536 
FROM CANTONMENT STEVENS TO FORT DALLES. 
been enclosed by the Indians, in which were slanding the stalks of corn and the remains of wheat 
and vegetables. The Indians little understanding the art of agriculture, secure from the soil not 
more than one-fourth of that which it is capable of yielding. They are badly supplied with 
farming utensils, and are compelled to use any and every thing, such as sticks, horns of animals, 
&c., in tilling their crops. Their fences are roughly and rudely made, being mostly formed of 
underbrush and bushes, the twigs of which are interwoven with each other, thus affording a very 
weak and insecure protection against the bands of horses that they possess. Many fine bands 
of horned stock were to be seen browsing along the borders of the streams, while large bands 
of horses nearly wild were to be seen along the tops and ridges of the bluffs. The country to-day 
we found much cut up by trails and roads leading in every possible conceivable direction, and 
which were well calculated to confuse the traveller. 
October 6.—We resumed our march this morning up the eastern fork of the Alpahwah for a 
distance of two miles, when we ascended the bluffs bounding it on the west. Gaining the top, 
we reached the broad rolling prairie, over which we travelled for a distance of five miles, when 
we reached a small stream called the Pelahat, flowing towards the west. The valley of this creek 
is half a mile wide, and covered with a most beautiful growth of nutritious grass. It is ten 
yards wide, fifteen inches deep, and timbered with the white haw, cotton-wood, and willow, but 
principally the latter. It is bounded on each side by a range of prairie bluffs about one hundred 
and fifty feet high, and covered with a rich growth of grass. Travelling down its right bank for 
a distance of seven miles, we crossed to the opposite bank, and at a distance of two miles crossed 
over a series of rolling prairie hills for three miles, when we reached a beautiful creek, called by 
the Indians and others Two Canon. The valley where we struck it is eight hundred yards 
wide, and bounded on each side by high, steep, and in some places rocky bluffs, two hundred 
feet high. The stream is fifteen yards wide, and twelve inches deep, and bordered with the 
cotton-wood and willow, principally the former. The grass here we found to be indifferent and 
sparse, though the soil is quite fertile. On this creek lives a trader by the name of Marangois, a 
Frenchman, who has several fields enclosed, and with a large family lives quite comfortably. 
The Two Canon forms the southern boundary of the Nez Perces and Cayuse Indians. Leaving 
this creek, we travelled over a beautiful valley prairie for a distance often miles, when we struck 
the northern branch of the Touchet, which we found to be a large and bold stream, flowing through 
a valley a mile wide, and bounded on each side by a range of beautiful hills. There is no 
stream that we have found, from the mountains to the Dalles of the Columbia, which is as well 
wooded as the Touchet, nor is there found in any of the valley bottoms soil of a richer char¬ 
acter than that found in this valley. The winters are represented as being mild; thus affording 
every inducement to the grazier and the farmer. Having travelled a distance of thirty miles, 
we encamped on the left bank of the stream ; and the next morning, making an early start, we 
reached at 4 p. m. the ranche of Messrs. Brooks, Bamford, and Noble, where we rested a day to 
refresh ourselves and animals. The country travelled over was a rolling prairie, and many of 
the bottoms were exceedingly rich and fertile. Large bands of Indian horses were seen along 
the hill-tops, and through the numberless bottoms of the rolling country. I have seen no country 
superior to that of the Nez Perces and Cayuse Indians, and which offer to the grazier and the 
agriculturist inducements which are rarely surpassed in any region. The grand recommendation 
and capability of this whole region is its peculiar adaptation to grazing purposes; and were it 
well wooded, could not be surpassed by any section west of the Rocky mountains. 
Resuming our march on the 9th, we reached Fort Wallah-Wallah, where we met, the party 
under James Duty, Esq., who had taken the Coeur d’Alene route, and arrived the day previous 
Securing some fresh meat at this point, we took the river road, by the Columbia, to Fort Dalles, 
where we arrived on the 14th of October, when a portion of my party were discharged, and the 
public property turned over to the quartermaster. 
Taking a retrospective view of the country passed over from the Bitter Root valley to the Nez 
