NARRATIVE OF 1855. 217 
be turned to approach Fort Benton, on the general line of the Missouri from Sun river to Fort 
Benton, is a feature in the railroad practicability of this portion of the country. I would not, 
therefore, think it expedient, Sun river being once made, to continue over the upper portion 
of the plateau from the Sun to the Teton, thence to the Marias, and thence to the Milk river, 
but to take a line which will bring us to the waters of the Missouri at Fort Benton, and thence 
to Milk river. But to resume our narrative: 
Tuesday, July 24.—The width of the river at our morning’s camp is some sixty yards; the 
highest water above the present water level, sixty feet; the length of a bridge required to 
cross, 200 feet; and its height above the water level, ten feet. The banks consist of sandstone, 
clay, and gravel. At this point the forks of the river have a very gradual ascent and descent, 
presenting no difficulty in the way of construction. The general character of the country on 
to-day’s journey is very much the same as on the route of yesterday, from the Dearborn to the 
Sun river. The country is rolling and undulating, and by reference to the profile the best idea 
will be obtained of the relation of the several divides, of the rolling prairie, and of the corres- 
ponding valley depressions. The first 93 miles from the river brings us to the top of the 
first plateau, and 2$ miles further we reach the crest of the second divide. In 3} miles we 
reach a third divide, and in 1$ miles a fourth. These ridges run nearly east and west, and have 
to be crossed almost directly in laying a railroad line over this upper plateau. The fifth divide, 
three miles further on, which is lower than the previous ones, brings us in view of the valley 
ofthe Teton. In two miles further on, and about a mile and a half to the right of our trail, we 
observed a small lake, having little or no water in it at the present time, but evidently, from 
the appearance of the green rushes, a considerable lake in the spring, and probably in the early 
summer. This we took to be Mr. Lander's Grizzly Bear lake. Going on three-eighths of a 
mile further, there was a small formation of mauvaises terres, at the end of which was a small 
descent of the country, where immediately on the left of the trail we observed three beautiful 
springs of cold water, discharging about a gallon and a half per minute. This water wells out 
of the clefts of the rock, is very pure and cold, and feeds a stream which flows about one 
hundred feet before the water is absorbed into the ground. Our distance now for five miles, 
tothe edge of the plateau bordering on the Teton, is a level prairie, similar to the country 
about the forks of Sun river; when, moving down the river a quarter of a mile, we camped on 
its banks in a beautiful piece of intervale, some four feet above the water level, where the 
river branches out somewhat into sloughs, which are obstructed by beaver dams. The Teton 
valley has been described previously, and therefore it will be sufficient for me to say that we 
continued down the Teton, having, on July 25, a good view of the Woman’s Breast, (whence 
the Teton derives its name, ) of its upper tributaries, and of its bottom and miry creeks. Made 
twenty-six miles this day, and on Thursday I pushed on to Fort Benton, my train coming in 
the next day. Here I was much pleased to meet my old acquaintances, but learned nothing 
of the whereabouts of Colonel Cumming, my associate commissioner. This, I expected, 
would give me time to make some other examinations of the country. I very much regretted 
to find that the arrangements made by Mr. Doty for barometrical observations, during the 
past winter and the present year, had been ineffectual, in consequence of Mr. Tevis, the gen- 
tleman who undertook to take them, having returned to St. Louis early in the winter. 
986 
