THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 137 
As the train leaves Missoula, the traveler can obtain on the left 
(south) a good view of Lolo Peak, a high summit of the Bitterroot 
Range, which lies south of the Lolo trail that played so important a 
part in the early exploration of this country. He can not, however, 
see much of the Bitterroot Valley, for the view is obscured by some 
low hills on the south side of the river. 
The railway runs through a broad valley, with low, rolling hills on 
the right composed of Tertiary lake beds in which, near milepost 121, 
low-grade coal is being mined in a small way. The faint beach lines 
of glacial Lake Missoula, which are so prominent on the side of 
Mount Jumbo, can be followed with the eye along the north side of 
the valley for several miles. 
At De Smet, 7 miles west of Missoula, the road branches, one line 
turning to the left (west) and following Clark Fork to Paradise, with 
a branch across the mountains to the Coeur d’Alene 
De Smet. mining district, and the other, the old main line, 
yong sharply to the right and reaching Jocko 
cca ' Valley through the Coriacan Defile. This narrow 
pass is reported to have been an Indian highway and it takes its 
name from Chief Coriacan, of the Flatheads, who was surprised and 
killed here by the savage Blackfeet. 
The railway winds around the hills, through cuts in the Tertiary 
lake beds, and passes over the Marent viaduct, which has a height 
of 226 feet. It continues up through a narrow gulch 
Eyare. in the Belt series until finally it reaches a broad flat 
Elevation 3,971 feet. gt Evaro, near the summit of the ridge. This place 
St. Paul 205 miles vas formerly on the boundary of the Flathead Indian 
Reservation. A few years ago each Indian was allotted a certain 
amount of land, and the remainder of the reservation was thrown 
open to settlement. On this summit and in the descent on the 
farther side the road runs through the pine forest that formerly 
covered much of the country, but it soon emerges into the broad, 
flat Jocko Valley, in which there are some fairly good farms. At 
milepost 16 an excellent distant view can be obtained of the terminal 
moraine which once marked the extremity of a small glacier that 
descended from the canyon in the range to the right. The plan of 
the moraine can not be seen from the train, but close inspection 
would show that the ridge of rocky fragments comes down from the 
canyon wall on one side and loops around and unites with the wall 
on the opposite side of the creek. As can be seen from the train, 
the moraine is built up to a height of about 100 feet. The mountains 
on the right (east), though not so high as the Mission Range, which 
can be seen farther on, are steep and rugged, towering above the 
valley to the height of several thousand feet. 
