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 belonging to this portion of the Tribe of Kalispels, and select a fit site for erecting the new establishment of St. Ignatius.[73] We found a vast and beautiful prairie, three miles in extent, surrounded by cedar and pine, in the neighborhood of the cavern of New Manrese,[74] and its quarries, and a fall of water more than two hundred feet, presenting every advantage {95} for the erection of mills. I felled the first tree, and after having taken all necessary measures to expedite the work, I departed for Walla Walla, where I embarked in a small boat and descended the Columbia, as far as Fort Vancouver. The melting of the snow had occasioned a considerable freshet, and our descent was very rapid. The place was indicated to me where a few months previously, four travellers from the United States had miserably perished, victims of their own temerity and presumption. When advised to provide themselves with a guide, they answered they had no need of any; and when warned that the river was dangerous and deceptive, the pilot, with a scoffing boast, replied, "I am capable of guiding my barge, were it even across the infernal gulf." The monitor wished them a fortunate voyage, but at the same time trembled for their fate, saying: "This pilot is not a native Indian, he is not an Iroquois, nor even a Canadian." The turbulent streamnorth, longitude 117° 10['] west, in the present Stevens County, Washington, not far from the town of Usk. The mission was maintained at this point until 1854, when, the spot proving unsuitable from frequent overflows, a site was chosen in western Montana on the present Flathead Reservation, whence the mission was transferred and where it has since been maintained. See L. B. Palladino, Indian and White in the Northwest, pp. 68-79.—]