Crossing several small
streams that make into this river, they finally reached and crossed the
Missoula River from west to east, below the confluence of the St. Mary's
and Hell-gate rivers, or creeks; for these streams hardly deserve the
name of rivers. The party camped for the night within a few miles of the
site of the present city of Missoula, Montana. Here they were forced to
part from their good friends and allies, the Indians, who had crossed
the range with them. These men were afraid that they would be cut off by
their foes, the Pahkees, and they wanted to find and join some band
of the Indian nation with whom they were on terms of friendship. The
journal gives this account of the parting:--
"We now smoked a farewell pipe with our estimable companions, who
expressed every emotion of regret at parting with us; which they felt
the more, because they did not conceal their fears of our being cut off
by the Pahkees. We also gave them a shirt, a handkerchief, and a small
quantity of ammunition. The meat which they received from us was dried
and left at this place, as a store during the homeward journey. This
circumstance confirms our belief that there is no route along Clark's
River to the Columbian plains so near or so good as that by which we
came; for, though these people mean to go for several days' journey
down that river, to look for the Shalees (Ootlashoots), yet they intend
returning home by the same pass of the mountains through which they have
conducted us.
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