244 NAVIGABILITY OF THE MISSOURI. 



water of this stream had a deep muddy color, like that of the Missouri. It was about four hun 

 dred yards \vide at its mouth, but this contained a large sand-bar. I was informed that the Yel 

 lowstone might be navigable for two hundred miles to nipids, these being susceptible of improve 

 ment, and beyond which no obstruction would occur for a considerable distance. If this were 

 found by future examination to be correct, that river might become the means of communication, 

 by steamboats, with a large area of country; more particularly if it be supposed that favorable 

 routes exist from the head of that navigation to Fort Laramie, Fort Hall, and the Salt lake, and 

 to the valley of the Bitter Root river. 



A short distance below Fort Union the Missouri appeared, so to speak, entirely choked by 

 sand-bars. For two or three hours the channel could not be found. But finally we proceeded 

 by a narrow and deep slough, between a sand-bar and the left bank. We reached Fort Union 

 at about seven p. m. 



The fourth was employed in unloading the boat of such freight as was not to go to Fort Benton. 

 Her draught above Fort Union was about two feet. The Fur Company has a farm about eight 

 miles below this post. Not much success has attended the attempts at cultivation. The grass 

 hoppers are a source of much injury to the crops. On the morning of the fifth we proceeded, 

 with the intention of going as far as the mouth of Milk river. I left all the party at Fort Union 

 except Sergeant Collins and private Wilson, of the sappers. The river was averaged about two 

 hundred yards wide, and was not unfavorable for navigation. The channel was about seven feet 

 deep, the river being nearly six feet below high-water mark. The current was not very rapid. 

 The Missouri generally flowed through a narrow bottom, with bare, rugged, clay bluffs on each 

 side. 



I would remark here that, during our ascent to Fort Clark, the river was generally rising at the 

 rate of from two to seven inches during a night. 



At one point above Fort Union I noticed that the soil was rich, and somewhat resembled that 

 in the State of Missouri. Some idea may be formed of the retentive nature of the soil above that 

 post from the statement of the following fact: Directly after a profuse rain, and when the rivulets 

 were swollen, the rain-water was, for some distance, observed falling from the bank into the river 

 in an unbroken sheet. 



On the sixth we passed, in the afternoon, the mouth of the Poplar, a clear stream about sixty 

 yards wide at its mouth. Just opposite was the dry bed of a stream about eighty yards wide, and 

 now called &quot; Little Dry&quot; creek. It was, I believe, named by Lewis and Clark &quot;Two Thousand 

 Miles&quot; creek. Several extensive prairies are seen in this vicinity, particularly on the right bank, 

 which produced nothing but wild sage. 



About seven miles above the mouth of the Poplar, there were encountered difficulties from 

 sand-bars similar to those met with at Fort Union. I think they could have been overcome. But 

 the managers of the boat thought best to return from this point. They accordingly had carried 

 ashore the Fort Benton freight, which was to be conveyed to that post by cordelling a large keel- 

 boat. We returned to Fort Union on the ninth. No material obstructions were met with in our 

 descent. The steamboat travelled with nearly three times the speed she did when ascending. 



We had an opportunity of verifying the survey of this portion of the river. It was found that 

 the courses and features of the country were pretty accurately laid down, while the estimates of 

 distances were somewhat erroneous. Wood appeared to be more abundant from Fort Berthold 

 to the mouth of the Poplar than on any part of the river above the mouth of the Platte. I noted 

 several different kinds of cotton-wood and willow. In travelling over so extensive a region from 

 south to north, it was to be expected that changes would take place in the growth. I believe 

 most of the trees which grow in southern latitudes disappear from the banks of the river south of 

 the northern boundary of Missouri. The last sycamores to be seen in ascending were, I was 

 informed, at the first bend above the &quot; Mormon Winter Quarters.&quot; In high water, the greater 

 part of the banks of the Missouri may be thus described : They are from two to twenty feet high, 



