[im] 170 
miles, appearing smooth and rather low ; but at intervals higher peaks look 
out from beyond, and indicate that the main ridge, which we are leaving 
with the course of the river, and which forms the northern boundary of 
_ the Great Basin, still maintains its elevation.. About 2 o’clock we ar- 
rived at the ford where the road erosses to the right bank of Snake river. 
An Indian was hired to conduct us through the ford, which proved imprac- 
ticable for us, the water sweeping away the howitzer and nearly drowning 
the mules, which we were obliged to extricate by cutting them out of the 
harness. The-river here is expanded into a little bay, in which there are 
two islands, across which is the road of the ford ; and the emigrants had 
passed by placing two of their heavy wagons abreast of each other, so as 
to oppose a considerable mass against the body of water. The Indians 
informed us that one of the men, in attempting to turn some cattle which 
Ahad taken a wrong direction, was carried off by the current and drowned. 
Since their passage, the water had risen considerably ; but, fortunately, we 
had a resource in a boat, which was filled with air and launched; and 
at seven o’clock we were safely encamped on the Opposite bank, the animals 
‘ Swimming across, and the carriage, howitzer, and baggage of the camp, 
being carried over in the boat. At the place where we crossed, above the 
islands, the river had narrowed to a breadth of 1,049 feet by measurement, 
the greater portion of which was from six to eight feet deep. We were 
obliged to make our camp where we landed, among the Indian lodges, 
which are semicircular huts made of willow, thatched over with straw, 
and open tothe sunny south. By observation, the latitude of our encamp- 
ment on the right bank of the river was 42° 55’ 58": chronometric longi- 
tude 115° 04’ 46", and the travelled distance from Fort Hall 208 miles, 
October 4—Calm pleasant day, with the thermometer at sunrise at 47°. 
Leaving the river at a considerable distance to the left, and following up 
the bed of a rocky creek, with occasional holes of water, in about six miles 
we ascended, by a long and rather steep hill, to a plain 600 feet above the 
river, over which we continued to travel during the day, having a broken 
ridge 2,000 or 3,000 feet high on the right. The plain terminates, where 
we ascended, in an escarpment of vesicular trap rock, which supplies the 
fragments of the creek below. The sky clouded over, with a strong wind 
_ from the northwest, with a few drops of rain and occasional sunlight, threat- 
ening a change. 
Artemisia still coversthe plain, but Purshia tridentata makes its appear- 
ance here on the hill sides and on bottoms of the creeks—quite a tree in 
size, and larger than the artemisia. We crossed several hollows with a 
‘ile water in them, and improved grass ; and, turning off from the road in 
e afternoon in search of water, travelled about three miles up the bed of 
a willow creek, towards the mountain, and found a good encampment, with 
wood and grass, and little ponds of water in the bed of the creek ; which 
must be qf more importance at other seasons, as we found there several 
old fixtures for fishing. There were many holes on the creek prairie, 
which had been made by the diggers in search of roots. 
Wind increased to a violent gale from the NW., with a temperature at 
sunset of 57, ° |. 
- October 5.—The morning was calm and clear, and at sunrise the ther- 
mometer was at 32°. The road to-day was occasionally extremely rocky, 
with hard volcanic frag ments, and our travelling very slow. In about nine 
mile s the road brought us to a group of smoking hot springs, with a tem- 
