Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1877-10-18
THE YET.LGWSTONE RIVER.
Its EaSisabiIity. Importance to East
err EOniana.-Arrival Of Boats
at Etchetah. etP.-Shall
We Use the River
OR Not?

lit, command Of Capt. Grant Marsh. was cha
tered By tie General Government from til
ere Missouri River transportation Compan
for the purpose ofasccrtaining whether tn
IN Yellowstone river was navigablc any dis
o. lance above its mouth or not. Under tn
excellent management of Grant Marsh. tn
of Josephine succeeded in arriving at a poin
~. seven miles below the mouth of Clark
Fork and distant from BOZeman abou
ll3 miles by the road now Travelled.
. The river the first 100 miles from it
~ mouth was found to be much the same il
character az the Missouri, namely, sandy
~. bottom and changing shepes. Proceeding
% on up the river the bed gradually changes
to gravel. and in many places the channc
xt is so divided by Islands that the main chan
We mel is hard to find and in many places is
$ very shallow. After passing above Vol
Rapids the river contains fewer islands and
ii the channel is more confined. The current
ii of the river is stronger, however, and a
+ boat not having strong power has no bust
II ness here. Boats Of strong power are
needed to stem the swift river from Wolf
I. Rapids to the mouth of Tongue river. But
: few boats have as yet been able to land at
J. the latter place without having had to put
c out line ut Wolf and Buffalo, Rapids at
least. \ few of the COulsOn Line boats
have. however, succeeded in accomplishing
. the feat. Passing above Tongue river, the
river is found to be considerable better.
7 Fewer islands are found, leaving the chan
mel undivided, the river does not run as
swift and 20 rapids arc encountered strong
enough to neccssitatc Il line being put out
by a COulsOn steamer until the ''narrOws'
are passed. At the point called the ''nar-
? rows the river is only So feet wide and the
current very swift. \ short distance above
the '.narrows." Hell Gate or Ten Mile |
Rapids are encountered. These rapids eX-
tend to the mouth of Clark's Fork or near
ly ten miles. Grant Marsh put out a line
ut this point and pulled the Josephine up
about two miles to "Grant Marsl's highest
point, or. as it is sometimes called. '.Grant
Marsll's cottonwood tree" the latter name
being applied to the tree where the Jose
phinc was tied. From this point General
Forsyth, representing the government.
sent ont a party to explore the river, Grant
Marsh being one of the party, which, after
exploring the river some three miles, return
ed and reported to Gen. Forsyth that the
river was much the same in character as
the two miles just passed over. The Jose !
phine, on the strength of this report, and
having proved that the Yellowstone was I
ravigablc above the mouth of the Big
Horn (tle main object sought), was order
cd TO return. II
From our own observation. and the re- Il
ports Of men who have Travelled over the v
river from Clark's Fork to the Narrows. we II
entertain grave doubts about the naviga- Il
blity of this part of the Yellowstone in its II
present condition. If however. this part
of the river is improved, boats will have no
trouble in coming up as far as Saltwater,
and with slight Improvement, as far as the
Old Crow Agency. But we believe that j,
steamboats, will never reach Bcnson's Land ~
ing until extensive improvements arc made -
from this point to the Old Crow Agency l
md from the mouth of Clark Fork to the
Narrows. 4"
Admit that boats will be unable to sue ~
'csstully navigate the Yellowstone above y
he NarrOws. which are located short dis y,
ancc above the lower end OF Clark S Fork '"
Bottom, and we still have river which III
an be successfully navigated within $50 ''''
niles Of Bozcman. With the distance ~
hortened by bridges on the Yellowstone VI
Bcnson's and on the Boulder near its ,o
lOuth and Meadows ferry above Still ;,
'atcr. the head of navigation vii! be ''''
My 100 miles from Bozeman by an excel ~
mt road. road that cannot he eXcelled in ~
he Territory. ;'i;'
In view of the above facts, the question 'el
atllrally arises, Shall we use the river or ''''
OF: That it will be of inestimable value ass a.
us If we Go make Use of it. there is not D''
lsincss man in BoZcnan will doubt. an
The next question naturally arising if W., W.
e do conclude to use the river is, How '"'
n we set our freight transported on it.? 50
reply we say. Make contract with ",
inpany who is known to be reliable, who wa
we boats adapted to the river and have '''o
ade success of navigating it. Such a al
mpany can be found, and if we will take D"'
ld OF the matter, next year we can have "oA
r freight landed by way of the Yellow n''
me as cheap as it can be laid down here 10
any other routo Tho o1vo,t,,,o, 49,, sup
=, IN ne from, ho,;,e, o,r f.o;,.,,. aN, ing'
IS route can Iva ,nnnc;ato.,h7. o,, oo,no ~ all z
IS man in the county. AS the river is
veloped and other boats ply on it, n'e'
lights will cheaper, and the second year pro-
can. in all probability, get our freight nur
t,;s rout. ~ ,,,.or go ., eide
lcr. HiS
We publish below list of steamboats, can
Ssing Etchetali this summer. 1t. togcth- WIZ ~,
with the comments annexed, were kindly i,
nlshed us by Joseph w. Allen of that -. .,e
zee. l'lat
n the early part ofthe season these boats. pos.
gagged III transporting Government sup 'nI :,
es. went up the Big Horn river to Fort "oi'
stcr. Later in the season, water bccom- may
low and the current in the Big Horn ,o'e
ng very swift. the freight for Fort Custer us II
received at Terry's Landing. a Govern nus
n. transfer depot on the Yellowstone. anu
nj seen miles above the mouth of the ,''.,''
!. Horn. II pm which point 1t was trans '''i's
ted TO IFS destination by land: s"'
lRINAL OF STEAMBOATS, AT ETCHETAH. .oeSi
his place is located on the Yellowstone and
II. two miles below the ,houth OF the cole
Horn. m,ti
JUNE. legis
III w. ric'ci"l ''..'.'...................27th Sc
July. pc!il
:. n,liNii' ''''' -'''.''''''."..-'."...6th. his p
'iii'''' least
'.................9th. the G
-, 18th. on b.
nth. was
g h''iihiii...... mani
l. oiefiiiai'.." yer
er ..l7th bitiO
stern I7,,, with