GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 167 



seen so abundantly as in the specimens from Cherry Creek. Specimens 

 from the Stonewall Jackson lode contain galena, which is not seen 

 at Cherry Creek. 



Leaving Cherry Creek we crossed the hills to Elk Creek, which runs 

 almost parallel to Cherry Creek. On the way we passed, on top of the 

 ridge, several openings, none of which were developed to aity great 

 extent. Eeachiug Elk Creek we followed it to the Madison, where we 

 learned at a ranch that the paity had passed down the river the day 

 previous. We camped for the night a few miles below the mouth of 

 Elk Creek, and the next morning started down the Madison. The bluffs 

 on either side of the river are made up of Pliocene marls and sandstones, 

 the remnants of the lake-deposits. In some of the ravines, cut in these 

 bluffs b.y the little streams^ we find beautiful specimens of silicified 

 wood. We reached Gallatin City at the Three Forks of the Missouri 

 about noon, and learned that the party had camped there the night 

 before and had left early in the morning on their way up the Gallatin 

 Elver. We followed and joined them at night-fall. Above Gallatin 

 City, on the north side of the river, thei'e are several fine exposures of 

 Carboniferous and Silurian rocks, the consideration of which I reserve 

 for the next chapter. About four miles above Gallatin City, on the 

 right-hand side of the stage-road leading to Bozeman, I noticed bowlders 

 of brown, flinty rock, resembling those I saw on Pole Creek, but was 

 unable to determine whence they came. The following day, September 

 11, we reached Fort Ellis, and camped on our old camp-grounds, from 

 which we had been absent almost two months. 



CHAPTEE VI. 



GALLATIN VALLEY, BOZEMAI^ CEEEK, MIDDLE CEEEK, 

 MOUNT BLACKMOEE, Al<iT> WEST GALLATIN EIVEE. 



On the 14th of September, in company with Messrs. Gannett and 

 Holmes, I left Fort Ellis to ascend Mount Blackmore and investigate 

 the geology of the country south of the Gallatin Valley. The range in 

 which the peak is situated gives origin to the t)ranches of the East Gal- 

 latin, and once formed a portion of the southern shore-line of the lake 

 which extended over the country about the Three Forks. Although 

 the peak stands up prominently, and is in plain -sight from Fort Ellis 

 and Bozeman, it was difficult to determine exactly which stream would 

 lead us to its base. We selected Bozeman Creek as the one to follow, 

 hoping that if it did not lead us to the right i^oint we would be able to 

 cross the ridges and thus accomplish our purpose. We camped in the 

 evening, just inside the mountains, in the caiion of Bozeman Creek, and 

 the next day pushed on up stream. The timber along the ci^eek was so 

 thick that we ascended the hills, hoping to find traveling less difficult. 

 We vrere obliged, however, to return to the bottom of the caiion. From 

 the mouth of the canon for about five miles the granites are the only 

 rocks exposed. Succeeding them are the limestones to which I referred 

 in the second chapter when speaking of Mystic Lake. The hills come 

 down so abruptly to the edge of the creek and the canon is so densely 

 timbered that, in order to make any progress at all, we were often obliged 

 to wade in the bed of the stream. On reaching Mystic Lake we found 

 that it would be impossible to take our animals across the ridges which 



