New-York daily tribune., 1858-12-04


toes. end their other crops IN like proportion. They
occu,y the NEST beautiful situation Tor 8 farm IN tie
whole valley.
On Saturday morning We rasel camp, sa1 staFtsd
for Fort owen, 20 niles distant, aud arrived there
about neon on Sunday. past OF The F.-the,d tnoe
WAS csnipei around the for. awaiting ua, and such
some OF ieoioiDs | n.ve. saw e.sewher~ The OH
chief Victor snba aced us all in the mo.t coris
rer, and said .hs; ii had not come IN a few days
more he should hsve sent of hs young men down
on the tran % find ont whst had become Of Us, ard
that !! any sccdeat hsd occurcd 10 Us he would have
aiken the most sgIal vengeance on tie SpoAanes aud
other lower Idians. A. the time these latter a,ta' Aed
Col. S.eItoe, Mr.. Irving, who was m charge here
dur1g Msior Owens absence, did lot feel safe so FAR
from the settlements ard expressed an Intention oI
abandoning tue fort snd retreatng to Cartonment
Yourg Old Victor heard this reported while in the
buffalo ground hunting, and instantly raised his whole
camp and started for the fort. He snt an express 10
advance, directing him if hc found the fort soan-
doned TO follow the fogtyes and tell them - return
for he was coming 20 the iot fast as be could aud
that he and his tdbe woui protect them with their
lives. This chief is very old and in6m and very well
recollscts Csrk, the great explorer who, in fact,
speaks very kindly of him in his narrative.
This Bitter-Root Valley is of the most beautiful
places on the west side Of the Rocky Mountains, and
contains housa and thousands of of the finest
agricultural and grazing lands this Continent Tie
timber is mostly pine fir and larch, although there
some oak. The Indians have large herds of cattle,
which Craze all the year round the climate being so
mid that there is no necessity Of feeding them during
the so.called Winter months New think of t1s, You
your farmers of the East who have to work all Sam
mer from Sprcg to FALL for the purpose OF keeping
your stock from starving in the Winter Think y hss,
say again; think Of these thousands of of the
finest soil the sun even shone upon well wooded, well
Naterej end needing nothing but the energy and en-
terpre of American farmers 10 develop its
end make it one of the most productive already
s one Of the most beautiful, regions the whole
Western Continent This valley, again, Is destined
TO become the great hslf-way station between
the East and the West, the Atlantic and the
Pacific. The Indians anxious for the whites
to come in and settle among them, and Fort Owen
is sure TO be of the most Furnishing settle
ments on that slope of the mountains. Tas route
surveyed by Gov Stevens in 1853 aud 81, for rail-
road from st. Paul on the Mississippi 10 Puget Sound,
passes through this valley and here will be the grest
ceItra depot for the road From this point the South
ern Oregon Road will run south to Fort Hall, and
there branch off TO California; and here also, the
northern route to the Fraser River country will turn
of from the main route, which will keep on Ia the
west by the mouth of the Peouse and Fort Walla
Walla to Puget Sound. These things may not take
place for few years, but they looked forward
TO with great impotence by tire people the Pacific
sde who determined to have these overland routes
in control, aud not under that of our friend
John Bull. The success of the more southern route
recently established gives us strong ground for hope
that the northern line will be put into operation in the
course Of the coming Summer. Ia very few years
the connection between the pavigable waters OF the
Atlantic and those of the Pacific will be made via the
Missouri on the one side and the Columbia the
other. Ills correction must be made through the
Bitter Root Valley by steam TO Fort Benton on the
Atlantic side and by the means to the Peouse on
the Pac side leaving the short distance Of 800 miles
OILY for lard travel. At Fort Owen there already
a. Touring MILL with two of stone and mill,
both running nearly al the year. Once more, would
cell the attertion Of the young of the East to the
great induceme Is offered, not by this valley alone,
but by twotbirds Of the whole area Ct Oregon and
Washington Territories.
After remaining here five days, we started for Fort
Benton, on the headSaters of the Missouri, our party
consisting of Msjor Owen Mr.. Maillet and myself
Mr.. Malet ard myself intending to pass down the
river in small boat, Of one could be procured. The
distance between Forts Benton and Owen is about
$50 miles through country abounding in every in
ducement to settlement The approach 10 the noun
iains is quite easy commencing about 60 miles from
the summit and the grade being, according to Gov.
SeveDss survey, about 30 feet to the mile. should
hardly have known that / ascending, had it not
been for the mountains before me seeming to become
/. a nn ia
tying into the Blackfoot we found gentleman from
Massachusetts, inst from college. 1t seemed very
strange to ct any fresh from the East right in
the heart of the Rocky Mountains. He had guide
with him, and intended going on to the Bit,er-Root
Valley, and then returning. He said that he thought
by the time he got home again, he should have some-
thing to talk about
About o'clock on that day, we came to the last
OF that great dividing ridge of this continent
the Rocky Mountains. Drinking from a small spring,
ba.e farewell to tie Pacific, aud in something less
thar two hours was drinking from the waters of the
Atlantic side. Cadotte's Pass through which we
crossed is in 40 l5 north latitude and has been used
for years by the Indians, not only sngly bm ~hOle
tribes and riHoges, ren, and children, passing
through in the depth Of Winter, reH as IN Samaey,
sOirg TO ard from le buffalo hunt.
On the eastern slope the face Of the country much
more broken than the western, and the grass s not
so plentiful although saw great numbers Of en,e-
loue and deer. We first made the head OF branch Of
Dearborn River branch of the Missouri, and after
travelling Gown this short distance struck across the
country for Sun River another branch Of the Missouri
On the fifth day from Fort Owen, about noon, we rode
into Fort Benton. With the exception Of the bottom
lands or the branches of the Missouri the country
this side is lot worth much for farming, although