98 ` NARRATIVE ОҒ 1853. 
no doubt, from my own personal observation, that ample supplies of water would, in the driest 
season, be afforded by Milk river for the largest emigration, or for the largest business of a 
double track railroad. 
I felt some apprehension in relation to the safety of Messrs. Lander, Grover, and Stanley, as 
they did not reach camp to-night. І will here state that, before leaving the main party at the - 
Gros Ventres’ camp, verbal instructions were given to Lieutenant Donelson to detach Mr. 
Tinkham, on his reaching the point of departure from Milk river, to make an examination of 
the Three Buttes, and of the country generally between the Milk river and the Marias. 
August 31.—We made an early start this morning, moving off first with the wagons, and 
leaving the pack animals behind for an hour to feed. We had a shower, accompanied by light- 
ning, before sunrise; crossed several coulées in the course of the morning, and in twelve miles 
came up to the upper waters of the Box Elder creek, which is a clear, limped stream, affording 
an unfailing supply of water. We then pushed on some five miles, over a fine rolling prairie, 
to а coulée in the hills, where there was a spring; and here we halted to dine. This spring is . 
a great resort for buffalo. Considerable water flows from it, but the ordure of the buffalo was 
in such great quantities about it that it infected the water, and, moreover, they had trampled 
all the ground, and had stirred up the water of the spring with their feet. We, however, 
thought it would do well enough for us to make coffee, and we accordingly managed to get up 
a very respectable meal. After stopping three hours we continued on over a very good road. 
There was a shower of rain and hail about 4 p. m. At 5, the Missouri was in sight, the Belt 
mountains looming up beyond it, at a distance of not less than fifty miles. After a march of 53 
miles from our morning camp, we came to a place called the Springs; here the water was dried | 
up, and there was no wood, but very excellent grass. We pitched our camp in a coulée 
surrounded by high bluffs, and went to work to dig wells for water, in hopes to procure some 
for our animals. We succeeded in getting only a small quantity for each. There was a very 
high wind and a heavy thunder shower until near midnight. Most of us had to go to bed 
without our suppers. Our Indian friends assisted us very much in the night in looking out for 
our animals. Grover, Stanley, and Lander have not come in, which gives me a good deal of 
apprehension. The Running Fisher told me a story to day, illustrating one of the phases of 
Indian life. Тһе Bear's Paw, as one would infer from its wild and stern appearance, has been 
a scene of Indian fight and massacre. Seven years ago a fight occurred in the Bear's Paw 
between their tribe, allied with the Blackfeet, and the Crows, in which he killed one of the 
latter tribe. The Crows occupied an impregnable post, from whence they could shoot down 
all who approached within twenty paces. A Blackfoot was shot in the head through a fissure 
in the rocks. The Gros Ventres then determined to surround and starve them out; at night 
the Crows got off with the loss of one man, killed by Running Fisher. 
September 1.—This morning we made an early start, and crossing over a high rolling prairie, 
in 11% miles came to the Marias river. The descent to this river on the trail is somewhat 
steep, the prairie plateau being some two hundred and odd feet above the river bottom. The 
river itself here presents a beautiful view. It is a clear, limped stream, flowing over а pebbly 
and sandy bed, the bottoms lined with cottonwood of heavy growth, with thickets of the 
service and other berries. The Belt mountains are very distinctly visible in the distance, as is 
also Citadel Hill, called so because its base rests upon the Missouri, and it rises perpendicu- 
larly like a bastion, some two hundred feet high. Near by is Square Hill, so called from its 
