Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/308



268 JOURNAL OF E. WILLARD SMITH

On the west side of the mountains, are streams that seem to ebb and flow like the tide. In the mornings their banks are overflowing, at noon they are perfectly dry, the next morning flowing again.

The country around the headwaters of the Yellowstone, a tributary of the Missouri, abounds in natural curiosities. There are volcanoes, volcanic productions and carbonated springs. Mr. Vasquez told me that he went to the top of one of these volcanoes, the crater of which was filled with pure water, forming quite a large lake.

There is a story told by an Arapahoo chief of a petrified buffalo standing in the lake on the east side of the mountains. It was in a perfect state of preservation, and they worship it as a great medicine or charm. There are also moccasin and buffalo tracks in the solid rock along the shore of the lake. Nothing would induce this Indian to tell where this sacred buffalo is to be found. Great presents were offered to him in vain.

There is a party, going in boats from this valley in the spring down Grand River, on the Colorado of the West, to California. They will be led by Mr. Walker who was with Bonneville in the mountains. They intend trapping for beaver on the way.

The weather in this valley is extremely pleasant this winter, with scarcely any snow. It is as warm in the middle of the day as in June in New York, the latitude of the place is sup- posed to be forty-two degrees.

We intended to spend the winter in the valley of Brown's Hole, but soon had reason to fear an attack from the Sioux. The party before mentioned, who had lost their chief in an encounter with some whites, had returned to their principal tribe and intended coming in numbers to attack us in the spring.

We therefore thought it unsafe to remain until then, but were fearful of crossing the mountains during the winter, a thing never before attempted. But some men arrived at our encampment from the fort on the South Fork and assured us that there was no snow in the mountain passes. Then we con-