Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/95

Rh depth. Volcanic rock is scattered over it, in large masses; and in many places, it appears to have been upheaved from beneath. We passed, on the left, a large, hollow mound, the crater of an extinguished Volcano.

It was late in the night before we reached the Western side of the valley, and found wood and water for our camp. The water upon which we encamped, was a branch of the Portneiff, a tributary of Snake or Lewis River. We noticed, scattered over the country, a kind of black volcanic glass, shaped like the fragments of a broken bottle. Winding our way through the hills, by a very circuitous route, on the 13th of September we arrived at Fort Hall. It is situated on the South bank of Snake River, in a rich valley, about twelve miles wide and twenty-five miles long, and in latitude about 43 deg. 20 min. North. The Portneiff, Black Foot, and many other small streams, run through this valley of Fort Hall. The streams are lined with a fine growth of Cotton Wood timber, and the entire valley abounds in excellent grass. The Company keep several hundred cattle and horses at this place, which live through the winter, generally, without much attention. We were told by one of the members of the Company, that wheat had been sown at the Fort, and grew well. Fort Hall is built of the same material, and nearly in the same manner, as the Forts on the Platte are.

Leaving Fort Hall we traveled down the South bank of Snake River, and a few miles below we crossed the Portneiff, a beautiful little stream emptying into it; and at eighteen miles came to the American Falls. Here the river, compressed into about two thirds of its usual width, runs down over rugged volcanic rock, a descent of about twenty-five feet in one hundred. The water is divided into three different shoots by two large rocks on the Falls. In the middle shoot there is scarcely any perpendicular fall; in the other two there is about ten feet. Below these Falls,