490 MISSOURI RIVER FROM GREAT FALLS TO MOUTH OF MILK RIVER. 



has been the same as yesterday, except at some points they have fallen back with a gradual 

 slope to the general prairie-level, giving us an occasional view of the conical caps of the Bear s 

 Paw and Highwood mountains. 



Antelope are numerous upon the banks, but they are wild and seem to appreciate the necessity 

 of keeping out of gun-shot. A few ducks also have been started, upon turning the river bends. 



It has been very windy and somewhat cloudy all day, and to-night the air is cool and feels 

 like rain. The remarks of yesterday regarding the regimen of the river will apply equally well 

 to-day, except that there is to-day, universally, a little more water on the rapids. The shallowest 

 ones are as follows, viz: One opposite the head of Spanish island, depth of water two feet; one 

 about a mile higher up, depth same; one about three miles above camp, depth same; and one 

 three miles above that, depth two feet two inches. At all these points the channel is good. 



About 3 o clock we camped on the south side of the river. Its width at this point is 247 

 yards; and thus far it has varied between 175 and 260 yards. As we have been unable to kill 

 any game to-day, we picked the remaining bones of the beaver for supper. Distance travelled 

 by water 18 miles. 



September 24. The wind continued high and irregular all last night, but at sunrise it abated; 

 and though at times the sky was partially overcast, the morning, on the whole, was bright and 

 genial. Such a morning was well in keeping with the beautiful scenery with which we were 

 soon surrounded. Upon leaving camp we floated gently down the stream in long sweeping 

 curves, and passed several beautiful islands partially covered with a scattering cotton-wood 

 growth, with now and then an old inhabitant, whose barkless trunk and broken limbs marked the 

 effects of spring freshets. 



About 10 o clock we commenced to wind among the bluffs of the Bear s Paw, and the scenery 

 assumed an entirely new phase: the bluffs were now more abrupt and crowded the river; col 

 onnades and odd-detached pillars of partially cemented sand, capped with huge globes of light- 

 brownish sandstone, tower up from their steep sides to the height of a hundred feet or more 

 above the water. Then the action of the weather upon the bluffs in the back-ground has worn 

 them into a thousand grotesque forms ; while lower down their faces, seams of volcanic rock from 

 three to six feet thick, with a dip nearly vertical and no uniform strike, beaten and cracked by 

 the weather, rising from six to eight feet above the surface, run up and down the steep faces and 

 projecting shoulders of the cliffs a most perfect imitation of dry-stone walls. Taking all this 

 into view, it requires but a little distance and imagination to establish a pretty clear case of 

 &quot;old ruins.&quot; 



About noon we stopped to lunch at the base of what is called &quot;Citadel Rock,&quot; a vertical 

 shaft of volcanic rock rising about two hundred feet above the water s edge, and standing upon 

 a base of about forty feet square. There are many cavities in its faces large enough to hold a 

 good-sized apple, which are sometimes lined with crystals of carbonate of lime. I split off the 

 top of a pretty large and nearly transparent one, which I took away as a specimen. 



About 4 o clock we camped on a narrow bottom on the north side of the river. While the 

 men sat about building a fire, I followed a path down the stream a short distance to take a look 

 round the next bend, but had not walked over two hundred yards when, chancing to look towards 

 the bluffs, I saw a fine big-horn buck, walking with a very dignified mien down a narrow path that 

 led to the river, evidently in quest of water. By quickly retracing my steps I escaped his obser 

 vation, and sent out one of the men, who was an excellent hunter, in pursuit of him. With two 

 shots he succeeded in bringing him down, and we soon had his spare-rib roasting on a stick 

 before the fire. The flesh of the big-horn is very sweet and juicy, and somewhat like antelope 

 in its flavor. 



Soon after camping a heavy wind arose, accompanied with clouds and rain, and such evident 

 appearances of a stormy night, that we pitched a tent which we had taken along for such 

 occasions. 



