Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1875-07-01
THE YELLOWSTONE.
Return Of General FOrsy ythe's Expedition
Up the Yellowstone.
Kis Report Of the River and tlas, Cnt,n-

BISMARCK, ID. T. June l2.-tiencral For
syth, Lieutenant Grant. aud party returned
this morning with the steamer .IOsephint. Oi
the COulSON Line, tioiu tie Yellowstone. aGA
left for the Eas, a. 10, irey .e.;. Fort Al.-
ford May 2t, ant. I::.rti.h ~, i.pt,,.t III iAc
Big Horn a.listau,.n o. 4.9 inlies, II. seven
days. Up 10 that t;Hif 49, ;iil51>ui1g WAS "a
perlencet, the Elyvf it:.n:- l,al's':W ,,l ,taeh
the banks ioW, VIII. -. ,f;i:ji. ..>:t.oii.4,
! back tIcin The ,.ttr. :4.> tes,!li.f. y letr--
scnted us extremely It,. Ate~ h sing li:.
big Horn spais ;a,al b-tt y erc r~A, .i !. y.t
| many places. jiey passed 4'cA,,.s ..l.l
| Pryor rivers, alu rti4, 4 !cnl,>,y Pillar.
| On the latter, wi I'LL IN \, r,t ]. i.4n III, ts-
pcndicularly in The nlGltlc III iit liyey 70 .1se
height Of :s'5O fcei Was iau,u cI.&,uc same 81
William CLARK, Tue ulJe iet i; :s,, many other
! names, some oatel -. It4lAt4, :,e ttt L. Pass
| Ing this, they continued T. W.,usa fifteen
| miles Of Clark's Fork, this uein. over SEQ
| miles from Fort RutorI, and 200 miles above
! Powder rlve.- Al ihlS point tilcy We're oU-
| liged to turn bach. On accoun. u the swat
! current and obstruc;iors 10 the Channels
AS they returned. when near i'rynr river.
! they came upon camp rf scysla thousand
Grow Indians. General Forsyth talked with
them and found lncsll well armed and supplied.
They were on The way Il the Big Horn coun-
N.Y. lNC hoiCuA HCIC HEcI. 4iU lIunuAIlcS Ol
deer, elk, bear, antelope ,.nt. mountain sheep
We're seen.
The Josephine ran up the Big Horn river
!: distance Of fifteen miles, where they found
the channel obstructcd. Along the stream
the valley was rugged and narrow. There
was snow on the peaks which the Indians
said was perpetual. The officers Of the Jose
phine consider the Yellowstone to be even
better for navigation, at least three months of
every year, as far up rs The Big Horn, than
the Upper Missouri.
The following account Of the exploring
expedition up the Yellowstone and Big Horn
| rivers was received at military Headquarters.
III Chicago, on the 18th:
BISMARCK, .. T., 18th, 1875.
Lieutenant General F. II. Sheridan. Head |
quarters. Chicago, Ill.
We left FOri Buford at 6 y. m on Wednes- |
day, May 26, and reached the mouth Of the /
Big Horn river by the use Of steam alone. /
without setting a spar or warping, at a. nj.
Wednesday, June 2. Our running time was
eighty eight and forty minutes: distance tray-
eled from Fort Buford, 400 miles: from the !
mouth of the Powder river, 165 miles Push
ing on from the Big Horn, we had TO work
our way up the Yellowstone by the use Of |
lines and spars, passing Pompey's Pillar and
'yV1 y JIfCls Uul uHdIJy were CbUDtJItu 10
turn back when within about twenty miles Of
Clark's Fork, having reached point on the
Yellowstone $50 miles above Powder river
and 495 from Buford. III descending The
Yellowstone, we had q rise in the river as far
as the Powder river. but from there to the
Big HOrn the water was falling, and the
marks Oh the banks showed that our stage of
water was at least two feet below the usual
spring rise. The minimum depth of water.
by soundings on Wolf Rapids, was eight fee,.
and on Main Buffalo Rapids was seven feet.
We steamed over both of them without the
least trouble.
We also ran up the Big Horn river for
distance of twelve miles, when we found that
The channel was SO Obstructpd that it would
not pay to try and go any higher. The river
IS about $50 yards wide at its mouth, the
water muddy, and the valley proper narrow
and rough, with plenty Of cottonwood along I
he stream.
The water of the Yellowstone above the \,
Big Horn is clear. feel justified in saving
hat for three months Of each year the Yel-
owstone is navigable from its mouth to the j.
mouth Of the Big Horn, and, if reports are
rue, it is much better than the Upper Mis- I
souri, for the same period.
We saw and killed during our trip buffalo, / |
9lk, deer, mountain sheep and bear, and
taught trout above Pryor's river. There is I
my quantity of pine and cottonwood for all I
building purposes from Tongue river as far {
vest rs we went or could see a
We saw no Sioux on the river, but ran on t
o about $50 lodges of Crows above Pryor's T
liver. who were on their way down to the t
Big Horn country to hunt. t
We leave this morning for Chicago. n
j. W. FORSYTH Y
Lieutenant-Colonel and Military Secretary
- ~<<0%s- !:
Right Of q Divorced Man l0 Marry