GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OP THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS REGION. 105 



Snake river, or the south branch of Lewis fork of the Columbia, and is also fertile, but its char 

 acteristic feature is the great scarcity of timber for any purpose, the willow and wild sage beino- 

 used for fuel along the whole route. The geological formation of this section belongs to the 

 tertiary period. The capability of this broad area, however, for grazing, is excellent. It is a 

 great resort at present for all Indians in the mountains, the mountains and valleys affording a 

 great abundance of game, consisting of elk, bear, deer, and antelope, while the numerous rivers 

 and streams abound in fish and beaver. The latter are still caught in large numbers on the head 

 waters and tributaries of the Missouri, but are not so anxiously sought after as years back, 

 owing to the great depreciation of value in the market east. The whole country is formed of a 

 series of beds of mountainous ranges or ridges, with their intervening valleys, all of which are 

 well defined and marked, the decomposition and washings of the rocks of the mountains giving 

 character to the soil of the valleys, which may be termed, as a general thing, fertile. The 

 geological formations along the Jefferson fork and its principal tributaries are limestone and con 

 glomerate rock. From the range called the Snake River divide, the whole character of the country 

 is completely changed. Here the geological formation is basaltic and volcanic principally. None 

 of the numerous streams and rivulets flowing from the mountains along the route we travelled 

 emptied into the Snake river, but either sunk into the ground or formed small lakes in the broad 

 valley of Snake river. The ground in most places is formed principally of sand ; and where 

 large beds of basalt are not found, the ground is of a dry, absorbing nature, through which the 

 water sinks, at times bursting out again. It was somewhat singular that for sixty miles above 

 Fort Hall, along the main stream of Snake river, we did not cross but one tributary, and that 

 coming in from the south, while none came in from the north ; all of the streams, as before men 

 tioned, either forming lakes or sinking into the ground. This section is also noted for the great 

 scarcity of timber, and the immense plains of wild sage ; which is so abundant, that it merits the 

 name of the sage desert of the mountains. It extends for many miles in length and breadth, form 

 ing an immense ocean of prairie, whose sameness is only broken by the Three Buttes of the 

 valley, which rise like islands in the sea in this broad and barren area. Its whole character 

 might be included in the word sterility. From the mountains bounding the Snake River valley 

 on the north to Fort Hall, a travelled distance of one hundred and twelve miles, there is but 

 one fertile spot of ground that could be converted to any useful purpose, and this is found at 

 Cantonment Loring, five miles above Fort Hall. Here the soil is of a grayish-blue clay and 

 sand, that might be made use of for agricultural purposes. The grazing here is most excellent. 

 To our return route to the Bitter Root valley, which lay to the east of the Bitter Root mountains 

 from the Snake river, to the ridge separating the waters of Wisdom river, or the Big Hole fork 

 of the Jefferson river, from those of the Hell Gate river, the same general remarks will apply 

 as those describing the country from the head of the Bitter Root river to Fort Hall a series 

 of mountain ranges, giving beautiful prairie valleys, through which wind streams from the 

 mountain slopes that pour their tribute into the Missouri and its forks. Leaving the ridges 

 referred to, you again enter a different and milder region, through which flow tributaries to the 

 Clark s fork of the Columbia. Here the soil is a rich loam, timber is abundant, and climate 

 exceedingly mild even during the severest winter. We enteied it on the 1st of January, and 

 snow scarcely covering the ground was to be found in the valley. This section connects with 

 the Bitter Root valley. We thence followed down the Hell Gate river, from its head to where it 

 debouches from the mountains five miles above its mouth; which we found to be one hundred 

 and twenty miles long, flowing through a fertile, well-timbered valley, from two to five miles 

 wide, bounded on each side by high pine-clad mountains. Game is found in great abundance in 

 these mountains, being principally elk and bear. 



&quot;A detailed description of each portion of the route having already been given, I only deem 

 it necessary to say that both routes travelled are perfectly practicable for wagons, but the return 

 route is by far the better of the two, though from sixty to eighty miles the longer.&quot; 



