avelled one hundred and sixty-four miles from Traveller's-rest Creek
to that point. The men were out of tobacco, and as there was some among
the goods deposited in the cache they made haste to open the cache. They
found everything safe, although some of the articles were damp, and a
hole had been made in the bottom of one of the canoes. Here they were
overtaken by Sergeant Ordway and his party with the nine horses that had
escaped during the night of the seventh.

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. In this way they resumed
their journey after dinner, and camped on the eastern side of the river,
opposite the head of Three-thous