104 BITTER ROOT VALLEY. 



and remarked by every one who has ever been in it during the winter season ; thus affording 

 an excellent rendezvous and recruiting station for the Indians in its vicinity, and of those sojourn 

 ing in it, as well as all others that might be overtaken by the cold or snow of the mountains. 

 It is the home of the Flathead Indians, where, through the instrumentality and exertions of 

 the Jesuit priests, they have built up a village not of lodges, but of houses where they repair 

 every winter ; and with this valley, covered with an abundance of rich and nutritious grass, 

 affording to their large bands of horses grazing and to spare, they live as contentedly and as 

 happily as probably any tribe of Indians either east or west of the Rocky mountains. Its capa 

 bilities in other respects, aside from grazing, have already been referred to in the former part 

 of this report, and are of sufficient interest and importance to attract the attention of, and hold 

 out inducements to settlers and others. All that it at present needs is, to have some direct con 

 nexion with the East or the West, and the advantages that it and the sections in its vicinity 

 possess, will be of sufficient importance to necessarily command attention. The numerous 

 mountain rivulets, tributaries to the Bitter Root river, that run through the valley, afford excellent 

 and abundant mill-sites ; and the land bordering these streams is fertile and productive, and 

 has been proved, beyond a cavil or doubt, to be well suited to every branch of agriculture. 

 I have seen oats grown in this valley by Mr. John Owen, that are as heavy and as excellent as 

 any that I have ever seen in the States ; and the same gentleman has informed me that he has 

 grown most excellent wheat, and that, from his experience while in the mountains, he hesitates 

 not in saying, that here might agriculture be carried on in its numerous branches, and to the 

 exceeding great interest and gain of those engaged in it. The valley and mountain-slopes are 

 well timbered with an excellent growth of pine, which is equal in every respect to the well known 

 and noted pine of Oregon. The advantages, therefore, possessed by this section, are of great 

 importance, and offer peculiar inducements to the settler. Its valley is not only capable of 

 grazing immense bands of stock of every kind, but is also capable of supporting a dense popula 

 tion. The mountain slopes on either side of the valley, and the land along the base of the mount 

 ains, afford at all seasons, even during the most severe winters, grazing ground in abundance, 

 while the mountains are covered with a beautiful growth of pine. The provisions of nature 

 here, are, therefore, on no small scale, and of no small importance; and let those who have 

 imagined and some have been so bold as to say it that there exists only one immense bed of 

 mountains from the headwaters of the Missouri to the Cascade range, turn their attention to this 

 section, and let them contemplate its advantages and resources, and ask themselves, since these 

 things exist, can it be long before public attention shall be attracted and fastened upon this 

 hitherto unknown and neglected region ? Can it be that we should have so near our Pacific coast 

 a section of country of hundreds of thousands of acres that will remain forever untilled, unculti 

 vated, totally neglected? It cannot be. But let a connexion, and that the most direct, be made 

 between the main chain of the Rocky mountains and the Pacific and it can be done and soon 

 will these advantages necessarily thrust themselves upon public attention, and open to the indus 

 trious and persevering, avenues to wealth and power. Again, this section connects with another 

 of equal if not superior importance, that of the Cceur d Alene country, which again connects, 

 directly, by a beautiful section, with the country at and near Wallah-Wallah ; thus showing that 

 from the main chain of the Rocky mountains to the mouth of the Columbia, we possess a rich, 

 fertile, and productive area, that needs but the proper means and measures to be put forth, and 

 manfully employed, to be turned to private and public benefit.&quot; * * * &quot; Looking back upon 

 our route, we saw we had followed Bitter Root river to its head, which we found from its mouth 

 to be ninety-five miles long, flowing through a wide and beautiful valley, whose soil is fertile and 

 productive, well timbered with the pine and cotton-wood, but whose chief characteristic and 

 capability is that of grazing large herds of cattle, and affording excellent-mill sites along the 

 numerous streams flowing from the mountains. The country thence is watered by tributaries to 

 the Missouri and its forks, to the range of mountains separating these waters from those of the 



