42 NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



assertion very probable. Above Yellow Stone it has a fall 

 of 362 feet in 17 miles : the upper fall is 90 feet. The 

 tributaries are almost innumerable. The most considerable 

 in length and width is the Platte, but it is too shallow for 

 navigation. 



The bottoms of this river are higher than the Missisippi, 

 and rather narrower. 



The distance from the mouth of the Missouri to the 

 mouth of the Osage is 135 miles : to Kansas River 382 — 

 Nishnabatona 540 — Platte or Nebraska 618 — Council Bluffs 

 676 — Sioux River about 860 — James River about 950 — 

 Poncah or Niobrarah River 1018 — Fort Pierre Chouteau 

 1256. These distances, given by Nicollet (except the Sioux 

 and James), are the results of measurements made by him. 

 To the Yellow Stone the distance is said by Flint to be 1880 

 miles, the whole of which distance is navigable ; from the 

 mouth to the Gulf of Mexico is 1400, making in the whole 

 a navigation of about 3300 miles from the Yellow Stone to 

 the Gulf. 



" On reaching the Coteau du Missouri, there are no fur- 

 ther apparent traces of the cretaceous formation. It is a 

 rolling prairie, the soil partly covered by a short, sweet- 

 scented, and grateful verdure. An inspection of the gulleys 

 shows that the basis of this soil is the erratic deposit previ- 

 ously described. The siliceous particles of the soil are 

 blackened by the smoke of the vernal and autumnal fires 

 of the prairies ; and, as the growth is too scant to prevent 

 the dust from being raised by the almost incessant winds 

 that blow over them, the traveller is very much inconveni- 

 enced. There are no springs to quench the thirst ; and it 

 is only at wide distances apart that small pools are met 

 with, bordered by aquatic plants, tow^ards w^hich the experi- 

 ence of his guide is necessary to bring him to his bivouac, 



