Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1873-06-27
NAVIGATION OF THE YELLOW
STOKE.
,.,,--.,.-.........--s.s,,-s--..-.,-....-...--.

OF the products OF our Industry and skin, Oh
the many articles oi use and luxury required
to DC brought to us.
However desirable and convenient the
raj id transit afforded by good and thor
oughly operated lines OF railroad may be,
no means OF transportation yet devised, can
compete, In chcapucss, with the narigable
rivers Of our country; tie tlrcless nerves oi
the locomotive engine can bear more swiftly
to its destination the wealth won by toll
but thy expansive river watts it onward by
Its certain current, as by All immunity oil
nature. Upon a road-bed and highway Of It's
own. du.s and graded by III Omnipotenl
\ hand.
\ At least two Of these mighty arteries 81
Internal trade traverse our own Territory
the Yellowstone and the Missouri; but
while Tor years the latter has been navigatcl
BY various crafts. and forRlcd the principal
inlet Of travel and transportation into our
i country. the former equally capaeious. safe
and nayi liable, is unused, and, il We except
the ella. the LEASE kliewn large river i'll the
/ Union. But with the increased demands d
trade, tile necessities for more feasible and
cheaper lines Of transportation, impcratiyely
demanded by Eastern Montana, and the near
approach to its solitary banks Of the North
ern Pacific Railroad, the unknown stream
cannot longer escape the attention OF the
adventurous freighter
I The latest well known attempt to nayi-
gate down the Yellowstone, was in the fall
| OF 1867, when several large fiat boats, con-
structed at the canyon just east Of Bozeman,
Idescsndcd the stream to Sioux City and
Omaha. The cruel harbarltles and constant
|deprctations 0 the saragcs along its banks,
and not the dangers of IFS currents or its
rapids, have since deferred similar adren-
| lures. We condense for the entertainment Of
| our readers al account Of the river. rendered
BY 4 gentleman OF our town who participated
in the excursion above eferred to.
Starting from point below the canyon Of
the Yellowstone. about twenty miles east Of
Bozeman. the stream flows with rapid
current to the mouth Of the Big Horn, some
times breaking ont into var, GUS channels, Of
which 1t is often difficult to distinguish the
heavier ono. receiving several large streams,
among which may be mentioned Shields
River, Boulder, Saltwater and Clark's Fork,
and numerous large creeks, all OF which
make no great perceptible difference in the
tdeptl, OF the stream, according to our inform
ant, the streams beng, at the time. Of the
trip, in as low, if not Il lower stage Of water
than has ever since been known,
FROM the Canyon to The mouth Of the Big
twenty-five miles. with about two feet Of
water on the shallowcst rifles at that time. |
From the mouth Of the Big Horn to the
mouth OF Powder Ris er, the distance isabout |
two hundred miles. Through this section the
stream is both broader and deeper. for the
most part, with eighty mites ofrapids. known
is Wolf Rapids. which extend from near the
mouth OF Tongue River to q mile or two
below the mouth Of Powder River, and con-.
list general of strnaEs-a Sruss3y fOUhe
across The channel in nearly par
lllel lines. about forty to eighty rods apart.
the points Of these rocks pcered
above the then low stage of wafer, but our
yoyagers amade the riffleo without encoun- |
ering any of them except on one occasion
when one OF the boats, having taken the
wrong channel, slid up ON Il rock. and was, /
with q few hours labor. discngaged. The
current in this part OF the stream il. said to
have been not swift ailording ample time for
our adventures to steer clear Of the then |
visible crags, and seem to de-erye til, name
of rapids, not SO much from the velocity OF i
The stream as from the continuous series OF
reefs over which it f.ows, between which and |
surrounding whose projecting points. the
waters Of the river were OF considerable /
depth. t
In summing up orr Informant said that tile
navigation of the Yellowstone from thu
mouth of the Big Horn to the mouth of the
ormer, was precisely like the navigation of /
he Missouri from Fort Buford to Fort Rice;
lffortling the same amount aud character Of I
such as shoals rapids, &c. The /
,oats of onr yoyagers were flat-h0ats, made
If scow form. eight to ten feet wide and
bout thirty feet long, and carried from
even to nine men with their eqaipage ard
PROVISIONS.
Our informant says. that from here to the
Mouth OF the Big Horn no Serious obstacle
Exists to the coilstruction OF il good wagon
CAL Oyer most ut the route, the country Z
5 by no means difficult to traverse with
wagons In it, present condition, and prefers
he left side, going DOWN. A. most feasible +
81 such road. -a8
From hcknown volume of water rushing
own this great river from May to August,
70 take fnr granted. from what we know
K a portion of the stream, and what
cllabie sources we have learned of the rest
t its course. we have no hesitation III as
umina that when the Missouri will admit
to Benton, the Yellowstone will
ford navigation for steamers OF Tile same
r.sde, for distance Of at feast four hundred
liles from its mouth, from whe ce to this
own an almost direct route ior Il good
fagon road is a matter beyond question.
MADRID, June 20.
ftI,nrn ,,yi:,,c,.c nf ,1ica fl,n