to overcome it with our oars, since it would have been impossible to use
either the cord or the pole. We were obliged to go on some time after
dark, not being able to find a spot large enough to encamp on; but at
length, about two miles above a small island in the middle of the river,
we met with a place on the left side, where we procured plenty of light
wood and pitch pine. This extraordinary range of rocks we called the
Gates of the Rocky Mountains."

Some of Captain Clark's men, engaged in hunting, gave the alarm to
roving bands of Shoshonee Indians, hunting in that vicinity. The noise
of their guns attracted the attention of the Indians, who, having set
fire to the grass as a warning to their comrades, fled to the mountains.
The whole country soon appeared to have taken fright, and great clouds
of smoke were observed in all directions. Falling into an old Indian
trail, Captain Clark waited, with his weary and footsore men, for the
rest of the party to come up with them.

The explorers had now passed south, between the Big Belt range of
mountains on the cast and the main chain of the Rocky Mountains on the
west. Meagher County, Montana, now lies on the cast of their trail, and
on the west side of that route is the county of Lewis and Clark. They
were now--still travelling southward--approaching the ultimate sources
of the great Missouri. The journal says:--

"We are delighted to find that the Indian woman recognizes the country;
she tells us that to this creek her countrymen make excursions to
procure white paint on its banks, and we therefore call it Whiteearth
Creek. She says also that the Three Forks of the Missouri are at no
great distance--a piece of intelligence which has cheered the spirits
of us all, as we hope soon to reach the head of that river. This is the
warmest day, except one, we have experienced this summer. In the shade
the mercury stood at eighty degrees, which is the second time it has
reached that height during this season. We camped on an island, after
making nineteen and three quarters miles.

"In the course of the day we saw many geese, cranes, small birds common
to the plains, and a few pheasants. We also observed a small plover or
curlew of a brown color, about the size of a yellow-legged plover or
jack-curlew, but of a different species. It first appeared near the
mouth of Smith's River, but is so shy and vigilant that we were unable
to shoot it. Both the broad and narrow-leaved willow