360 
ITINERARY OF ROUTE FROM FORT BENTON TO CADOTTE S PASS. 
29. Itinerary of the route from fort benton to cadotte’s pass, the jocko river, and 
claric’s fork, to wallah-wallah, with an estimate of the time, labor, and cost 
OF MAKING A PRACTICABLE WAGON ROAD. 
Olympia, Washington Territory, 
January 31, 1854. 
Sir: I have the honor to submit a report, written at your request, concerning the opening of 
a wagon road from Fort Benton, across the Rocky mountains, to Fort Wallah-Wallah. The data 
upon which the report is based has been obtained, partly from Mr. Lambert’s daily topographical 
sketches and notes, and partly from the notes I made while travelling over the country. As I 
did not view the country with reference to the construction of a wagon road through it, of course 
the report is liable to error for that reason. Notwithstanding, I think the estimate is too high; 
so that the error, if there be any, is on the safe side. 
The hypothesis which I have adopted is that, whether there be one or a number of wagons 
starting from Fort Benton, ten men, each to have a pick, a shovel, and an axe, and each to 
be capable of an amount of work equivalent to loosening and levelling fifteen cubic yards of 
common earth per day of ten hours, will be constantly available for work on the road. 
The report is in the form of a narrative of the supposed daily progress of the wagons; an 
accompanying table exhibits the quantity and kind of work, and the time required for its per¬ 
formance. 
1st day. —The wagons ascend to the high prairies north of the Missouri, and travel nineteen 
miles to the Teton, upon which they encamp. 
2d day. —They go nineteen miles in a southwesterly direction, and encamp on a prairie lake 
destitute of wood. 
3d day. —They travel fifteen miles to Sun river, and four miles up it, when they go into camp 
on its left bank. 
Ath day. —They ascend Sun river four miles; cross it; direct their course to the south of the 
more northerly of the hills called the “Square Buttes,” or “Big Knees,” and go fifteen miles to 
“Bird-tail Rock,” on “Crown Butte creek,” where they encamp. 
5th day. —They direct their course to the southwest; cross Crown Butte creek; cross Beaver 
creek and four other small streams; go a little to the south of a high hill on the left bank of 
Dearborn river, and encamp on that river; having travelled sixteen miles. Part of the work 
would be performed after the wagons halt. 
6th and 7th days. —They descend to and cross Dearborn river; travel nearly due southwest ; 
cross that river again ; go along the bluffs on its left bank, crossing many ravines and small 
streams, and encamp at the foot of the dividing ridge, having made fifteen miles in two days. 
The wagons w r ould arrive at the foot of the dividing ridge in time for the workmen to cut away 
the timber that day. Heretofore it has been supposed that the inequalities of the ground, where 
it would be unnecessary to remove obstacles, have been such that the wagons could not move with 
a greater average speed than two and a half miles per hour. The rate of travel will henceforth 
be reduced to two miles per hour. 
8 th and 9th days. —The workmen prepare an oblique ascent and descent of the dividing ridge. 
10th and 1 1th days. —The wagons cross the ridge, proceed down the right bank of the Black- 
foot fork and encamp, after making twenty-six miles in two days. 
12th day. —They go ten miles, and encamp on the right bank of the same stream. 
13 th, 14 th, and 1 5th days. —They proceed along the Blackfoot fork ; crossing it several times, 
but continuing mostly on the right bank, and encamp on this side, after travelling thirty-one miles 
in three days. Before coming to this camp the trail, as it now exists, forks—one branch crossing 
the Blackfoot and leading to Hell Gate river. This report, and the accompanying estimate, refer 
only to a road down the Blackfoot fork. 
