirty- 

 six days and four hours, the quickest one on record. W^e were received 

 very kmdly by the gentlemen of the post, Mr. E. T. Denig and Ferdinand 

 Culbertson. They showed me qiiite a good collection of stuffed skins made 

 by them for Profi'ssor Baird, at the request of my brother. This must 

 have cost them a great deal of labor and considerable expanse, and they 

 deserve many thanks from the students of natural history for whose benefit 

 this collection was made. 



Fort Union is very much like Fort Pierre in its structure and about the 

 same size, the principal difference being that here they have stone bastions, 

 and a cannon mounted above the gate. A room also is constructed against 

 the wall by the gate, in which they used to trade through a small hole 

 about one foot square in the wall. Now however they trade at the retail 

 store inside of the fort. The Assiniboines and the Crees are the people 

 principally trading here. The Crecs are from the British possessions, and 



