MISSOURI RIVER FROM GREAT FALLS TO MOUTH OF MILK RIVER. 491 



We have passed six islands to-day; the two largest of them are known as &quot; Elk&quot; and &quot;Pretty 

 Horse&quot; islands. The latter was so called from its having been used by the Fur Company some 

 years ago as a range for their horses. Among a number of rapids passed to-day, the following 

 are the most important, viz: One opposite Pretty Horse island, depth two feet; one about five 

 miles below that, depth one foot eleven inches; one known as &quot;Kip s rapids,&quot; nearly two miles 

 above &quot;Citadel Rock,&quot; depth two feet one inch; and one about three-quarters of a mile above 

 camp, depth one foot eleven inches. At all these points the channel was very good. Distance 

 travelled to-day by water 21.3 miles. 



The 25th was cold, stormy, and windy, and we remained in camp all day. After breakfast I 

 went up to the bluffs to get a nearer view of some of those pillars of sand, with sandstone caps, 

 referred to in yesterday s journal. By climbing up a goat-path, which, by the way, was no easy 

 matter, I succeeded in getting on the top of one of the globes that rested on a short pillar, and in 

 passing from that to some of the others that were near it. All the balls in this clump were 

 nearly of the same size between six and eight feet in diameter ; and, as far as the eye could 

 detect, as perfectly round as if they had been turned. They had evidently at some remote period 

 formed part of a stratum of sandstone that runs through the adjacent bluffs and overlies a thick 

 stratum of partially cemented sand ; and having become detached from it by frost or otherwise, 

 had been shaped by the action of the weather. 



At the foot of the bluffs, and in the small runs that led down to the river, were traces of a 

 lignite, and in places* glauber salt had collected by efflorescence on the surface. During my 

 absence from the camp the men killed two more big-horns. Width of the river at this point, 

 1SOJ yards. 



September 26. This morning we selected the choicest portions of the three big-horns killed at 

 the camp, and stowed them away in the boat for future consumption; for the weather now had 

 become so cold that there was little danger of its spoiling for the present, and it was considered 

 decidedly preferable to bacon. The remainder we left for the wolves, who had prowled around 

 with great impatience for the last twenty- four hours for their share of the game. 



The high and precipitous sand and sandstone banks previously noticed, continued for a few 

 miles farther this morning, when they became entirely changed in character, receding farther 

 from the river and becoming less abrupt, and covered with a little vegetation. Long narrow 

 bottoms skirted the river on one or both sides, sprinkled with cotton-wood and covered with grass. 



About 11 o clock we passed the mouth of Arrow river, a small stream emptying into the Mis 

 souri on the south side. There is some timber here, though not much of a width of interval. 

 This is the point where the Fur Company established Fort Cotton after abandoning old Fort 

 McKey. There are scarcely any traces of the old stockade left now. 



About five miles lower down the river the bluffs become very high, and receding on both sides, 

 but much more regular and less broken on the south than on the north side of the river. There 

 are some traces of vegetation on the bluffs, but no wood except a scattering growth of small 

 stunted pines, which confine themselves entirely to the higher portions, and looked as if they 

 scratched together a livelihood with a great deal of difficulty up there. 



Soon after 4 o clock we camped in a fine, broad and well-wooded bottom, between the mouths 

 of the Judith and Dog rivers. The Judith is a small clear stream with a rocky bottom, rising in 



* A subsequent analyzation by Dr. A. A. Hayes, of Boston, of a small quantity collected, gave the following component parts : 



In 100 moisture 3.20 



Sulphate of lime 5.60 



Sulphate of alumina and iron 3.52 



Sulphate of soda..., 43.40 



Insoluble sand , , 44.00 



99.72 



