366 
ITINERARY OF ROUTE FROM HELL GATE TO C(EUR D’ALENE MISSION. 
In the event of the railroad pursuing this route, any quantity of the latter material can easily 
be brought from the mountains. The ride to-day was rather tedious. We left the valley to get 
rid of the undergrowth, and took a trail over the side hill, which carried us up and down through 
woods, occasionally obstructed by fallen timber. Distance to-day nineteen miles. 
October 10.—We continued in the valley about ten miles, the road leading through woods. 
Larch and spruce, and inexhaustible supplies of limestone and marble, were met with. We 
afterwards found the latter in good quantities all through the mountains. We ascended the 
dividing ridge, and reached a camp upon a small lake within a mile of its top. Grass here, 
and water got with difficulty. Good grass a mile from camp on the trail in each direction. The 
lake to which we were obliged to descend for water is 1,200 feet below the camp. Distance 
nineteen and a half miles. 
October 11.—The rivers from the dividing ridge, following in opposite directions, have their 
sources in lakes not more than half a mile apart; the general direction of the valley being east 
and west. We estimated our camp to be 2,000 feet above the eastern base of the mountain, 
and 2,500 feet above the western base. The lake upon the eastern side was about 1,200 feet 
below us, and that upon the western side about 700 feet higher. In the morning we were greeted 
with one of the loveliest days imaginable. The sky was clear, the weather mild and genial, like 
a morn in summer. 
After striking camp, we ascended to the highest point of the ridge, about one and a half 
mile, where we made halt to enjoy the magnificent view spread open to us, which can hardly 
be surpassed in any country. Far away to the east the peaks of the Rocky mountains were 
stretched out to a great length; the Flathead lake, and the valley thence to Blackfoot Pass, were 
plainly visible. Nearly the entire range of the Coeur d’Alene mountains covered with evergreen 
forests, with here and there an open summit covered with grass. The numerous valleys inter¬ 
secting the country for miles around, the courses of the many streams, marked out by the 
ascending lines of fog, all conduced to render the view of surpassing grandeur. Descending the 
ridge, we found the road steep, and in eight miles we estimated our elevation less by 3,500 feet 
than the summit we had just left. This brought us into a valley filled with gigantic cedars, 
three feet in diameter; many were six feet, and we found one twelve feet through. We found 
the larch, spruce, and pine-maple in great quantities during the march, the latter giving a 
pleasing variety to the forest growth. 
About four o’clock we encamped upon the bank of the stream which here grows much 
wider. Made camp about seven miles from the base of the mountain. The day’s march seven¬ 
teen miles. 
October 12.—Marched twelve miles; the road much obstructed by fallen timber; circuitous 
and bad. At half-past three o’clock we halted at a beautiful camp, in a valley where there 
was an abundance of good grass. Governor Stevens and Antoine proceed at once to the Coeur 
d’Alene mission, distant eleven miles. 
The mission is an enviable location, upon a hill overlooking extensive prairies to the east 
and west, stretching towards the Coeur d’Alene mountains and the Columbia river. On the 
eastern prairie is an enclosed field of one hundred acres under cultivation, where were em¬ 
ployed thirty or forty Indians—men, women, and children. We observed them ploughing, which 
they executed skilfully; others were sowing wheat, and others digging potatoes. We saw a 
funeral ceremony conducted after the Catholic form, and we were struck with the harmonious 
voices of the Indian choristers, and their solemn observance of the ceremonies. Their church, 
constructed upon a plan designed by Pere Avali, is of the Roman Doric style of architecture. 
Pulleys and ropes were the only mechanical aids in its erection. It is of hewn timber and 
adobe; ninety feet in length, forty in breadth, and sixty in height. The inside is prettily arranged. 
The altar is supported by two massive timbers of pine about four feet in diameter. We were 
told that, in erecting these pillars, an Indian who was holding one of them became frightened 
