NO. 7 SOHON S PORTRAITS OF INDIANS — EWERS 9 



report Mullan explained his choice of Sohon for this important 

 mission : 



Mr. Sohon's early connexion with my explorations in 1853 and 1854, his 

 knowledge of tlic Indian language, his familiarity with the general scope of the 

 country to be traversed, and the influence he had always so beneficially exerted 

 over the Indians, all pointed him out as the proper person to explore the new 

 and dangerous route. [Mullan, 1863, p. 11.] 



Sohon found the Coeur d'Alene unwilHng to furnish guides for 

 tlie exploration of the mountain area south of the Coeur d'Alene 

 River, and strongly opposed to the location of a wagon road in that 

 region. He returned to Mullan's camp July 7, after an absence of more 

 than a month alone in the country of Indians who, if not in open war, 

 were still unfriendly to whites. 



Abandoning hope of crossing to the south, Mullan pushed the 

 road survey forward vigorously via the Coeur d'Alene Mission, and 

 Coeur d'Alene River-St. Regis Borgia River crossing of the moun- 

 tains, and down the valley of the St. Regis Borgia. Sohon, in charge 

 of the small advance party, marked out the route and determined 

 tlie location of the mountain pass over the Coeur d'Alene to be followed 

 by the wagon road. The party wintered in a group of log huts on 

 the St. Regis Borgia River, which they called Cantonment Jordan. 



On July I, i860, while working in the area immediately west of 

 the Rockies, Lieutenant Mullan received word that Major Blake 

 with a command of 300 recruits en route to Fort Walla Walla had 

 arrived at Fort Benton by steamboat and awaited Mullan's arrival 

 for guidance over the mountains by the new road. Gustavus Sohon 

 was transferred to Major Blake as guide and interpreter for his 

 command. But before leaving Fort Benton, Sohon made a quick 

 pencil sketch of the locality as seen from the east. The wagons in the 

 right foreground probably arc those used by Major Blake in crossing 

 the mountains (pi. 5). 



Gustavus Sohon guided the first wagon party to cross the moun- 

 tains from Fort Benton to Fort Walla Walla, the first wagons to 

 reach the Columbia River from east of the Continental Divide by 

 a route north of the South Pass, in the present State of Wyoming. 

 Major Blake's party left Fort Benton August 7, i860, and arrived 

 at Fort Walla Walla without mishap on October 4, spending 48 days 

 in traveling and 1 1 resting along the way. This successful journey, 

 which was made possible by Sohon's experienced guidance, convinced 

 Lieutenant Mullan of the practicality of the wagon road. 



Lieutenant Mullan and Sohon were again in the field in 1861. 

 Starting once more from Walla Walla, they made extensive improve- 



