524 FROM BITTER ROOT VALLEY TO FLATHEAD LAKE AND KOOTENAY RIVER. 



we crossed the western fork of Tobacco creek, which we were compelled to swim. Our road 

 to-day was indescribably horrid fallen timber piled up for many feet, over which our animals had 

 to jump, innumerable mud-holes and quagmires, rocks, under-brush in a word, everything to 

 make our road miserable in the extreme, and endangering the lives of both men and animals. 

 Grass we found none, compelling us to travel a distance of forty miles; and even then we found a 

 very scanty fare for our animals, encamping at the edge of a pine thicket. We crossed to-day a 

 dividin^ ridge, which separates the waters of two branches of the Kootenay river. We found a 

 stream running to the southeast; which, towards our night s camp, bent more to the we;&amp;gt;t, and 

 which, our guides stated, emptied into the Kootenay nver. At the head of this stream we found 

 a very magnificent fall of sixty feet. The water flows through two high vertical walls of rock, 

 with an impetuous current dashing over rocks and precipices in one immense sheet of foam, the 

 noise of which we heard many miles distant. The scenery here is truly grand : the black, ver 

 tical walls extending for a long distance on the west, and several hundred feet high, their tops 

 covered with a dense growth of pine; while on the east, rocks and stones in wild confusion lay 

 piled up ibr many hundred feet, with this roaring and magnificent cataract occupying the inter 

 vening space, dashing wiih a headlong current until it joins the main branch, flowing gently 

 through a low and narrow valley. It serves to give life to this otherwise dreary and dismal 

 region, and partially repays the traveller for many of the vexatious annoyances that he is com 

 pelled to suffer while journeying through this most uninviting country. We found the soil along 

 the whole route to-day sterile in the extreme; no grass on the whole route, and nothing growing 

 in this immense pine desert, save the small running vine called by the Flathead Indians &quot;scole- 

 say,&quot; which they smoke, mixed with tobacco. The mountains on each side of us were high and 

 covered with a dense growth of pine, while on the summits of many of the higher peaks, snow 

 was still to be seen. 



April 29. The whole of this day s march lay over a succession of pine-clad mountain ridges, 

 with small patches of prairie intervening. The trail, leading through the timber, afforded a bad 

 road, although not as difficult as we have had for many days past. 



In nearly all of these prairies are beautiful lakes, most of them without outlets. The mount 

 ains forming belts or girdles, necessitate the case of the meltings of their snows being received in 

 these reservoirs at their base. Some of these basins are two or three miles long, and a mile or 

 more wide. At one of these lakes we found a Kootenay Indian fishing, who, on arriving at his 

 camp, presented us with a bag of most excellent fish, resembling very much the ordinary 

 &quot;sucker&quot; of the Eastern States. In one of these prairies we also found encamped a Kootenay 

 Indian, who, on our arriving at his camp at noon, insisted upon our halting and tarrying with him 

 until he should prepare dinner for us. We were much pleased with his noble generosity. We 

 had but little to recompense with, but I gave him in return a few loads of ammunition and my 

 leggins, at which he was much pleased. 



To-day we were compelled to travel a distance of thirty-six miles to reach good grass and 

 water for our animals. Camped on the Hot Spring creek, near its head. 



April 30. To-day we left the woods and reached once more the rolling prairie, which even our 

 animals appreciated, for they had suffered much while travelling through this immense pine forest, 

 with poor grass and necessarily long and fatiguing marches. The greater portion of our journey 

 lay to the left of the Hot Spring creek, which we crossed twice by a ford over a beautifully- 

 rolling prairie country. A few miles from our camp of last night the Hot Spring creek enters a 

 deep mountain and rocky canon, compelling us to keep along the edges of the mountain s summit. 

 Gaining the top of one of these prairie ridges, we had an excellent view of the country in every 

 direction. To the south of us lay a low rolling prairie, limited by the ridges of hills bounding 

 the Camash prairie to the east and northeast; to our right and left lay immense beds of pine- 

 clad mountains. Travelling a distance of thirty-two miles, we reached the Camash prairie, 

 passing on the road the camp of the Kootenay and Pend d Oreille Indians, the latter of whom 



