The Prospect From The
Summit Was Grand But Disheartening.
Directly before them towered
the loftiest peaks of Immahah, rising far higher than the
elevated ground on which they stood:
On the other hand, they were
enabled to scan the course of the river, dashing along through
deep chasms, between rocks and precipices, until lost in a
distant wilderness of mountains, which closed the savage
landscape.
They remained for a long time contemplating, with perplexed and
anxious eye, this wild congregation of mountain barriers, and
seeking to discover some practicable passage. The approach of
evening obliged them to give up the task, and to seek some
camping ground for the night. Moving briskly forward, and
plunging and tossing through a succession of deep snow-drifts,
they at length reached a valley known among trappers as the
"Grand Rond," which they found entirely free from snow.
This is a beautiful and very fertile valley, about twenty miles
long and five or six broad; a bright cold stream called the
Fourche de Glace, or Ice River, runs through it. Its sheltered
situation, embosomed in mountains, renders it good pasturaging
ground in the winter time; when the elk come down to it in great
numbers, driven out of the mountains by the snow. The Indians
then resort to it to hunt. They likewise come to it in the summer
time to dig the camash root, of which it produces immense
quantities. When this plant is in blossom, the whole valley is
tinted by its blue flowers, and looks like the ocean when
overcast by a cloud.
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