Lolo Trail, ascending into Bitterroot Mountains — John Ordway: September 12, 1805
The party set out early after sending hunters ahead, then climbed into the mountains, crossing several small creeks and navigating steep, difficult terrain. The hunters brought in four deer and a pheasant, which the group ate at midday. They continued over a rough, rocky ridge with no water or suitable campsite, finally descending a steep slope around 10 p.m. to reach a creek after traveling about 17 miles. They camped on uneven ground with little forage available for the horses.
hunters set out eairly we loaded and set out soon after and pro-
ceeded on soon took the Mountains came up and down Several
Steep places crossed Several Small creeks and we descended a
1 Here the captains decided to lie by for a day in order to rest the horses
and take some “sceleslial Observations.” They named the creek, therefore,
“Travelers rest.” It is now known as Lolo Creek, or the Lolo Fork of Bitter
Root. Relying on the Indian guide’s information the party now prepared
to abandon their descent of the valley of the latter and. ascending Lolo Creek,
renew then’ effort to break through the mountain ranges which barred them
from the Columbia.
2 On Lolo Creek, nine miles, according to the captains’ calculations, above
its mouth.
1805] SERGEANT ORDWAY’S JOURNAL 285
bad Steep part of the Moun18 and came down on the creek again
and halted to dine our hunters had killed this day 4 Deer and a
pheasant, we dined and proceeded on crossed 2 more creeks
ascended up a mountain on a high ridge a verry bad trail rough
and rockey. we found no water nor place to camp untill 10 oGlock
at night, then descended a Steep part of the Mountain, came
down on the creek which we left this morning or at noon and we
had came 17^ miles1 this day. and near sd creek where we could
not find a level place to Sleep, and Scarcely any feed for our horses.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
The hunters set out early. We loaded up and set out soon after, and proceeded on. We soon took to the mountains, came up and down several steep places, crossed several small creeks, and descended a bad steep part of the mountains, coming down on the creek again, where we halted to dine. Our hunters had killed 4 deer and a pheasant this day. We dined and proceeded on, crossed 2 more creeks, and ascended up a mountain on a high ridge — a very bad trail, rough and rocky.
We found no water nor place to camp until 10 o'clock at night. Then we descended a steep part of the mountain and came down on the creek which we had left this morning, or at noon. We had come 17½ miles this day, and camped near said creek where we could not find a level place to sleep, and scarcely any feed for our horses.
This modernization is AI-generated for accessibility. The original above is the authoritative version.
Entities mentioned in this entry
Auto-extracted from the entry text. Hover any entity for context.
