Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/411



JOURNAL OF ALEXANDER Ross ; SNAKE COUNTRY EXPEDITION, 1824

(As COPIED BY Miss AGNES LAUT IN 1905 FROM ORIGINAL IN HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY HOUSE, LONDON, ENGLAND.)

Tuesday, 10th of February.

Our party was as follows:

Thyery Goddin 1 gun 3 [traps 2 horses

Joseph Vail 1 gun, 3 traps 2 horses

Louis Paul 1 gun 3 traps 2 horses

Francois Faniaint 1 gun 3 traps 2 horses 1 lodge

Antoine Sylvaille 1 gun 3 traps 2 horses

Laurent Quintal 1 gun 3 traps 2 horses

Joseph Annance 1 gun 3 traps 2 horses

Jean Bapt Gadaira 1 gun 3 traps 2 horses

Pierre Depot 1 gun 3 traps 2 horses

Francois Rivet, interp. .. 2 guns 6 traps 15 horses 1 lodge

Alexander Ross 1 gun 6 traps 16 horses 1 lodge

11 men 12 33 (?) 50 (?) 3

1824, Feb. 10. Every preparation for the voyage being made I left Flat Head House 1 in the afternoon in order to join the Free Men who were encamped at Prairie de Cheveaux. 2 Joined the Free Men and encamped. Snow 18 inchs deep. Weather cold. General course east, 8 miles. Statement of Free Men Trappers, Snake Country.

1 Flathead House or Fort or Post was then located almost exactly at the present railroad station of Eddy (Northern Pacific Ry.)> on north bank of Clark Fork River, in Sanders County, Montana; this was about ten miles southeast and further up the river from the site of David Thompson's "Salish House," which was established in 1809 and used by the Northwest Company traders while that company continued in business.

2 Horse Plains, now designated by the single word "Plains," a famous council ground of the Salish or Flathead Indians; the freemen were probably camped near the railroad station of Weeksville.