FROM FORT OWEN TO WALLAH-WALLAH. 
287 
was placed in charge of sixteen quartermaster’s employes and ten soldiers, and ordered by 
Lieutenant R. Saxton to proceed with them to Fort Vancouver. 
The route by which I was to return having been left to my own selection, I chose the one 
crossing the Bitter Root or St. Mary’s mountains, known as the Nez Perces trail, believing that 
by this route I could reach the Dalles in less time than by either the route across the Coeur 
d’Alene mountains, or the one over which we had just travelled. 
There being no Indians at this time in the neighborhood of the St. Mary’s village, I was unable 
to procure a guide. I learned, however, from Mr. Frank Owen, that his brother had once 
travelled this trail, and that though much worse, it was at least one-third shorter than either of 
the others. Mr. Owen also kindly offered to accompany and show me where the trail entered 
the mountains. 
After remaining a few days at the St. Mary’s village to rest our weary animals and to dry some 
beef for our use, we set out on the 4th of September without a guide, map, or compass, and with 
but twenty days’ rations, to find our way back by an unknown route to the Dalles. 
My party consisted in all of twenty-seven men, and we had with us fifty-nine horses and one 
mule. The most of our horses were so weak and lame as to be totally unfit to undertake the long 
journey through the mountains. 
Our course, as near as I could guess, for the two days after leaving the St. Mary’s village, was 
nearly south ; passing up the valley of the Bitter Root, and following that stream about forty miles, 
the trail entered the canon or pass in the mountains. 
The country through which we passed was moderately rolling; about one-fourth being covered 
with timber, and the rest prairie or open land. The soil of the bottom land is a brownish loam, 
mixed with sand-gravel; that of the upland contains less loam, and is not so rich, though yielding 
an abundance of good grass. 
On entering the mountains on the third day, we took a nearly west course, following a small 
Indian trail which led through a deep canon up the Nez Perces fork of the Bitter Root river, 
crossing and recrossing it very often during the day, the trail winding at first through open 
timber, which gradually became thicker as we advanced farther into the mountains. This 
stream, I was informed by Mr. F. Owen, is the principal fork of the Bitter Root; it varies in width 
from three to six yards, seldom exceeding two feet in depth. Its current is very rapid, and, like 
all mountain streams, it is clear and cold. 
Alter following up this stream for about twenty-five miles, and encamping on it one night, we 
commenced the ascent of the mountains. The trail ascending for some time by a gentle acclivity, 
and winding round the edge of a precipice, became, as we continued to advance, more steep ; 
in some places leading us across narrow shelves of rocks, and at others over a loose soil of sand 
and gravel, making it difficult and dangerous for our animals. In about an hour, leaving the 
edge of the precipice, we continued toiling up the side of the mountain, and after six hours’ hard 
climbing reached what seemed to be its summit, but was in fact the brink of a deep and pre¬ 
cipitous ravine, from the bottom of which rose a second slope, similar to the one we had just 
ascended. We descended by a steep and rugged path to the foot of this ravine, where we found 
a small spring. Stopping here about an hour to rest our animals, we were compelled, for want 
of grass, and in hopes of soon finding some, to set out again. When about half way up this slope, 
night coming on, we were unable to follow the trail, and finding no grass, tied up our animals to 
keep them from straying off in search of it; and having no water with which to prepare our 
supper, we turned in without it. 
The next morning we started at peep of day, and not having eaten anything since the morning 
before, were anxious soon to come upon water, intending, when we did, to stop and get breakfast. 
Our animals were now so much exhausted from the fatigue of the last two days, during which 
time they had had nothing to eat, that I made all the men dismount, and informed them that they 
would have to walk until we got out of the mountains. Our road this day was similar to that 
