224 NARRATIVE OF 1855. 
details of the trip, except to say that my party, almost without a single exception, apparently 
looked upon the undertaking as a very desperate one, but still they were cheerful, obeyed every 
order with great alacrity, and enjoyed themselves very much in the evening's camp. We 
crossed the Bitter Root mountain on the twentieth day of November, the snow being three feet 
deep, and reached the creek at its western base а little before dark—too late to go to good grass, 
known to be some six miles beyond. This was the only night that we were without grass. 
The next morning I directed Mr. Doty very carefully to examine the upper waters of this Coeur 
d' Aléne creek, while I with the party moved on to grass and waited for him another day. In 
two hours we were in good grass, with fine water—a fine range for animals. "They were now а 
good deal exhausted, for we had moved rapidly with the train from the Teton, and I determined 
to wait there another day to recruit. From the appearances of all that surrounded us, I was 
satisfied that there were no Indian runners on the lookout for us. On the twenty-third day of 
November we raised camp, made a good day's journey, and camped near our old camp in June. 
We were now about twenty-five miles from the Cœur d'Aléne Mission. It was impracticable 
for me to take the whole train in in one day without breaking down our animals; so, with Pearson 
and Craig, and four Nez Percés, I started at daylight, determining to reach that tribe that 
day, and leaving directions for the train to come in the following day. So we pushed 
on very gently and quietly at first, and when we came within sight of the Mission and 
the Indian village we moved rapidly, throwing ourselves into the midst of the Indians, 
and with our rifles in one hand, and our arms outstretched on the other side, we tendered 
to them both the sword and the olive branch. They met us all very cordially; every Indian 
left his lodge. and gathered around us. I had told the four Nez Percés, ** when you reach the 
Coeur d' Alénes, talk to them Blackfoot; tell them about our great council and treaty at Fort 
Benton; tell them that they can hunt buffalo without being disturbed by their hereditary 
enemies, the Blackfeet; tell them that the lion and the lamb have laid down together; get their 
minds off their troubles here, and turn them to other subjects in which they take an interest." 
It is enough for me to say that we established the most cordial relations with the Coeur 
d'Alénes. We found that the emissaries of the Yakimas had only left that point some four or 
five days, having despaired of our crossing the mountains. The train came in the next day, 
and I now determined to push on to the Spokane, having first despatched from the Cour 
d'Aléne Mission Craig and a part of the Nez Percés home to that country to bring them into 
council and to make arrangements for moving below to the Dalles. Moving from the Coeur 
Ф Aléne Mission on the twenty-seventh day of November, I made our first camp at the Wolf's 
Lodge, some nineteen miles from it, and the next day made a forced march, moving forty miles 
to the Spokane country. We met Polatkin, one of the principal chiefs of the Spokanes, on 
our way, and were at Antoine Plante’s before dark, Here I found some of the miners from 
Colville. Before midnight Indian expresses were on the road to the lower Spokanes, to the 
Colville Indians, and thence to the Okinakane and to the lower Pend d’ Oreilles, asking them to 
come and meet me in council at that point. I also requested Mr. Angus McDonald and the 
Jesuit fathers at Colville to visit my camp. We remained on the Spokane nine days, and І 
had there one of the most stormy councils for three days that ever occurred in my whole Indian 
experience; yet, having gone there with the most anxious desire to prevent their entering into 
the war, but with a firm determination-to tell them plainly and candidly the truth, I succeeded 
both in convincing them of the facts and gaining their entire confidence. At this council were 
all the chiefs and people of the Cœur d’Alénes and of the Spokanes—the very tribes who 
defeated Steptoe the past season, the very tribes who have met our troops since in two pitched. 
