172 TOPOGRAPHY OF ROUTE FROM THE MISSISSIPPI TO THE COLUMBIA. 



were seen ; thence northwest sixteen or seventeen miles, through the most varied and interest 

 ing scenery, to where the Jocko empties into the Flalhead river, a stream as large as the Bitter 

 Root, and sometimes supposed to be Clark s fork proper. This river comes from the north to 

 this point, and turns directly west, with little variation for twenty-five miles, where it joins the 

 Bitter Root at the opening of a mountain-bound prairie called Horse Plain. In the last half of 

 this distance the mountains form a canon on the river similar to that mentioned on the Bitter 

 Root, at the commencement of which the route leaves the river and tends northwest nine miles 

 through Camash prairie, which is the least attractive-looking of such spots ; thence west again 

 about nine miles through a rocky pass, and, by a steep descent, strikes the united waters at the 

 foot of Horse Plain. Since the conclusion of the surveys in the mountains it appears that the two 

 avenues to the valley of Clark s fork by what are called cations, on the Flathead and Bitter Root 

 rivers, immediately above their junction at Horse Plain, have not received the thorough examina 

 tion to which their importance entitled them; it will not, therefore, be out of place to give in a few 

 words a somewhat clearer view of their character, as amongst the principal topographical fea 

 tures of the w r holc mountain section. 



They have been mentioned as canons; but this expression must not be taken in the exact sense 

 in which it is applied in purely volcanic regions, where unbroken perpendicular walls of rock, 

 thousands of feet in height, are opposed to each other for many miles; but they come the nearest 

 to this idea of any similar features in the mountain-basin in which they occur, and of which they 

 are the natural outlet. Vertical walls are understood to occur for short distances, but in general 

 the mountains crowd upon the rivers in rugged broken masses alternating with steep slopes and 

 dense timber, the sudden aud frequent windings of the channels being the most serious engineer 

 ing difficulty. How far this character actually extends will require further and more delib 

 erate examination to determine which is the more necessary, as, notwithstanding the facility of 

 detour which is found higher up in the different branches of Clark s fork, still, from the configu 

 ration of the country, the manner in which the interior or spur ranges of the mountain-basin close 

 upon these rivers above their junction, it is easy to perceive that all practicable routes concentrate 

 to this particular point, with the exception of the route across the Coeur d Alene mountains re 

 ported by Lieut. Mullan, but only as entitled to further examination. Thus the result of the whole 

 examinations in this extensive basin is, that two practicable railroad passes are reported into the 

 basin (going west) and two passes believed to be practicable out of it. The canon on the Bitter 

 Root was partially examined by Mr. Lander; that on the Flathead was not examined at all. 

 They are both believed to be practicable at extreme cost. 



In the next seventeen miles, a point or so north of west, the river now certainly called Clark s 

 fork* winds through the deepest and narrowest part of the valley, the mountains on the south 

 rising abruptly from the water, and heavily timbered; but on the north they project, in shape 

 less, naked masses, to an immense height, the frequent piles of fragmentary rocks giving evidence 

 of some tremendous disruption ; the whole range bearing the appearance of having been rent 

 asunder by some giant force, while hanging rock and mural precipice stand in stupendous contrast 

 to the bits of sward and timber on the river-banks and islands. About midway through this 

 magnificent gorge lie the remains of the &quot;Fallen mountain,&quot; over which the trail leads as the only 

 chance to proceed; the rudest kind of horse-track which even an Indian would construct winds 

 deviously on either side from top to bottom, from rock to rock, the interstices being partially filled 

 up with the smallest fragments and detritus, but not so as to insure freedom from danger without 

 the greatest circumspection. It takes half a day for a train of moderate size to cross, and this is 

 rarely done without injury or loss of animals; indeed, it is still a mountain in its fall. At the 

 end of this grand aggregate of everything that is sublime and beautiful in scenery, are a few square 



* No effort was spared to obtain the Indian names ; but they are so hopelessly unpronounceable, that not one could be retained, 

 except that of Late Kalispelin, or Pend d Oreille ; and Kalispelm is merely the beginning of the Indian name, which extends 

 to ten or twelve guttural Bounds. 



