FROM THE FLATHEAD CAMP TO ST. MARY’S VALLEY. 
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passed during the day, nor as good as our animals deserved after a fatiguing march. During the 
afternoon the clouds gathered thick and black in the west, giving promise of a shower, which, 
towards 9 p. m., came in full blast, continuing till morning, giving us a wet and uncomfortable bed. 
September 25, 1853.—Commences cloudy and rainy, the rain having continued the whole night 
without cessation. Our course this morning lay along a series of hills, some of which were very 
steep and exceedingly rocky. The rain during the night had caused the ground to become very 
muddy and slippery. We crossed the Little Blackfoot fork many times, which we found well 
wooded with cotton-wood and willow; current rapid, and the bottom very rocky, with many 
rapids. The rain continued during the whole day, which made the travelling disagreeable. The 
mountains to-day are not so high as those we have passed, but present more the appearance of 
high undulating prairie hills, with their summits occasionally covered with timber. The formation 
along some of these mountain prairies was of slate granite and a red brick-colored rock, which, 
when broken, looked not unlike fragments of broken brick. Our camp of last night was near a 
-of mountain limestone. Having halted at 12 m. to prepare breakfast, we resumed our 
march at 2£ p. m., continuing down the valley of the Little Blackfoot, which, receiving many 
tributaries from the mountains on each side, swelled it to a stream of from eighteen inches to two 
feet deep, and from twenty-five to thirty yards wide, which continues to be well wooded; the 
quaking asp and small-leafed cotton-wood being found most abundant; elm and ash were also to 
be found—the latter, however, but seldom. 
The valley of this stream is now one mile wide, and covered with a beautiful and luxurious 
growth of fine grass. In many places the valley has been burnt over, and the young, green 
grass is now growing abundantly. Our night’s camp being near one of these spots, our animals 
duly appreciated the nutritious grass. We struck, during the afternoon, the main stream of the 
Hell Gate river, which we found to be a rapid, bold stream, eighty yards wide, with channel 
water two feet deep, lined on both sides with the small-leafed cotton-wood. We did not follow 
the Little Blackfoot fork to its mouth, as our trail tended more to the west, over a series of low 
undulating prairie hills, striking the main stream of the Hell Gate river about three miles below 
the mouth of the fork. We forded the Hell Gate river a few miles below the Little Blackfoot, 
camping on its left bank, finding good grass, wood, and water. 
The Hell Gate river rises in the main chain of the Rocky mountains ; its principal branch 
flowing through a well known prairie bottom called 11 Deer’s Lodge;” its source being in the 
ridge of mountains separating its waters from those of the Wisdom river, a tributary of the 
Jefferson fork of the Missouri; its most eastern branch rising in a ridge separating it from the main 
stream of the Jefferson river. Both of these branches are followed by Indians going to the buffalo 
hunt—the former being travelled by a very good wagon road from Fort Hall. 
September 26, 1853.—Commences cool and cloudy ; the rain ceased near morning, leaving 
everything wet and disagreeable. We resumed our march at 7.10 a. m. down the valley of the 
Hell Gate river, on its left bank, continuing at times in the valley over the prairie bluffs that 
bound it, in order to cut off the many bends of the stream. We crossed the stream several times 
during the day, finding the ford with water two feet deep, and the stream from eighty to one 
hundred yards wide. About 11 a. m., when on the left bank of the river, we struck the trail of 
a party going towards the east—the trail being but a few days old. We found a small pile of 
stones, and in it a small piece of paper with the following written on it: “F. W. Lander, engineer 
N. P. P. R. Ex., passed here with nine men September 23, 1853, towards St. Mary’s.—Hugh 
Munroe, guide.” His trail tended at that time due magnetic east, while ours was due magnetic 
west. I thought it possible that the guide of Mr. Lander’s party had taken the Hell Gate river to 
be the St. Mary’s or Bitter Root river, and in that case was following it up to strike the St. Mary’s 
village, the point of junction of the several reconnoitring parties then in the field. Laboring under 
this impression, and knowing full well, from having four Flathead guides with us, that we were 
travelling on the proper trail and in the right direction, I deemed it expedient to despatch Mr. 
