104 
BITTER ROOT VALLEY. 
and remarked by every one who has ever been in it during the winter season ; thus affording 
an excellent rendezvous and recruiting station for the Indians in its vicinity, and of those sojourn¬ 
ing in it, as well as all others that might be overtaken by the cold or snow of the mountains. 
It is the home of the Flathead Indians, where, through the instrumentality and exertions of 
the Jesuit priests, they have built up a village—not of lodges, but of houses—where they repair 
every winter ; and with this valley, covered with an abundance of rich and nutritious grass, 
affording to their large bands of horses grazing and to spare, they live as contentedly and as 
happily as probably any tribe of Indians either east or west of the Rocky mountains. Its capa¬ 
bilities in other respects, aside from grazing, have already been referred to in the former part 
of this report, and are of sufficient interest and importance to attract the attention of, and hold 
out inducements to settlers and others. All that it at present needs is, to have some direct con¬ 
nexion with the East or the West, and the advantages that it and the sections in its vicinity 
possess, will be of sufficient importance to necessarily command attention. The numerous 
mountain rivulets, tributaries to the Bitter Root river, that run through the valley, afford excellent 
and abundant mill-sites; and the land bordering these streams is fertile and productive, and 
has been proved, beyond a cavil or doubt, to be well suited to every branch of agriculture. 
I have seen oats grown in this valley by Mr. John Owen, that are as heavy and as excellent as 
any that I have ever seen in the States ; and the same gentleman has informed me that he has 
grown most excellent wheat, and that, from his experience while in the mountains, he hesitates 
not in saying, that here might agriculture be carried on in its numerous branches, and to the 
exceeding great interest and gain of those engaged in it. The valley and mountain-slopes are 
well timbered with an excellent growth of pine, which is equal in every respect to the well known 
and noted pine of Oregon. The advantages, therefore, possessed by this section, are of great 
importance, and offer peculiar inducements to the settler. Its valley is not only capable of 
grazing immense bands of stock of every kind, but is also capable of supporting a dense popula¬ 
tion. The mountain slopes on either side of the valley, and the land along the base of the mount¬ 
ains, afford at all seasons, even during the most severe winters, grazing ground in abundance, 
while the mountains are covered with a beautiful growth of pine. The provisions of nature 
here, are, therefore, on no small scale, and of no small importance; and let those who have 
imagined—and some have been so bold as to say it—that there exists only one immense bed of 
mountains from the headwaters of the Missouri to the Cascade range, turn their attention to this 
section, and Jet them contemplate its advantages and resources, and ask themselves, since these 
things exist, can it be long before public attention shall be attracted and fastened upon this 
hitherto unknown and neglected region? Can it be that we should have so near our Pacific coast 
a section of country of hundreds of thousands of acres that will remain forever untilled, unculti¬ 
vated, totally neglected ? It cannot be. But let a connexion, and that the most direct, be made 
between the main chain of the Rocky mountains and the Pacific—and it can be done—and soon 
will these advantages necessarily thrust themselves upon public attention, and open to the indus¬ 
trious and persevering, avenues to wealth and power. Again, this section connects with another 
of equal if not superior importance, that of the Cceur d’Alene country, which again connects, 
directly, by a beautiful section, with the country at and near Wallah-Wallah ; thus showing that 
from the main chain of the Rocky mountains to the mouth of the Columbia, we possess a rich, 
fertile, and productive area, that needs but the proper means and measures to be put forth, and 
manfully employed, to be turned to private and public benefit.” * # # “ Looking back upon 
our route, we saw we had followed Bitter Root river to its head, which we found from its mouth 
to be ninety-five miles long, flowing through a wide and beautiful valley, whose soil is fertile and 
productive, well timbered with the pine and cotton-wood, but whose chief characteristic and 
capability is that of grazing large herds of cattle, and affording excellent-mill sites along the 
numerous streams flowing from the mountains. The country thence is watered by tributaries to 
the Missouri and its forks, to the range of mountains separating these waters from those of the 
