d plains. The clouds rise suddenly near these
mountains, and distribute their contents partially over the neighboring
plains. The same cloud will discharge hail alone in one part, hail and
rain in another, and rain only in a third, all within the space of a few
miles; while at the same time there is snow falling on the mountains
to the southeast of us. There is at present no snow on those mountains;
that which covered them on our arrival, as well as that which has since
fallen, having disappeared. The mountains to the north and northwest
of us are still entirely covered with snow; indeed, there has been no
perceptible diminution of it since we first saw them, which induces a
belief either that the clouds prevailing at this season do not reach
their summits or that they deposit their snow only. They glisten with
great beauty when the sun shines on them in a particular direction, and
most probably from this glittering appearance have derived the name of
the Shining Mountains."

A mysterious noise, heard by the party, here engaged their attention,
as it did years afterwards the attention of other explorers. The journal
says:--

"Since our arrival at the falls we have repeatedly heard a strange noise
coming from the mountains in a direction a little to the north of west.
It is heard at different periods of the day and night (sometimes when
the air is perfectly still and without a cloud), and consists of one
stroke only, or of five or six discharges in quick succession. It is
loud, and resembles precisely the sound of a six-pound piece of ordnance
at the distance of three miles. The Minnetarees frequently mentioned
this noise, like thunder, which they said the mountains made; but we had
paid no attention to it, believing it to have been some superstition, or
perhaps a falsehood. The watermen also of the party say that the
Pawnees and Ricaras give the same account of a noise heard in the Black
Mountains to the westward of them. The solution of the mystery given by
the philosophy of the watermen is, that it is occasioned by the bursting
of the rich mines of silver confined within the bosom of the mountains."

Of these strange noises there are many explanations, the most plausible
being that they are caused by the explosion of the species of stone
known as the geode, fragments of which are frequently found among the
mountains. The geode has a hollow cell within, lined with beautiful
crystals of many colors.

Independence Da