172 
TOPOGRAPHY OF ROUTE FROM THE MISSISSIPPI TO THE COLUMBIA. 
were seen ; thence northwest sixteen or seventeen miles, through the most varied and interest¬ 
ing scenery, to where the Jocko empties into the Flathead river, a stream as large as the Bitter 
Root, and sometimes supposed- to be Clark’s fork proper. This river comes from the north to 
this point, and turns directly west, with little variation for twenty-five miles, where it joins the 
Bitter Root at the opening of a mountain-bound prairie called Horse Plain. In the last half of 
this distance the mountains form a canon on the river similar to that mentioned on the Bitter 
Root, at the commencement of which the route leaves the river and tends northwest nine miles 
through Camash prairie, which is the least attractive-looking of such spots; thence west again 
about nine miles through a rocky pass, and, by a steep descent, strikes the united waters at the 
foot of Horse Plain. Since the conclusion of the surveys in the mountains it appears that the two 
avenues to the valley of Clark’s fork by what are called ccifions, on the Flathead and Bitter Root 
rivers, immediately above their junction at Horse Plain, have not received the thorough examina¬ 
tion to which their importance entitled them; it will not, therefore, be out of place to give in a few 
words a somewhat clearer view of their character, as amongst the principal topographical fea¬ 
tures of the whole mountain section. 
They have been mentioned as canons; but this expression must not be taken in the exact sense 
in which it is applied in purely volcanic regions, where unbroken perpendicular walls of rock, 
thousands of feet in height, are opposed to each other for many miles; but they come the nearest 
to this idea of any similar features in the mountain-basin in which they occur, and of winch they 
are the natural outlet. Vertical walls are understood to occur for short distances, but in general 
the mountains crowd upon the rivers in rugged broken masses alternating with steep slopes and 
dense timber, the sudden and frequent windings of the channels being the most serious engineer¬ 
ing difficulty. How far this character actually extends will require further and more delib¬ 
erate examination to determine which is the more necessary, as, notwithstanding the facility of 
detour which is found higher up in the different branches of Clark’s fork, still, from the configu¬ 
ration of the country, the manner in which the interior or spur ranges of the mountain-basin close 
upon these rivers above their junction, it is easy to perceive that all practicable routes concentrate 
to this particular point, with the exception of the route across the Coeur d’Alene mountains re¬ 
ported by Lieut. Mullan, but only as entitled to further examination. Thus the result of the whole 
examinations in this extensive basin is, that two practicable railroad passes are reported into the 
basin (going west) and two passes believed to be practicable out of it. The cation on the Bitter 
Root was partially examined by Mr. Lander; that on the Flathead was not examined at all. 
They are both believed to be practicable at extreme cost. 
In the next seventeen miles, a point or so north of west, the river now certainly called Clark’s 
fork* winds through the deepest and narrowest part of the valley, the mountains on the south 
rising abruptly from the water, and heavily timbered; but on the north they project, in shape¬ 
less, naked masses, to an immense height, the frequent piles of fragmentary rocks giving evidence 
of some tremendous disruption; the whole range bearing the appearance of having been rent 
asunder by some giant force, while hanging rock and mural precipice stand in stupendous contrast 
to the bits of sward and timber on the river-banks and islands. About midway through this 
magnificent gorge fie the remains of the “Fallen mountain,” over which the trail leads as the only 
chance to proceed; the rudest kind of horse-track which even an Indian would construct winds 
deviously on either side from top to bottom, from rock to rock, the interstices being partially filled 
up with the smallest fragments and detritus, but not so as to insure freedom from danger without 
the greatest circumspection. It takes half a day for a train of moderate size to cross, and this is 
rarely done without injury or loss of animals; indeed, it is still a mountain in its fall. At the 
end of this grand aggregate of everything that is sublime and beautiful in scenery, are a few square 
* No effort was spared to obtain the Indian names; but they are so hopelessly unpi'onounceable, that not one could be retained, 
except that of Lalse Kalispelm, or Fend d’Oreille; and Kalispelm is merely the beginning of the Indian name, which extends 
to ten or twelve guttural sounds. 
