CHAPTER VI. 
FORT BENTON TO BITTER ROOT RIVER. 
THE PARTY LEAVES FORT BENTON.—TETON VALLEY.—ANTELOPES.—PRAIRIE LAKE.—SUN RIVER.—CLAIMS OF THE PEND 
'OREILLES.—SUN RIVER VALLEY.—OLD BLACKFOOT CAMP.—BEAVER CREEK —GOOSE’S NECK IN VIEW.—FLATHEAD 
TRAIL —BLACKFOOT TRAIL.—DEARBORN cue eiiis RIDGE.—BEAUTIFUL SCENERY.—THE DIVIDE PRACTICABLE 
FOR WAGONS.—BLACKFOOT RIVER VALLEY —RICH GOLD MINE REPORTED BY THE INDIANS.—THE CANON —BLACK BEAR 
AND CUBS —HELL-GATE VALLEY.—TRAVELLER'S tum CREEK.—ForT OWEN —Mn. LANDER KILLS A GRIZZLY BEAR.— 
TRAIN LEFT BY LIEUTENANT SAXTON.—ARRANGEMENTS TO MOVE.—LIEUTENANT DONELSON ARRIVES WITH THE MAIN 
PARTY.—LIEUTENANT MULLAN, WITH A FLATHEAD DELEGATION, ARRIVES.—HIs TRIP.—LEAVES FORT BENTON.—FORDS 
THE MISSOURI.—GIRDLE MOUNTAINS —ARROW AND JUDITH RIVERS.—PLATEAU BETWEEN GIRDLE AND JUDITH MOUN- 
— MUSCLE SHELL.—FLATHEAD CAMP.—FRIENDLY RECEPTION.— UPPER WATERS OF THE MISSOURI.— 
с RIDGE оғ THE Rocky MouNTAINS.—LiTTLE BLACKFOOT VALLEY —THE BLACKFOOT AND HELL-GATE 
iei б BETWEEN GOVERNOR STEVENS AND FLATHEAD DELEGATION.—LIEUTENANT DONELSON, WITH 
MAIN PARTY, FOLLOWS LIEUTENANT SAXTON'S ROUTE.—VISIT TO VICTOR'S CAMP —ARRIVAL OF MR. TINKHAM AND 
LIEUTENANT MULLAN.—MR. TINKHAM'S ACCOUNT.—CLARK’S FORT.—JOCKO RIVER VALLEY —MEETS LIEUTENANT 
SON —FLATHEAD FonT.—Mn. TINKHAM SENT AGAIN ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS.—INSTRUCTIONS DESPATCHED TO 
LIEUTENANT DONELSON AND Мв. DoTY.—VICTOR, THE FLATHEAD CHIEF.—CHARACTER OF ROUTE FROM JOCKO TO 
Bic BLACKFOOT 
The whole party moved off at nine o'clock, continuing for some distance up the valley of the 
Teton, when we ascended a hill to the prairie, and in 21 miles reached a coulée, where there 
were springs of water sufficient for our animals. Large bands of antelopes were seen on the 
road. We siruck the Prairie Lake at 5 p. m. The water of the lake is excellent, but there is 
no wood. Our guide, the voyageur Baptiste Champaign, took us to the nearest point of Sun 
river, hoping to get in before dark; but we did not reach camp till some time after. Over 
the route to-day the grass was uniformly good, and much of the land arable. "There is a 
somewhat steep descent to the valley of Sun river. We found near our camp an excellent 
spring of water; and the water of the Sun river itself is exceedingly transparent and pure. I 
have travelled over this plateau between the Teton and Sun rivers on two other lines, and the 
view at almost any point of the plateau is exceedingly picturesque and suggestive. Whilst the 
eastern slope of the maia chain from the Rocky mountains, so far as we were able to observe it 
in our day's journey, has but little wood, there are large quantities of timber on the chains and 
mountains south of the Missouri, in the Bear's Paw and on the Three Buttes. The various 
minor upheavals and swales of ground, which here and there dot the surface of the country, 
have connected with them some story of Indian war, wrong or suffering. "This whole country 
was once occupied by the Snakes, and, in later limes, by some of the tribes of the Flathead 
nation. It belongs now to the Blackfeet by conquest, as was stated in open council at Fort 
Benton, in 1855, by the Pend d'Oreille chief, Alexander, who claimed it as the land of his 
fathers. 
September 23.— Moved up the valley of the Sun river, having made an early start this morn- 
ing. The Sun has a wide open valley; grazing exceedingly good, and the soil excellent. One 
of our Indian guides now left us and returned to Fort Benton. 
In 16 miles crossed Sun river, near the point where it had been crossed by Lieutenant Don- 
elson, who had preceded us. We continued up in the direction of the pass between the Crown 
