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.
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