University of Virginia Library

Monday 7th.. July 1806

This morning our horses were very much scattered; I sent
out men in every direction in Serch of them they brought all
except 9 by 6 oClock and informed me that they could not
find those 9. I then ordered 6 men to take horses and go
different directions and at a greater distance those men all
returned by 10 A.M. and informed me that they had [made]

circles in every direction to 6 or 8 Miles around Camp and
could not see any signs of them. that they had reasons to
believe that the indians had stolen them in the course of the
night, and founded their reasons on the quallity of the horses,
all being the most valuable horses we had, and Several of them
so attached to horses of inferior quallity which we have
they could not be seperated from each other when driveing
with their loads on in the course of the day. I thought it
probable that they might be stolen by some skulking shoshones,
but as it was yet possible that they may have taken
our back rout or rambled to a greater distance I deturmined
to leave a small party and hunt for them to day, and proceed
on with the main party and all the baggage to the canoes, raise
them out of the water and expose them to the sun to dry by
the time this party should overtake me. I left Sergt. Ordway,
Shannon, Gibson Collins & Labeech with directions to hunt
this day for the horses without they should discover that the
Inds. had taken them into the Mountains, and prosue our trail
&c. at 1/2 past 10 A.M. I set out and proceeded on through
an open rich vally crossing four large Creeks with extensive
low and mirey bottoms, and a small river keeping the course
I had set out on S.56°.E. after crossing the river I kept up
on ihe N E. side, sometimes following an old road which frequently
disappeared, at the distance of 16 miles we arived at a
Boiling Spring Situated about 100 paces from a large Easterly
fork of the small river in a leavel open vally plain and nearly
opposit & E of the 3 forks of this little river which heads in
the Snowey Mountains to the S E. & S W of the Springs.
this Spring (15 yds.. in circums. boils up all over bottom which is
stoney) contains a very considerable quantity of water, and actually
blubbers with heat for 20 paces below where it rises.
it has every appearance of boiling, too hot for a man to endure
his hand in it 3 seconds. I directd Sergt. Pryor and John
Shields to put each a peice of meat in the water of different
Sises. the one about the size of my 3 fingers cooked dun in
25 minits the other much thicker was 32 minits before it became
sufficiently dun. this water boils up through some loose
hard gritty Stone, a little sulferish. after takeing dinner and
letting our horses graize 1 hour and a half we proceeded on
Crossed this easterly branch and up on the N. side of this
middle fork 9 miles crossed it near the head of an Easterly
branch and passed through a gap of a mountain on the Easterly
side of which we encamped near some butifull (Springs)
which fall into Willards Creek.[9] I directed that the rambling
horses should be hobbled, and the Sentinal to examine the
horses after the moon rose. emence beaver sign.

Course distance &c. July 7th.

         

		Miles
S. 56°. E.	to the boiling hot Spring 1/2 Mile Easterly of the three upper forks of wisdom river near a large creek from the East passed 4 large Creek from the snow mountains on my right and a small river at 12 miles bottoms extensive and wet	16.
S. 45°. E.	on the N. E. Side of the middle fork	5.
N. 50°. E.	to the Gap of a mountain crossing a small branch at 2 Miles from the left and Encamped	4.
		25.

This extensive vally surround[ed] with [mountains] covered
with snow is extreemly fertile covered [with] esculent plants
&c. and the creeks which pass through it contains emence
numbers of beaver &c. I now take my leave of this butifull
extensive vally which I call the hot spring Vally, and behold
one less extensive and much more rugid on Willards Creek for
near 12 Miles in length, remarkable cold night