Hunting at High Altitudes 



Dakota. In the following year the same boat reached 

 Fort Union above the mouth of the Yellowstone River. 

 The Assiniboine followed in 1833, and the latter boat 

 in 1834 and 1835 reached Poplar Creek, sixty miles 

 higher up. In 1850 the mouth of Milk River was 

 reached. In 1858 the Chippewa was built with special 

 reference to the difficulties of upper river navigation. 

 She was a sternwheel boat of light draught, and with 

 her it was resolved to make a thorough trial of the ex- 

 treme upper river. The attempt was successful. The 

 boat reached Fort Brule, twelve miles below Benton, 

 on the 1 7th of July, 1859, forty years and three months 

 after the first steamboat entered the mouth of the 

 Missouri. On July 2, 1860, the Chippewa arrived at 

 Fort Benton, followed a few hours later by the Spread 

 Eagle. In July, 1868, the Tom Stevens, taking ad- 

 vantage of high water, ascended the river to the 

 mouth of Belt Creek, marking the highest point 

 reached by any steamboat, and unquestionably the 

 most distant point from the sea which a large vessel 

 has ever yet been able to reach by a continuous water 

 course. This point lacks but a few miles of being 

 four thousand miles by river from the Gulf of Mexico, 

 and it has been reached by a single river unaided by 

 artificial improvements." 



After steamboat travel on the Missouri had been 

 fully established and become commonplace, the boats 

 pushed as far up the river as they could. Many of 

 them which took advantage of the June rise reached 

 Benton, while others might be forced to stop at Cow 

 Island; or, if the water was low, at Carroll. From 

 the point where the cargo was landed, it was im- 



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