528 FROM CANTONMENT STEVENS TO FORT DALLES. 



Benton, upon which examination 1 reported to you in April last. On my return to the valley 1 

 learned from Mr. Adams that the route, as then examined, was covered with snow to such a depth, 

 that he found it impracticable to travel with horses, and was compelled to return ; but he reported 

 that, so far as he examined the route, no obstructions existed to the passage of wagon trains, 

 and that it offered no difficulty whatever for a railroad route. On my return from Fort Benton I 

 had organized my party for an exploration to the north as far as the Kootenay river, of which, when 

 completed, I intended to make, myself, the exploration intrusted to Mr. Adams. I returned from 

 my trip to the Kootenay river on the 5th of May, and on the 21st of same month started to make 

 the examination across the Bitter Root range by the pass described by the Iroquois. Owing, 

 however, to the high water in the month of May, along the route I proposed to examine, I was 

 not enabled to travel directly across the mountains, but taking advantage of a trip of Father 

 Hocken, of the Jesuit mission, in the Pend d Oreille country, I thought it better to descend by the 

 Clark s fork of the Columbia, and to examine the route from the west, thus allowing sufficient 

 time for the water to subside, and in the end accomplish the same desired object. I travelled 

 with horses as far as the eastern end of the Pend d Oreille lake, when, owing to the high water 

 rendering travelling, especially the crossings of the streams, difficult, dangerous, and in some 

 places impracticable, I was compelled to leave my animals and take a canoe across the Pend 

 d Oreille lake, and down the Clark s fork as far as the Pend d Oreille mission. Arriving at that 

 point, I sent to Mr. Owen, at the Spokane prairie, for some horses belonging to the government 

 then in his charge, intending to complete the remainder of my journey on horseback. I deem it 

 unnecessary to refer here to the character of the lake on the Clark s fork, since a report on the 

 same has been made to you already by Dr. Suckley. I would therefore simply state, that we 

 found nearly all the tributaries to the Clark s fork from the north to be much swollen, and in fact 

 perfect mountain torrents, rendering their crossings exceedingly dangerous and difficult. The 

 Clark s fork was also much swollen, and flowing in places with an impetuous current. From the 

 Pend d Oreille mission I went lo Fort Colville to procure supplies for my party, whence 1 trav 

 elled to the Spokane river, thence up this river to its junction with the Cceur d Alene lake, thence 

 to the Cceur d Alene mission. 



Arriving at the mission, I interrogated the missionaries as to their knowledge of the character 

 of that region, and the feasibility of the same for the passage of trains of all kinds. They repre 

 sented that the usually travelled route to the Bitter Root district was the one that you had followed 

 in October, 1853 ; they mentioned, however, that there was another route only a few miles distant, 

 which, owing to much fallen timber, was not travelled, but which they thought to be the better 

 of the two. They spoke of a third route across the mountains, which from hearsay they thought 

 might prove the most practicable and the best of the three. The Indians, however, \vho knew 

 anything of this route were two days distant on the Wallah- Wallah road. I therefore deemed it 

 advisable to visit them and interrogate them as to the latter route. Having found them encamped 

 in the Camash prairie of the Cceur d Alene, I told them my object in the country, and that I de 

 sired to gain information in regard to this particular route. Some said that the route was very 

 difficult, leading over high and steep mountains ; while others declared it to be the reverse, and 

 offering no obstruction whatever to the full days march of the traveller. Others affirmed that it 

 was and had been their hunting-ground for years, which they did riot want disturbed, and, with 

 one accord, seemed unwilling to point out the route or show any friendly signs to have their 

 country explored, or willing disposition to have their country travelled over by the whites. They, 

 however, threw no direct impediment in my way ; but, on the contrary, one of them accompanied 

 me across the Bitter Root mountains. Finding I could not cross by this last-mentioned route, I 

 concluded to follow the second. I returned to the Coeur d Alene mission, which I left on the 19th 

 of June, and followed the most northern of the two streams forming the Cceur d Alene lake ; and 

 I have the honor to report that, except for a distance of twenty-five miles, I found the route to be 

 over the same ground that you travelled over in October, 1853. Instead of following the right- 



