112 NARRATIVE OF 1853. 
abundant growth, the favorite sustenance of numerous elk, antelopes, black-tailed deer, big- 
horn sheep, and hares, all of which were seen more numerous than in the lower country. 
Wild cherries and gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries abounded. From 
the summit the view is highly illustrative of the surrounding country, embracing every promi- 
nent object within a hundred miles. On the north, about ninety miles distant, stands Cypress 
mountain* far above the 49th parallel; on the east and northeast interminable prairies; on the 
southeast the Bear's Paw range; on the south various detached ranges beyond the Missouri, 
and westward about ninety miles is seen the dividing ridge of the Rocky mountains, which 
forms the boundary of the prairie in that direction. The intervening regions present but few 
objects to arrest the eye; they are intersected by the various rivers and their branches, which 
are hidden, even with their edging of trees, in the deep valleys common to them all. 
The interesting characteristics of these buttes apply equally to all the high ranges near the 
Missouri and Yellowstone as far as they have been explored. While southward they present 
insuperable obstacles to the direct passage of a railroad westward, thus making the valley of 
the Missouri indispensable as a route; they, at the same time, by their vicinity to its branches, 
form inexhaustible sources of supply of excellent timber, and ameliorate the climate around 
them by increasing the precipitation of rain, which supplies the numerous rivers of this still 
almost unknown country. 
Near the Three Buttes both Mr. Stanley and Mr. Tinkham also found beds of lignite, or coal 
from three to six feet thick, and of large extent, promising another valuable material for fuel 
just where it is most needed, near the navigable waters of the Missouri. 
On the morning of September 6, after a fall of rain at their bases, Mr. Tinkham found their 
peaks glittering with a pure white covering of snow, which stretched far down their slopes, 
and contrasted brilliantly with their dark masses of evergreen growth. 
On the Tth, passing between the two peaks which constitute the third butte, he struck across 
the plains towards Marias river, and did not reach it until the evening of the next day, the 
distance being thirty miles, over dry rolling prairie, parched, and without water, except that 
which was standing in pools, left by the recent rain. Dry beds of streams were crossed at 
intervals, showing that at some seasons the rains must be abundant. 
Marias river, (see sketch,) which he crossed about seventy miles from its mouth, there flows 
in a channel two or three hundred feet below the prairie level, and is tolerably well wooded. 
The water was at that time one hundred and fifty feet wide and two to four feet deep, slightly . 
milky, with a swift current and pebbly bottom. The valley is frequently crossed by coulées. 
It resembles the Missouri in its character of interval and high, steep bluffs, where the main 
train crossed it at its mouth, and is reported by competent judges to be capable of improvement, 
so as to be navigable by light steamers for fifty miles. 
About eight miles further, in the same direction, he reached the Trunk, a box-like elevation, 
not very high, but affording a good view of the Rocky mountains. 
There he changed his course southeastward, toward Fort Benton, and reached it in a day and 
a half, the distance being about seventy-five miles by the circuitous route he followed. The 
country continued prairie, destitute of wood, and with little water except in the streams, which 
occurred at long intervals, most of the smaller ones being dried up. 
Forty-two miles gontheest of the Trunk is the Knee, another square, detached hill, about half 
a mile wide, and 1 g like a fortress, being кшмше at only a few и. It is five miles 
° A small short-leaved pine, (P. Banksiana,) is called cypréss by the eu G. C. 
