Along the water are
a number of snakes, some of a uniform brown color, others black, and
a third speckled on the abdomen, and striped with black and a brownish
yellow on the back and sides. The first, which is the largest, is about
four feet long; the second is of the kind mentioned yesterday; and the
third resembles in size and appearance the garter-snake of the United
States. On examining the teeth of all these several kinds, we found them
free from poison: they are fond of the water, in which they take shelter
on being pursued. The mosquitoes, gnats, and prickly pear, our three
persecutors, still continue with us, and, joined with the labor of
working the canoes, have fatigued us all excessively."
On Thursday, July 25, Captain Clark, who was in the lead, as usual,
arrived at the famous Three Forks of the Missouri. The stream flowing in
a generally northeastern direction was the true, or principal Missouri,
and was named the Jefferson. The middle branch was named the Madison,
in honor of James Madison, then Secretary of State, and the fork next to
the eastward received the name of Albert Gallatin, then Secretary of
the Treasury; and by these titles the streams are known to this day. The
explorers had now passed down to their furthest southern limit, their
trail being to the eastward of the modern cities of Helena and Butte,
and separated only by a narrow divide (then unknown to them) from the
sources of some of the streams that fall into the Pacific Ocean.
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