268 
VOYAGE DOWN THE MIfeSOURI. 
who, at his own request, was buried on horseback on the top of it, in a commanding position, 
that he might see the white men as they came up the river. It is not an unfrequent custom 
among some of the northwestern tribes to bury a warrior with his favorite horses, which are 
killed for that purpose. It is not a rare exhibition of filial affection and faith for a son to kill his 
best horses—almost the only wealth an Indian has—and put their bodies in the grave of his dead 
father, in order that he may be equipped for hunting buffalo in the happy hunting grounds. 
I saw immense flocks of geese, swans, and brants on the wing for the south in their autumnal 
migration. 
The prairies are burning in every direction, and the smoke is almost stifling. From this point 
to Fort Leavenworth the country is so well known that a further description is unnecessary in 
this report. The Indians are friendly, and acquainted with the whites, and the river well 
adapted to steamboat navigation. 
On the 8th of November, when a few miles below St. Joseph, Missouri, we were gratified by 
the sight of the steamer Honduras; she passed up the river in the face of a high wind, which 
had blown the Blackfoot high and dry upon a sand-bar. On the 9th we transferred our persons 
and property to the steamer, took the Blackfoot in tow, and started for St. Louis. The change 
was agreeable to us all, after having been confined for nearly fifty days in a small keel-boat, and 
weather-bound sometimes for days together. 
The soldiers of the dragoon escort deserve great credit for the cheerfulness with which they 
endured the hardships, ordinary and extraordinary, of the long navigation from Fort Benton. 
Though frequently obliged, when the boat was aground or missed the channel, to work in the 
water, often when the thermometer was below the freezing point, and ice upon the shores of the 
river, they did not shrink nor murmur, and are entitled to this expression of cordial approbation. 
I turned over the keel-boat to the quartermaster at Fort Leavenworth; left the soldiers and 
discharged employes at St. Louis; and, in company with Mr. W. M. Graham and Sergeant 
Collins, arrived in Washington on the 21st of November. 
From as careful a survey of the country through which I passed as the limited means at 
my disposal, and the rapid rate at which 1 travelled, would admit, I give as the result of my 
observations : 
First. That, from the mouth of Wallah-Wallah river to Fort Benton, no insurmountable 
obstacle to the construction of a railroad exists, and that the Blackfoot or Cadotte’s Pass is much 
the lowest pass through the Rocky mountains that has yet been discovered, and eminently fitted 
by nature for the line of railroad. 
Second. That the region is well watered, rich in agricultural and mineral resources, and 
abounding in fine timber and all other materials necessary for the construction of a railroad. It 
is destined, and at no very distant period, to be occupied by a civilized and energetic population, 
capable of making roads for themselves, independently of those which are to form the great 
lines of communication between the eastern and western oceans. 
Third. That, in a military point of view, it is of the highest importance that treaties should be 
entered into with all the wild tribes of Indians who inhabit the Northwest, not included in 
existing treaties. It is important that they should be made to realize the power and strength of 
the United States government, and look to it for protection and justice, instead of looking to 
United States officials as intruders, and owning, as many do, England as their natural guardian. 
In case of difficulty between the two countries, the powerful tribes might be made the instru¬ 
ments of incalculable injury to our frontier settlements. It ought, therefore, to be made obviously 
their interest to be on good terms with the United States. Any hostile feelings they may enter¬ 
tain towards us should be conciliated by a policy uniformly and unequivocally characterized by 
justice, forbearance, and generosity. 
The Missouri river offers the means of easy communication with them. It is navigable to the 
falls, or near them, and there the most remote tribes can be collected. 
