TO YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 13 
In addition to the encouragement to the industries of Montana, a large saving can be made by 
the Government in the cost of transporting its troops and supplies for the up-river and Montana posts 
by the use of this route. These considerations, supported by the necessity for maintaining troops to 
act as a check upon the lawlessness of the large number of Indians annually congregating in the 
vicinity of Fort Peck, constitute an appeal to the Government to protect the road against forays by 
the Indians, an obligation which is recognized in the distribution of troops along the line of the 
road. At Camp Baker, fifty-two miles east of Helena, is a permanent garrison of — yfititary posts on 
two companies of infantry; at the forks of the Musselshell, fifty-six miles farther — e Carell read. 
east, is a summer camp of two companies of infantry and one of cavalry; at the Judith Gap, thirty 
miles farther, is a detachment of eighteen or twenty men; and at Camp Lewis, thirty miles farther 
and seventy-five miles out of Carroll, is another summer garrison of two companies of infantry, 
from which a small detachment guards the stage-station at Box Elder, forty miles out of Carroll- 
These posts can conveniently receive their supplies from Carroll. 
If, in addition to the garrison at the forks of the Musselshell and Camp Lewis, a force of cavalry, 
sufficiently large to patrol the road and push reconnaissances south and east, could ceeceaana ae ke 
be established between Camp Lewis and the Judith Gap,—and in this range the the use of cavalry on 
requisites of wood, water, and grass are both excellent and abundant,—the route 
could be made as permanently safe as any other highway, and such loss of property and life as 
occurred last summer be prevented. The truth of the general proposition cannot, I Sugpentioan a do 
think, be questioned that the settlements of Montana can best be protected by the defense of | the 
troops removed from their immediate vicinity and pushed out toward the sources ments. 
whence hostile incursions are to be apprehended. 
July 30.—The stage came in an early hour, bringing word from the commanding officer at Camp 
Lewis that, much as he desired to do so, he had no transportation or men that he could possibly 
send. Colonel Otis therefore hired such transportation as could be obtained in 
Carroll; and securing a few rifles and rounds of ammunition, we started soon after 
midday, our escort being half a dozen unarmed recruits, en route to Shaw. 
The road out of Carroll leads up a long sharp ridge to the west, constantly ascending, with many 
turns, until an altitude of over nine hundred feet above the “town” is attained ; the view thence 
was wide and varied. Up and down the river, the valley, sinuous and green, its steep slopes scored 
by deep ravines, could be traced for many miles. Bordering that, the tumbled Bad Lands on the 
south bank and the yellow prairie on the north, and in the distance the various ranges of mount- 
ains in detached groups—the Bear’s Paw, seventy miles to the north and west; the Little Rockies, 
thirty miles north; the Judith Mountains, forty miles south and west; with the Great and Little 
Moccasins close by, and the Snowies beyond. 
The road at first traversed a rolling, sterile prairie, gradually descending. Camp was made on 
Little Crooked Creek, thirteen miles from Carroll, and in what are called the Bad Lands, which 
extend out from Carroll for over thirty miles. The landscape is dreary to the last 
degree, with rolling and broken outlines. The soil throughout the region is a 
finely-ground clay of dark ashen hue and texture and irregularly striped by dirty alkaline streaks. 
In the absence of rain, it is dry and dusty; but thoroughly wetted, it becomes a Camp on Little 
greasy, slippery, fathomless mass of clinging mud, through which the straining Creeket Creek. 
animals can hardly drag the heavily-weighted wheels. Wood is almost entirely wanting ; water 
is very scarce, and when found is alkaline and tepid. The vegetation is sage and cactus, with 
occasionally a little thin, poor grass. Near camp two trains were encountered going in to Carroll; 
they halted for the night two or three miles behind us. 
July 31.—Camp was broken early, and the journey resumed through the same enlivening scenery 
for twenty miles, crossing Crooked Creek, a sluggish alkaline stream, deeply cut into the dark-gray 
clay (where the sight of a party of mounted Indians some miles away disturbed our lunch and 
started us on the road), to where the bounds of the Bad Lands were reached, and the road 
ascended upon high rolling prairie, over which a push of seven miles led into the valley of Box 
Elder Creek. This is a stage-station, forty miles from Carroll, where a guard of ; 
four soldiers is maintained from Lewis. The halting-place is marked by a log forty uitlostromGat 
cabin standing on the bank of the creek, a small stream of swift-flowing water, ™” 
Start from Carroll. 
Mauvaises Terres. 
