FORT BENTON.—VOYAGE DOWN THE MISSOURI. 
263 
September 9—Marched twenty-five miles, and encamped in a meadow of good grass, but with¬ 
out water. Lieutenant Grover and party return wilh me to Fort Benton. 
September 10.—Marched twenty-five miles, and encamped on the banks of a lake, where we 
found plenty of water and grass; but for the first time since leaving the mouth of the Columbia 
we were destitute of wood. Buffalo-chips enough to cook our food were collected. 
September 11.—Marched twenty-five miles, and encamped on Teton river, six miles from Fort 
Benton. Passed the Falls of the Missouri at a distance, but near enough to see the spray rising 
from them. We missed the route once, and for the first time in all our long march, and came 
too near the river, and thus became entangled in a labyrinth of ravines and deep hollows, and 
lost nine miles of distance. I was, however, repaid for the deviation by the pleasure of meeting 
Dr. Evans, the eminent geologist, and his party, on their way to visit the Falls of the Missouri. 
September 12.—I arrived at Fort Benton, and found that Governor Stevens had gone to 
Cypress mountain to hold a council with the Blackfeet Indians. Lieutenant Donelson commands 
the main body during his absence. 
I was detained at Fort Benton until September 22d, making preparation for a voyage down the 
Missouri, which, in pursuance of instructions, I commenced on that day. I was ordered to 
examine as carefully as possible the regimen of the river, with reference to the possibility of 
bringing a steamboat as far as Fort Benton. I was not required to make a detailed map, that 
having already been done by the surveys of Lieutenants Grover and Donelson. 
A continuation of my journal from this point to St. Louis will give the results of my observa¬ 
tions, confirming the views you entertain as to the navigability of the river. 
September 22.—We started at daylight on the keel-boat Blackfoot. The party consists of Mr. 
Culbertson, Indian agent, and wife; Mr. D. S. Hoyt; Mr. W. M. Graham; four quartermaster’s 
employes; seventeen dragoons of company D, 1st dragoons; some discharged employes from the 
expedition ; and Mr. Tevis, of St. Louis, passenger. The Blackfoot was built by the American 
Fur Company at this place, and draws, when loaded, about eighteen inches of water. With 
two reliefs of ten men each, I hope to be able to paddle to St. Louis in thirty-live days. 
Governor Stevens starts this morning for Olympia, Lieut. Donelson having left with the main 
party a few days before; Lieut. Grover also left for Fort Union at the same time, charged with 
the duty of making a careful survey of the river to that point. It was a grand breaking up of the 
largest party of white men ever congregated in this far-off wilderness. The salute from the fort 
was returned, with interest, by the little cannon on board the Blackfoot. The natives listened, 
in silent wonder, to the echo and re-echo of the white man’s thunder, and wondered what was 
its meaning. 
The river is said to be unusually low at this time, so that any results now obtained may be 
relied on as true at all seasons of the year. There has been no place to-day where a steamer 
drawing two feet cannot pass. Wood is rather scarce, but enough can be procured to run a 
steamer for a long time to come. We made about eighty miles. 
September 23.—We were detained for several hours to-day by the wind. The channel is so 
crooked that, in a windy day, our unwieldy boat cannot be navigated. I saw numerous mount¬ 
ain sheep and antelopes along the banks of the river, within gun-shot of the boat. 
September 24.—We passed through the “ Mauvaises Terres,” one of the most desolate regions 
in the world, entirely cut up with deep gulleys and ravines, almost impassable, and destitute of 
vegetation. It is rich in fossils. Dr. Evans has spent much of his time in investigating this 
region, and an amount of valuable information will doubtless result from his labors. 
September 25.—Detained to-day by head winds, so that we made but little progress. 
We anchored at night within a few miles of Muscle Shell river; saw a great number of deer, 
elk, and bears along the banks. The timber on the river is excellent, the soil good, and very 
few obstructions to navigation by light-draught steamers. 
We met a boat belonging to the Fur Company, loaded with merchandise for the Indian trade> 
