26 EXPLORATION OF THE COUNTRY BETWEEN 
Distance from 
Fort Pierre. 
ere route through the = Hills, —— none of 
the party had ever been this 
August 1b. —Travelled over oliig: ine hills ten to forty feet 
high, increasing in height and abruptness as we advanced ; 
clothed with grass and interspersed with sedgy lakes, 
having inn bottoms, in some of which are small fis h. 
There is no wooc mall willows, dry roots of the sand 
cherry, and wild rose, = i. buffalo chips’ furnished fuel 
in’ small quantities. Can camp almost anywhere near 
the small ponds. Saw 2a buffalo bulls, and —e 
were thick. Days march 273 miles. 
dag 17.—Winding among the sand hills, ehick frequently 
forced us quite ‘out of our course, and beginning to fee 
some anxiety as to what we were coming to, we enadenls 
— from them into the maey of Calamus en = 
This - aanaeel to te, a iiaooks of Loup Fork of the Platt 
ts valley is 14 miles wide, the stream. about yards 
widla, water clear, 1 to 3 feet deep, immediate ect seenk 
4 feet high, easily forded ; no wood exists where we crossed, 
e 
as seen about 5 miles further down ; grass 
luxuriant; travelled on and camped at a small pond i in the 
sand hills ; ae sand hills to-day very bad ; 4 miles - 
Au. 18.—After winding through and over very bad san 
hills for 12 miles, we suddenly issued from them into the 
broad valley of a stream, which was supposed to be a 
branch of = oup Fork. Travelling didiagiates across the 
valley we reached the river, which, in the absence of any” 
10 | 
known name, was called Warren’s fork. Fourteen and 
miles — 
a half 
This is scieat running stream, 150 paca site; spread ently 
The stream does not, sa exiviioi its rior which 
: are now 3 to 4 feet above the water. Continuing our 
Pawnee, Loup, or Wolf a a nasil of the Platte, is here 
220 wide, a out. over its whole bed, and 
whee more than 3 feet deep. The water is clear and ihe 
+> 
and lined with medium sized cottonwood trees and willow. 
senor: pees some dry ed, but steep ravines, we’ 
the immediate banks about 4 to 8 feet high, : 
1324 
