Chapter 5

5

Magnificent scenery Wind River Mountains Treasury of waters A

stray horse An Indian trail Trout streams The Great Green River

Valley An alarm A band of trappers Fontenelle, his

information Sufferings of thirst Encampment on the Seeds-ke-

dee Strategy of rival traders Fortification of the camp The

Blackfeet Banditti of the mountains Their character and habits

IT WAS ON THE 20TH of July that Captain Bonneville first came in

sight of the grand region of his hopes and anticipations, the

Rocky Mountains. He had been making a bend to the south, to avoid

some obstacles along the river, and had attained a high, rocky

ridge, when a magnificent prospect burst upon his sight. To the

west rose the Wind River Mountains, with their bleached and snowy

summits towering into the clouds. These stretched far to the

north-northwest, until they melted away into what appeared to be

faint clouds, but which the experienced eyes of the veteran

hunters of the party recognized for the rugged mountains of the

Yellowstone; at the feet of which extended the wild Crow country:

a perilous, though profitable region for the trapper.

To the southwest, the eye ranged over an immense extent of

wilderness, with what appeared to be a snowy vapor resting upon

its horizon. This, however, was pointed out as another branch of

the Great Chippewyan, or Rocky chain; being the Eutaw Mountains,

at whose basis the wandering tribe of hunters of the same name

pitch their tents. We can imagine the enthusiasm of the worthy

captain when he beheld the vast and mountainous scene of his

adventurous enterprise thus suddenly unveiled before him. We can

imagine with what feelings of awe and admiration he must have

contemplated the Wind River Sierra, or bed of mountains; that

great fountainhead from whose springs, and lakes, and melted

snows some of those mighty rivers take their rise, which wander

over hundreds of miles of varied country and clime, and find

their way to the opposite waves of the Atlantic and the Pacific.

The Wind River Mountains are, in fact, among the most remarkable

of the whole Rocky chain; and would appear to be among the

loftiest. They form, as it were, a great bed of mountains, about

eighty miles in length, and from twenty to thirty in breadth;

with rugged peaks, covered with eternal snows, and deep, narrow

valleys full of springs, and brooks, and rock-bound lakes. From

this great treasury of waters issue forth limpid streams, which,

augmenting as they descend, become main tributaries of the

Missouri on the one side, and the Columbia on