13i 
JOURNAL. 
was level along the valley. Having travelled 20 
miles, we cncaiDped and our hunters came in, one 
of whom had killed a deer, and another had caught' 
two mares and a colt, which he brought with him. 
Monday 9th. The morning was fair, but cool ; 
and we continued our journey down the river. The 
soil of the valley is poor and gravelly; and the high 
snow-topped mountains are still in view on our left : 
Our course generally north a few degrees west. Wc 
halted at noon on our way the hunters had killed 3 
wild geese ; so we have plenty of provisions at pre- 
sent. At 2 o'clock we again went forward, and 
crossed over the Flathead river, about 100 yards 
wide, and which we called Clarke's river ; passed 
through a close timbered bottom of about two miles, 
and again came into beautiful plains. The timber 
gn this bottom is pitch pine. We travelled 19 miles 
and encamped on a large creek, which comes in 
from the south. Our hunters ^;his day killed 3 
deer. 
Tuesday \Oth, We remained here all this day, 
which was clear and pleasant, to let our horses rest, 
and to take an observation. At night our hunters 
came in, and had killed 5 deer. With one of the 
hunters, 3 of the Flathead Indians came to our camp. 
They informed us that the rest of their band was 
over on the Columbia river, about 5 or 6 days' jour- 
ney distant, with pack-horses; that two of the 
Snake nation had stolen some of their horses, and 
that they v/ere in pursuit of them. We gave them 
some presents, and one stayed to go over the moun- 
tains with us; the other two continued their pursuit. 
Wednc^.day Wth, This was a fine morning, and 
we went out to collect our horses, in order to renew 
our journey, and found all but one. Capt. Lewis had 
a meridian altitude that gave 46** 48 28 .8 north la- 
titude. In the bottoms here, there are a grea' quau- 
Hty of cherries. The mountains are not so high, as 
