NARRATIVE OF 1853. 175 
snow. This, on the summit, lay only a foot deep, and continued at the same level all the way 
across. 
This was the commencement of the cold snow storm which overtook Lieutenant Mullan in 
Deer Lodge prairie. This snow, which was much less in depth on the east than on the west 
side of the mountains, melted off entirely before he reached Dearborn river, where another 
snow storm, on January 11, enabled him to reach Cadotte’s Pass without difficulty, except 
from the piercing westerly winds increasing to a gale towards the foot of the dividing ridge. 
It would appear that the prevailing high winds which blow through this pass are from the 
west; for, of the many thousand of dead pines that had been prostrated by them, not one did 
he see that was broken in any other direction than toward the east. 
The snow there was eight inches deep, and some of it appeared to have been on the ground 
some time. About an inch more fell that night. 
On January 12 he crossed the dividing ridge. The ascent was steep and laborious, so much 
so that the men were obliged to double teams and make two turns from the base to the summit, 
though the distance was not over half a mile. 
On the summit, at mid-day, the sun shone brightly in a cloudless sky, and was surrounded 
by a succession of beautiful halos, apparently produced by the refraction of his rays by minute 
particles of frost so small as only to be visible in the sparkling of the sun, which filled the air. 
The western slope of the ridge was not as abrupt as the eastern. The thermometer stood at 
21° below zero, and the cold, assisted by a sharp west wind, froze their ears and noses, Тһе 
snow was most of the way only a foot deep, and drifted but little. 
Severe cold continued on the way down the Big Blackfoot, freezing the men’s and dogs’ feet 
severely; and on the 16th, the coldest of the winter so far, the thermometer indicated 38° 
below zero, at sunrise. This intensely cold weather was not, however, disagreeable for travel- 
ling on foot, taking the precaution to rub the nose and ears frequently. 
This was only about twenty-four miles from the sources of the stream, and consequently at a 
very elevated position. As far as the junction of the Hell-Gate and Bitter Root river, although 
snow fell on the 16th and 21st, it did not exceed eight inches in depth anywhere; and the 
imperfect freezing of the streams made the frequent crossings difficult, as the trail over the 
hills was entirely hidden. The weather, though pleasant otherwise, still continued from 10? 
to 20° below zero. After passing Hell-Gate defile the weather moderated, and the depth of 
snow decreased to six inches in Bitter Root valley, where he remained from the 22d to the 30th. 
On the 30th he left Fort Owen on the way westward. From Bitter Root valley to Thomp- 
son’s Prairie, on Clark’s Fork, he found no snow except what he found on the mountain tops. 
The snow then gradually increased in depth for about fifty miles west, where it was about two 
feet deep on the average, and remained about this depth to Lake Pend d’ Oreille, where it 
began to decrease, and at the lake was not over one foot indepth. Between this and Lake 
Cœur d’ Alene it was for most of the way two and a half feet deep, and very hard; but he left 
it with the dense forest, and, reaching the plain, found the grass fine and the stock in nearly 
as fine condition as in the Flathead country. i 
With fresh horses he crossed to Walla-Walla in seven days, arriving on the 2d of March, 
and having no scarcity of grass at any point. The cause of the deep snow northward is shows 
by his statement that '' the principal feature of the weather, since leaving the Flathead village, 
