That Night The Weather Was So Cold That Water Froze In A Basin To A
Thickness Of Three-Quarters Of
An inch, and the grass around the camp
was stiff with frost, although the month of July was nearly a
Week old.
The boats taken from the cache were now loaded, and the explorers
were divided into two bands, one to descend the river by boat and
the other to take the same general route on horseback, the objective
point being the Yellowstone. The story is taken tip here by the journal
in these lines: -
"After breakfast [July 10] the two parties set out, those on shore
skirting the eastern side of Jefferson River, through Service [-berry]
Valley and over Rattlesnake Mountain, into a beautiful and extensive
country, known among the Indians by the name of Hahnahappapchah,
or Beaverhead Valley, from the number of those animals to be found in it,
and also from the point of land resembling the head of a beaver.
It [the valley] extends from Rattlesnake Mountain as low as
Frazier's Creek, and is about fifty miles in length in direct line;
while its width varies from ten to fifteen miles, being watered
in its whole course by Jefferson River and six different creeks.
The valley is open and fertile; besides the innumerable quantities
of beaver and otter with which its creeks are supplied, the bushes
of the low grounds are a favorite resort for deer; while on the higher
parts of the valley are seen scattered groups of antelopes,
and still further, on the steep sides of the mountains, are observed
many bighorns, which take refuge there from the wolves and bears.
At the distance of fifteen miles the two parties stopped to dine;
when Captain Clark, finding that the river became wider and deeper,
and that the canoes could advance more rapidly than the horses,
determined to go himself by water, leaving Sergeant Pryor with six men
to bring on the horses.
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