FROM HEADWATERS OF THE MISSOURI TO DALLES OF THE COLUMBIA. 
501 
and powder it finely in the hands. This is poured upon a chip or piece of bark, and a small 
piece of spunk, lighted with flint and steel, is covered with it. From a smoke, with the aid of 
a little blowing, it soon increases to a flame; and, with the addition of a few dry splinters from 
some fallen tree, the foundation is laid of as roaring a fire as any shivering traveller need wish to 
back up against. 
A flint, steel and spunk, are always preferable to matches; the latter are too liable to injury 
from the damp. 
After our fire got well to going we cut down some small pines, and used some to hedge up the 
windward side of the fire, while from the others were trimmed off enough boughs to make down 
our beds on. The snow at camp is eight inches deep, and some of it appears to have been on 
the ground some time. 
Our friends the wolves continue to follow on our trail, and to look in upon us occasionally in 
the evening, not fully satisfied that we are all right yet. 
January 12 —Last night about an inch of snow fell, but this morning was clear and very cold. 
With two hours’ labor we succeeded in forcing our way, through an entangled thicket of young 
pines, to the foot of the dividing ridge—the back-bone, as it is called, of the main chain of mount¬ 
ains. The ascent was steep and laborious—so much so, that the men were obliged to double 
teams, and make two turns from the base to the summit. This occupied all of two hours, though 
the distance was not over half a mile. I therefore gained the summit some time in advance of 
the party. It was then mid-day, and the sun, which shone brightly in a cloudless sky, was sur¬ 
rounded with a succession of beautiful halos. The first, brighter than a brilliant rainbow, sub¬ 
tended, as near as I could judge with a pocket-compass, an angle of about 45°. The second, a 
very distinct one, though not so brilliant as the first, was concentric with it, and subtended an 
angle of from 60° to 70°. The third, an inverted arc, of which only about 120° was visible, 
was tangent to the second at its highest point, but had about the same curvature as the first. 
The air was full of minute particles of frost, so small as to be visible only by their sparkling 
in the sun. The western slope of the ridge was nearly as abrupt as the eastern, and at its base 
was the fountain-head of the Blackfoot fork of the Bitter Root river, whose narrow valley wound 
its way westward till lost to view in the mass of surrounding mountains. 
Here I proposed to stop a little, at the top of this connecting link of the immense mountain 
chain, to take an uninterrupted view of these valleys, with their small streams, which, though 
rising within gunshot of me, were tributary to two such distant and mighty rivers. But it soon 
became evident that this was no place for any one to stand idle, for a temperature of 21° below 
zero, assisted by a sharp west wind, drove me down the mountain side, with both ears and the 
end of my nose frozen. That was a very uncomfortable place. 
A little after sunset we camped—perfectly tired out, from the biggest man to the smallest dog— 
in a bleak, dreary corner, with but few trees to break the wind. Our beds, which had been wet 
the night before, were frozen, and had to be thawed before used. As to myself, I did not lie 
down at all that night, but piled up a bank of snow, and scooped out a place in it for a seat, which 
I lined with my bedding, and slep bolt upright. 
The snow for the most of the day has been one foot in depth, and is drifted but little; therefore 
it has not been found necessary as yet to wear snow-shoes. 
January 13.—Travelled about six miles down the Blackfoot fork and camped. Some time 
last night a driving storm arose from the northeast, and has continued all day, filling the air per¬ 
fectly full of flying snow. After camping, we occupied ourselves the rest of the day by building 
a large bough-house around the fire and drying our bedding. One of the men had his toes frosted 
to-day, and this morning two of the dogs, while being harnessed, had their feet so badly frozen that 
they are very lame. They have to be watched for a while after camping some nights, otherwise 
they will lame themselves by lying down and gnawing out the balls of snow which get packed 
and frozen between their toes in travelling. 
