GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 267 



On tbe soutli side of the Missouri the most important basins within 

 this section are those of the Judith and Musselshell Rivers. The Ju- 

 dith Basin is a broad depression, spreading out for forty or fifty miles, 

 and extending north and south about eighty miles. It is traversed its 

 entire length by the Judith Eiver, which has three principal tributaries — 

 West Fork, South Fork, and Big Spring Creek. West Fork is a short 

 creek, affording a moderate valley, ibut in regard to which I received no 

 satisfactory information. The valley of South Fork is very irregular, 

 frequently closing up. It is about twenty live miles long, the ten miles 

 next its 'mouth averaging two miles wide ; is generally quite narrow, 

 here and there affording an open bottom sufficient for a few farms. The 

 lands which flank this valley are more rolling and irregular than usual 

 in this basin, yet they are covered with good grass. Big Spring Creek 

 has one leading tributary, Cottonwood Creek, which has a valley twelve 

 miles long and from half a mile to two miles wide. The valley of Big 

 Spring Creek is fifteen or twent^^ miles long and quite narrow, varying 

 from half to one mile in width. The supply of water in all these valleys 

 is sufficient to irrigate all the lands in the madnpted to farming pur- 

 poses. The area between the two last valleys consists of a level plateau 

 about one hundred feet above the st;reams, and during the summer sea- 

 son has a bright-yellow hue from the vast number of Melimithi which 

 grow here. 



The Judith Valley proper is about eighty miles long, and varies in 

 width from one to four miles. The bordering regions, as we approach 

 the Missouri, grow barren and assume that appearance to which 

 the name mauvaises terres, or " bad lands," has been applied ; yet 

 the surface is generally covered with a moderate growth of bunch-grass. 

 Stunted pines and cedars grow along the Missouri from Fort Benton to 

 the mouth of the Musselshell, for twenty or twenty-five miles back on 

 the south side. 



From the mouth of the caiion on Musselshell below Fort Howie, for 

 twenty-five miles down, is a very fine farming country, the valley aver- 

 aging five miles in width, the soil good, and the climate favorable. Near 

 the mouth of this stream the valley is narrow, being cut ileep into tbe 

 plains, the bottoms not averaging more than a mile or a mile and a half 

 wide ; nor is the soil so good as along the upper portion. I could gain 

 no information in regard to the intermediate i)art of this valley, but the 

 bordering plains for a part of the distance, at least, i^robably consist of 

 "bad lands," similar to those near the mouth of Judith Siver, and along 

 portions of the Yellowstone. 



SOUTHEASTERN SECTION. 



This section includes the area within the Territory drained by the 

 Yellowstone and its tributaries. Little is known in regard to its agri- 

 cultural resources. The following account, obtained from Judge Hos- 

 mer, of a voyage down this stream in a boat, contains, perhaps, all that 

 has been ascertained in regard to it up to the i)resent time. It was 

 first published in the Herald, Helena : 



''The description of the lower valley of the Yellowstone given by 

 Captain Lewis, without being full, is very- accurate in geographical in- 

 formation. I was able by it to anticipate our approacli to the various 

 landmarks, rapids, and the mouths of the various tributaries. In 

 minor details it is deficient. No continuous account of this valley 

 from the caiion, twenty-five miles beyond Bozeman, to the mouth, a 

 distance (by the stream) of eight hundred and twenty miles, has ever 



