Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-03-04

accurate journal of his experiences and the
events of the expedition. This he did, and
the journal, as translated from the original
French Is preserved In the South Dakota
Historical Collections (yol. VII, p. 203),
and In the Missouri Historical Collections.
His experiences, his narrow escapes and
the success of his undertaking is a lengthy
narrative. in itself; but his brief descrip-
as written In French sometime subsequent
to this trip Of 1794-9 -96-97, in the light
Of modern Developments, and for the in
formation which 1t affords of the primitive
country and its aborigines, is a document
exceedingly interesting and well worth
careful study.
In reading Trudeau's Descriptions ,Du
Haut Missouri, it must be remembered
that this manuscript was penned, In all
likelihood, about 1897, before Lewis and
Clark or any other travellers had authori-
tatiyely explored the entire course of the
great river. Trudeau wrote as follows:
DESCRIPTION OF THE UPPER
MISSOURI.
Containing an exact account of the most
remarkable rivers that empty there from
above the great river Platte to above the
Madison and Gros Ventres nations, Of their
name and distance with a general idea of
the savage people recently visited by the
subjects of his Catholic Majesty, of their
customs, religions, maxims, usages, COM
merce and other remarks-as well Of those
| who dwell upon the banks of this great
river, as of those who wander over the
neighboring countries to the westward.
by JEAN BAPTIsTE TRUDEAU,
"Voyageur.
"The Missouri river comes from the west
northwest and, in some places, from the
northwest. 1t empties into the Mississippi
river five leagues above st. Louis of the
Illinois.
Source Nor Known
mo one has been able to learn exactly
where this river has its source. 1t is COM
mon belief, according to the report Of some
savages that it comes from the great noun
tains of rock which they say cross, from
the north to the south, this vast country
yet unknown to civilized nations. Up to
the mouth of the river Platte, the waters
of the Missouri flow between two chains
Of steep hills which wind as it winds. In
some places, they are situated rather far
from the great river.
ION the banks, which are between the
hills and the rivers, there are large low
p~rairies on which one generally sees herds
of the wild cattle that pasture there. Be-
yond these hills are vast prairies which
extend without interruption up to the foot
Of the mountains Of rock tRocky Noun
tains), which rise up In the west, being
cut only by the several rivers which cross
them, on the edge OF which one sees only
little woods, thin and of trees low. These
large. p~rairies, or great waste lands, are
completely sterile; scarcely grass grows
there. Upon the banks of the Missouri, one
finds, here and there, some wooded point
narrow and short, supplied only with small
cottonwoods, willows, and also thin woods
| This river is diversified by a number OF
islands covered with trees that are so in.
terlaced with vines that one can hardly
pass. 1t is almost everywhere half a league
in width. Its bed Is less deep than Is the
case lower down and it is frequently found
covered with sandbars, or banks of sand
very extensive, which form several chan
nels that make the way, In certain places
difficult; but there Is always enough wate'
at all lines to carry the largest pirogues
The little fatb0ats, or barges, would bt
(however) the most suitable conveyances
for travelling there.
"In no place does one meet with those
masses of driftwood that are named en-
baras such as are found up0I
the lower part Of the river and overcome
only with difficulty and danger. Neither
does one find any dangerous shoal, broker
up or in otherwise bad conditions. The
farther one ascends toward its beginning
the less rapid one finds its course; thu
only inconvenience suffered there Is In no
finding, in the time Of low water, any
place suitable for mooring the pirogues *
that they may be sheltered from the windi
which are very frequent and very high II
this country and one is often compelled Il
unload the pirogues every time the wint
blows which happens almost every day.
The Platte River
1.-THE great river Platte empties into thu
Missouri, on the left in ascending, two
hundred leagues above the mouth Of thu
latter. At nifty leagues higher, on thu
right, one finds the little river of the Siou'
which is navigable with hunting canoes
only. It's source is not far from its out
let. Thirty leagues higher, on the left
dwells the Omaha nation. Their huts arr
built two leagues distant from the banks
Of the Missouri. These savages go out IL
summer and return to their villages onl,
In August. Six leagues above the Omaha
one finds, on the north bank, the grea
river Of the Sioux which comes from thu