stream, and some of our baggage was wet.  Near this river we saw the tracks of two Indians, whom we supposed to be Shoshonees.  Having made sixteen miles, we halted at an hour for the purpose of doing honor to the birthday of our early country’s independence.  The festival was not very splendid, for it consisted of a mush made of cows and a saddle of venison; nor had we anything to tempt us to prolong it.  We therefore went on till at the distance of a mile we came to a very large creek, which, like all those in the valley, had an immense rapidity of descent; we therefore proceeded up for some distance, in order to select the most convenient spot for fording.  Even there, however, such was the violence of the current that, though the water was not higher than the bellies of the horses, the resistance made in passing caused the stream to rise over their backs and loads.  After passing the creek we inclined to the left, and soon after struck the road which we had descended last year, near the spot where we dined on the 7th of September (1805).  Along this road we continued on the west side of Clark’s River, till at the distance of thirteen miles, during which we passed three more deep, large creeks, we reached its western branch, where we camped; and having sent out two hunters, despatched some men to examine the best ford across the west fork of the river.  The game to-day consisted of four deer; though we also saw a herd of ibex, or bighorn.”

Two days later they were high up among the mountains, although the ascent was not very steep.  At that height they found the weather very cool, so much so that on the morning of the sixth of July, after a cold night, they had a heavy white frost on the ground.  Setting out on that day, Captain Clark crossed a ridge which proved to be the dividing line between the Pacific and the Atlantic watershed.  At the same time he passed from what is now Missoula County, Montana, into the present county of Beaver Head, in that State.  “Beaver Head,” the reader will recollect, comes from a natural elevation in that region resembling the head of a beaver.  These points will serve to fix in one’s mind the route of the first exploring party that ever ventured into those wilds; descending the ridge on its eastern slope, the explorers struck Glade Creek, one of the sources of the stream then named Wisdom River, a branch of the Jefferson; and the Jefferson is one of the tributaries of the mighty Missouri.  Next day the journal has this entry:—­

“In the morning our horses were so much scattered that, although we sent out hunters in every direction to range the country for six or eight miles, nine of them could not be recovered.  They were the most valuable of all our horses, and so much attached to some of their companions that it was difficult to separate them in the daytime.  We therefore presumed that they must have been stolen by some roving Indians; and accordingly left a party of five men to continue the pursuit, while the rest went on to