228 RECONNAISSANCE OF THE ROUTE. 



is made up with grassed slopes, a thrifty, abundant growth, sometimes reaching to the higher 

 peaks, or with steep embankment-like declivities of loose sliding stones, which, displaced by the 

 feet of the buffalo and deer, and traced with numerous paths, gave a foothold for ourselves and 

 horses. 



The game was abundant; a large elk was shot in the earlier part of the day ; antelope were 

 more plenty than we had before seen them ; some black-tailed deer were seen, a big-horn, and 

 occasionally a rabbit or hare crossed our path. 



The wild cherry and gooseberry were abundant ; and besides, there were the strawberry vine, 

 the raspbeny bush, blackberry bush, the ground juniper, and other familiar. plants. 



After the sandstone was a dark slaty-looking stone, soft, and crumbled on the surface, which 

 was supposed by Dr. Suckley, to whom I gave the specimens collected on this line, to be car 

 bonate of lime. Porphyritic and common trap stones were also in place. Perhaps the most 

 valuable stone is a white marble, at times of alabaster clearness and purity. Many of these 

 stones would be useful in building, and there is little doubt that a suitable exploration would 

 prove them to be conveniently accessible. 



The snow of the previous night had not been wholly obliterated by the warm sun of the day, 

 and was an agreeable incident to the closing part of the somewhat laborious and heated ascent. 



The view from the two summits, of about the same height, and which were mounted in succes 

 sion, is of vast extent, and embraces objects of striking interest. East and north you trace the 

 windings of Milk river. In the same direction, off in the distance, is Cypress mountain not 

 mountain-like in appearance, but apparently a sloping, gradually rising elevation of ground. 

 Not as far off as the mountain, and beyond what appeared to be Milk river, could be seen a lake 

 of considerable extent. Here we had our first view of the Rocky mountains. One hundred 

 miles or more distant, they terminated the view from northward to southward, gradually falling 

 towards the horizon in the latter direction. The snow of the previous night had evidently 

 extended to them, and the imposing mass abruptly opposing itself like a forbidding wall, termi 

 nating the smooth stretch of prairie reaching to its base, was gorgeous with its glittering peaks 

 and flashing snow-fields, lit up with unusual brilliancy by the evening sun. It is characteristic 

 of the mountains to the north of Sun river, that at first view they generally present a seeming 

 unbroken front ; and though a nearer approach discovers openings hid from view in the distance, 

 and some of which future exploration may possibly show to afford practicable passages of the 

 mountain, we were, at the Three Buttes, too far distant to detect any such favoring gaps, and the 

 mountains were before us, an unbroken and apparently impenetrable barrier. 



South and southeast could be seen the mountains be} r ond the Missouri, in the direction of Fort 

 Benton, and near the Bear s Paw range. The Marias River valley was not distinguishable, but 

 its tributary rivulets, emanating in the mountain, could sometimes be traced for a long distance. 

 Most of the small rivulets, in this dry season of the year, are absorbed and lost before passing 

 beyond the limits of the mountain slopes. 



The sun had set as we left the tops of the mountains ; the air was growing cool and chilly ; 

 the thermometer at 37 Fahrenheit, and rapidly falling. The barometer gave the height of the 

 three mountains about 3,300 feet above the prairie at its base, and (I speak from recollection 

 only the record of the observations were with the general records now missing) about 6,700 

 feet above the sea. To me they are objects of singular curiosity. Distinct from each other, and 

 isolated from any mountain group, they have been thrown up high above the surrounding country, 

 and have long served as the watch-towers and land-marks of the roving tribes ranging for a 

 thousand miles distance north, south, east and west. Assiniboins, Crows, and Blackfeet, all 

 know them well in their geography, and their summits are marked with their monumental stone 

 heaps, and retain the lodges where some war party has waited the favorable moments to pounce 

 upon the unguarded and isolated wanderer of the plain below. 



The descent to our camp was very rapid as rapid as the steep slopes would admit ; and before 



