NARRATIVE OF 1853. 85 
blended insensibly with the rolling prairies rising from that river. On the approach to these 
high prairies from the valley the swelling outline assumes the appearance of a distant coast, 
which seems to rise in a direction parallel to the route of the traveller, and suggests the idea of 
a plateau or bench of table land beyond; hence the use of the word côteau. But this 
appearance has proved so frequently deceptive that only a thorough exploration can be relied 
upon. 
North of the plateau an admirable reconnoissance by Mr. Lander develops a low, marshy 
prairie, extending, with little variation of surface, to the head of Mouse river, beyond the 
forty-ninth parallel; returning from which river to Fort Union the plateau is found declining 
to a wide valley or coulée, connecting almost directly with the Missouri, in a southwest direc- 
tion, offering a good chance to turn the cóteau, in an engineering view, and becoming thus 
another important key-point on the railroad route. 
The plateau between the Missouri and Mouse rivers cannot be called simply a rolling prairie, 
though in detail resembling the hilly prairies noticed, although in a very exaggerated degree, 
having a general similarity of outlines, an absence of wood and rocks in place, boulders plentiful, 
ponds and marshes, if possible, more frequent; but the elevations are so much greater as to 
form considerable hills and ridges several hundred feet high, which become still more rugged on 
the approach to Fort Union, where they end abruptly on the level intervale of the Missouri. It 
is intersected by numerous water-courses, which are dry in summer, showing the same character 
of sandy and clayey soil in the bottoms, which is also seen in the rain-worn sections of the most 
elevated points. Vegetation is generally scanty on this plateau; grass is rank in the bottoms, 
but mostly thin and inferior for grazing; the prickly pear begins to appear, and a kind of wild 
turnip is found in comparative abundance, being the only useful production yet known, and the 
food of the wandering Indians, by whom it is regularly gathered. А : 
On his arfival at Fort Union Mr. Culberston despatched an express to Fort Benton with 
presents and tobacco to the chiefs of the Blackfeet nation, and the following message from me: 
“I desire to meet you on the way and to assure you of the fatherly care and beneficence of 
the government. I wish to meet the Blackfeet in a general council at Fort Benton. Do not 
make war upon your neighbors. Remain at peace, and the Great Father will see that you do 
not lose by it." | 
Mr. Culberston had informed me at St. Louis that for one entire year he was enabled to 
restrain the Blackfeet from making war upon their neighbors, and he believed that he could 
have done so still longer had they shared in the liberality of the government. But his efforts 
proved unavailing; for they said, in answer to his appeal, ‘‘ Why should we cease to make war? 
It is the only chance we have of receiving а portion of the goods and presents distributed 
among the Indians.’’ 
FORT UNION. 
Fort Union (see sketch) is situated on the eastern bank of the Missouri river, about 2$ miles 
above the mouth of the Yellowstone. It was built by the American Fur Company in 1830, and 
has from that time been the principal supply store or depot of that company. It is framed of 
pickets of hewn timber, about 16 feet high, and has two bastions, one at the northwest and one 
at the southeast corner. The front or main entrance is on the side opposite the river. This 
