INDIAN TRIBES OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 44T 



42. REPORT OF MR. j. M. STANLEY S VISIT TO THE PIEGAN CAMP, AT THE CYPRESS MOUNTAIN. 



WASHINGTON CITY, January 19, 1854. 



SIR: In accordance with your verbal instructions to proceed to the Cypress mountain in search 

 of the Piegan band of Blackfeet and bring them into council at Fort Benton, I have the honor 

 respectfully to submit the following report : 



From the point of your return near the Marias river to Fort Benton, September 11, 1853, I 

 proceeded with three voyageurs and an interpreter of the American Fur Company, under the 

 guidance of &quot; Little Dog,&quot; one of the chiefs of the Piegan band. Our course was north 20 west 

 over an elevated plain, gradually ascending to the base of the &quot; Three Buttes&quot; a distance of 

 thirty-five miles from our encampment on the Marias river. 



The &quot;Three Buttes&quot; are of conical shape, rising about 3,000 feet above the Coteau, covering 

 an area of fifteen miles square, serving as a prominent landmark to the prairie voyageur. 



They are pretty well covered with pine timber, and from their base spring several small 

 streams, flowing west into the Marias and east into Milk river. We found the grass luxuriant, 

 and, in many places, in all the freshness of spring. It is the favorite fall pasture of the buffalo, 

 elk, and other game, which we saw in numerous herds. 



Continuing our course, September 12th, we cross the base of the Three Buttes on to Milk 

 river a distance of thirty miles. The country, gradually ascending to the north, was much 

 broken with deep coulees running to the eastward into Milk river. On the heads of these coulees 

 we found clear running water ; but as we advanced, crossing them at a greater distance from 

 the Buttes, found only occasional pools. In one of these ravines, twelve miles from the Buttes, I 

 saw a stratum of coal, three feet thick, running one-fourth of a mile, with a slight dip to the east. 



Buffalo, elk, deer, and antelope are abundant. Arrive at Milk river early in the afternoon. 

 Nature is here exhibited in a wonderful manner, and I paused to take a glance at the magnificent 

 scene from the top of a castelated butte running two hundred feet above the river. A succession 

 of conical and table-hills, composed of different-colored clays in horizontal strata jutting into the 

 valley, presented the appearance of an irregular street in a quaint old city. 



At this point the valley is one mile in breadth, studded with cotton-wood groves and under 

 growth. Here we found three lodges of Piegans belonging to &quot;Lame Bull s&quot; band, and from 

 whom I learned the Piegans had divided their camp. Lame Bull, with one hundred lodges, had, 

 seven days before my arrival, descended the river, with the expectation of meeting you at the 

 crossing to Fort Benton ; and that &quot; Low Horn,&quot; with his band, had gone north to the Cypress 

 mountain. 



After explaining the object of my visit to their country, I made them presents of ammunition 

 and tobacco, for which they were very grateful, giving me fresh and dried meat in return. Be 

 lieving Lame Bull would fall upon your trail and proceed to Fort Benton, I determined to follow 

 Low Horn to the Cypress mountain, and thus secure a council with the two principal bands of 

 Piegans. 



September 13. I was detained until 9 o clock, in consequence of the straying of some of my 

 mules. They were found and brought into my camp by the Indians. Ascending a deep coulde 

 to the north, we find a gradual ascent to the Coteau ; cross a high divide, covered with hillocks, 

 a distance of twelve miles, to a dry river bed; valley two miles wide, covered with a thick 

 growth of wild sage. This valley, during the spring, evidently drains a large tract of country, 

 and is also the outlet of a lake, eighteen miles long by five broad, called Pakokee, or Bad Water. 

 Heading northwest of trail, saw several gangs of buffalo, one of which was killed by &quot; Little 

 Dog.&quot; Crossing a broken rocky ridge, nine miles, we fell upon another dry bed of river, which 

 we ascended five miles, it terminating in a deep ravine, with scattering cotton-wood, elm, wild 

 cherry, and thorn-apple. We halted near an old Indian fort, made of logs and sticks. The 



