Lost Trail Pass, meeting Flathead Salish at Ross’s Hole — Joseph Whitehouse: September 8, 1805
On a cold, cloudy day with chilly northwest winds, the party set out early and traveled down a large creek through smooth, dry plains bordered by pitch pine along the river. Snow-covered mountains rose to the left and barren hills to the right. They paused around 11 a.m. to dine, joined by hunters who had killed an elk and a deer. After scattered showers of rain and hail, they continued down the valley, covering over 20 miles. A hunter recovered two lame horses and a colt, likely abandoned by natives. They camped at a creek with good forage.
cloudy and verry chilley and cold. we Set out eairly and
proceeded on down this large creek or Small River. passed
over Smooth dry plains. no timber only along the River,
which is large pitch pine the bottoms wide. we crossed
Several creeks. Saw Snow onthe Mountains to our left. high
barron hills to ourright. about 11 oClock we halted to dine at
a branch our hunters all joined us. had killed an Elk and a
Deer, Which they brought with them. the wind from N. W.
chilley and cold. the Snow lays thick on the Mo‘ a little to
our left. we delayed and let our horses feed about 2 hours,
and proceeded on down the valley. had Several Small cold
Showers of rain & a little hail. passed over level Smooth
plains in this valley. the Mountains are rough on each Side
and are covered with pine and the tops of which are covered
with Snow. Some places appear to lay thick. one of our
hunters found & caught 2 horses and a handsom Colt. we
take them along with us though the horses are lame. we
expect that to be the reason that the natives left them in these
bottoms. we travveled 20 odd miles this day and Camped at
the Creek and Smooth bottom where was fine feed for our
horses. our hunters all joined us one of them had killed a
Deer. crossed Several branches in course of the day.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Cloudy and very chilly and cold. We set out early and proceeded on down this large creek or small river. We passed over smooth dry plains. There was no timber except along the river, which is large pitch pine, and the bottoms are wide. We crossed several creeks. We saw snow on the mountains to our left, and high barren hills to our right. About 11 o'clock we halted to dine at a branch, and our hunters all joined us. They had killed an elk and a deer, which they brought with them. The wind was from the N.W., chilly and cold. The snow lay thick on the mountains a little to our left.
We delayed and let our horses feed about 2 hours, and then proceeded on down the valley. We had several small cold showers of rain and a little hail. We passed over level smooth plains in this valley. The mountains are rough on each side and are covered with pine, and their tops are covered with snow. In some places it appears to lie thick. One of our hunters found and caught 2 horses and a handsome colt. We took them along with us, though the horses are lame. We expect that to be the reason the natives left them in these bottoms.
We traveled 20-odd miles this day and camped at the creek in a smooth bottom where there was fine feed for our horses. Our hunters all joined us, and one of them had killed a deer. We crossed several branches in the course of the day.
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