some time previously seen nothing but the sterile country fakes 
an F ebundines of fis a nd swarms of beaver live ee their banks. 
They are skirted with excellent timber of ash, oak, elm, and box- elder, 
and the level plains are covered with a fine carp et of grass which, in 
spring and early summer, is enamelled with my rind of flowers of the 
richest hues. On the 9th of March, 1855, I ascended Bear Butte, and 
on the south side, six hundred feet cheine: the level prairie, | found a 
beautiful ry erin ees just putting forth its blossom. The 
Indians call it the navel flower, for they say that when it blooms 
young spring is ee = At that time the grass was springing up quite 
green, and herds of antelopes were quietly reposing upon the sunny 
sides of streams, like flocks of sheep. This is a portion of the —_ 
similar to White river valley, well adapted for grazing purposes, and 
capable of sustaining a tolerably dense population. The Biath, Hills 
which astm in the distance, and derive their name from their dark 
appearance, contain an inexhaustible quantity of the 
finest ier, mostly pine, which will doubtless remain undisturbed 
for many ye ars to come. I will, however, propose a plan for obtaining 
this timber, and render it useful to future settlers, though I do it with 
some hesitation, lest it may seem visionary. The left fork of the 
Shyenne passes through the northern portion of the Black Hills, and 
even there is a considerable stream, from thirty to fifty yards wide. 
In the spring the river is much swollen, and the current exceedingly 
rapid, and the timber, if cut and hauled to the banks of the river, might 
be floated down into the Missouri with considerable safety and ease. 
resources are concerned. In the bottoms, however, the traders and 
Indians raise very good vegetables. At Fort Union the traders have 
met with very good success some seasons, but usually noe or early 
frosts destroy their labors. Three tribes of Indians on the Missouri 
are somewhat of an agricultural people. The Minssthante at Fort 
Berthold raised, in 18 854, t wo thousand bushels of corn and beans, 
pumpkins in proportion. The Mandans, sixty miles below, one thou- 
sand five hundred bushels, and the Aricarees, at Fort Clark, four thou- 
sand bushels. The drought and early frost ‘of 1855 nearly destroyed 
their crops, which, in the month of June, looked quite promising. 
At Fort Pierre, also, the river bottoms and islands are cultivated with 
some success, perhaps as much so as many of our Atlantic States. 
cemetery. ‘The weather was bsieseesd and sun shining sR Most 
of the 1 usual spring’ birds er courses 
