Sergeant Pryor was
directed, with Shannon and Windsor, to take the remaining horses to the
Mandans, and if he should find that Mr. Henry (a trading-post agent)
was on the Assiniboin River, to go thither and deliver him a letter, the
object of which was to prevail on the most distinguished chiefs of the
Sioux to accompany him to Washington."
On a large island near the mouth of a creek now known as Canyon Creek,
the party landed to explore an extensive Indian lodge which seems to
have been built for councils, rather than for a place of residence. The
lodge was shaped like a cone, sixty feet in diameter at the base and
tapering towards the top. The poles of which it was constructed were
forty-five feet long. The interior was strangely decorated, the tops of
the poles being ornamented with eagles' feathers, and from the centre
hung a stuffed buffalo-hide. A buffalo's head and other trophies of
the chase were disposed about the wigwam. The valley, as the explorers
descended the river, was very picturesque and wonderful. On the north
side the cliffs were wild and romantic, and these were soon succeeded by
rugged hills, and these, in turn, by open plains on which were descried
herds of buffalo, elk, and wolves. On the twenty-seventh of July, having
reached the Bighorn, one of the largest tributaries of the Yellowstone,
the party have this entry in their journal:--
"They again set out very early, and on leaving the Bighorn took a last
look at the Rocky Mountains, which had been constantly in view from the
first of May.
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