12 RECONNAISSANCE FROM CARROLL, MONTANA, 
in order to make up the large number which it is claimed is furnished with food and clothing from 
this agency, the Indians of the Yellowstone must be included, the attitude of whom is one of vigi- 
lant and unvarying hostility to all white men. 
July 26.—Left Fort Peck at 3.a.m. Up to this point, the character of the river and its valley 
Character of the appeared to be measurably unchanged, a broad, rapid, and turbid stream, about 
HWEE, three feet deep in the channel, cutting into its banks at every turn, sand-bars fre- 
quently appearing in the muddy bed; the valley heavily timbered with cottonwood, and well defined 
by hills. Above Peck, the bed of the stream became more gravelly, the channel consequently more 
stable, and the water somewhat clearer. The river narrowed to a width of from 150 to 300 yards; 
the clay bluffs from 150 to 600 feet in height, more closely approached the banks, and became 
exceedingly barren and unattractive, of dark-gray hue and ashen texture, with thin alkaline streaks 
near the base. Small plates of selenite scattered over the surface glittered in the sun, and the 
grass was exceedingly poor and scanty. As we advanced, small cedars appeared on the higher 
elevations, and game became more abundant. Glimpses of deer half-concealed in the shrubbery were 
frequently caught; large bands of elk were seen in the timbered “points ;” and the shore of the river 
was everywhere dotted with the footprints of wild animals. 
Three buffalo crossed the river in advance of the boat. One was killed and hoisted on deck ; 
some Indians who fina come on board at Wolf Point greedily appropriating the refuse portions. 
Just before sundown, a herd of seventy five or eighty buffalo were seen dashing down the left bank 
A herd of buffalo 12 eager pursuit of three in advance, who had already entered the water and were 
crossing the river. half-way across the stream. The herd at once plunged in, and it was soon evident 
that the boat would intercept them. They kept on, however; the calves, of which there were sev- 
eral, swimming by the lower side of the cows, and all making strenuous efforts to overtake the 
leaders, who had meanwhile climbed the opposite bank. The stupid animals only turned back 
when the foremost actually struck the boat with their heads, and then, with bovine snorts and bel- 
lowings, they heaped together and climbed upon each other in desperate fright, within a few feet 
of us. It would have been butchery to kill them, especially as we did not need the beef, and they 
were allowed to escape unhurt. 
July 27.—Carroll was reached at 7 p.m. Ifound a note from Lieutenant Thompson to the effect 
that the vicinity of Carroll had been examined and the necessary observations 
taken; and, finding that forage and rations were becoming scarce, it had been 
determined to proceed on the road toward Camp Baker in order to save delay. 
A courier was dispatched to Camp Lewis for escort and transportation by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Otis, assistant inspector-general of the department, who was en route to Helena, and we awaited 
the reply. 
Carroll is a frontier “‘ town” of perhaps twenty or twenty-five log buildings, on the south bank of 
the river, six hundred and forty miles above Bismarck and one hundred and sixty-five miles below 
Fort Benton, the limit of navigation on the Upper Missouri. The town is situated on a timbered 
plateau 15 or 20 feet above the level of the stream at low water, in the river-valley, which is some 
800 to 900 feet in depth, with steep clay slopes covered with pine. It owes its existence to its being 
the terminus of the road recently opened from Helena, and the point at which freights are trans- 
ferred to and from the boats. 
Montana has long suffered from its isolation and from the want of an outlet for its productions. 
Until the opening of the Carroll road, the only regular communication with the outer world was by 
the road from Helena to Corinne, on the Union Pacific Railroad, a distance of over four hundred 
‘The Carroll route &04 fifty miles. The distance from Helena to Carroll is more than two hundred 
trom Bielenu miles less than this, a difference which, to the heavy bull-trains averaging only 
twelve or thirteen miles per day, represents a saving of fifteen or sixteen days in time. The Mis- 
souri River as far up as Carroll is generally navigable for the flat-bottomed stern-wheel boats that 
ply upon it until some time in October; and it is evident that by the aid of # connection at Bis- 
marek with the Northern Pacific an important and valuable outlet for the wealth of the Territory 
has been discovered, available from the opening of navigation in the spring until quite late in the 
fall, a period of over five months. 
Carroll, Mont. 
