A region of natural curiosities--The plain of white clay--Hot springs--The BeerSpring--Departure to seek the free trappers--Plain of Portneuf--Lava-- Chasms andgullies--Bannack Indians--Their hunt of the buffalo--Hunter's feast--Trencherheroes-- Bullying of an absent foe--The damp comrade--The Indian spy--Meetingwith Hodgkiss--His adventures--Poordevil Indians--Triumph of theBannacks--Blackfeet policy in war CROSSING AN ELEVATED RIDGE, Captain Bonneville now came upon Bear River,which, from its source to its entrance into the Great Salt Lake, describes the figure of ahorse-shoe. One of the principal head waters of this river, although supposed toabound with beaver, has never been visited by the trapper; rising among ruggedmountains, and being barricadoed [sic] by fallen pine trees and tremendous precipices.
Proceeding down this river, the party encamped, on the 6th of November, at the outletof a lake about thirty miles long, and from two to three miles in width, completelyimbedded in low ranges of mountains, and connected with Bear River by an impassableswamp. It is called the Little Lake, to distinguish it from the great one of salt water.
On the 10th of November, Captain Bonneville visited a place in the neighborhood whichis quite a region of natural curiosities. An area of about half a mile square presents alevel surface of white clay or fuller's earth, perfectly spotless, resembling a great slab ofParian marble, or a sheet of dazzling snow. The effect is strikingly beautiful at all times:
in summer, when it is surrounded with verdure, or in autumn, when it contrasts its brightimmaculate surface with the withered herbage. Seen from a distant eminence, it thenshines like a mirror, set in the brown landscape. Around this plain are clusterednumerous springs of various sizes and temperatures. One of them, of scalding heat,boils furiously and incessantly, rising to the height of two or three feet. In another place,there is an aperture in the earth, from which rushes a column of steam that forms aperpetual cloud. The ground for some distance around sounds hollow, and startles thesolitary trapper, as he hears the tramp of his horse giving the sound of a muffled drum.
He pictures to himself a mysterious gulf below, a place of hidden fires, and gazes roundhim with awe and uneasiness.
The most noted curiosity, however, of this singular region, is the Beer Spring , ofwhich
trappers give wonderful accounts. They are said to turn aside from their route throughthe country to drink of its waters, with as much eagerness as the Arab seeks somefamous well of the desert. Captain Bonneville describes it as having the taste of beer.
His men drank it with avidity, and in copious draughts. It did not appear to him topossess any medicinal properties, or to produce any peculiar effects. The Indians,however, refuse to taste it, and endeavor to persuade the white men from doing so.
We have heard this also called the Soda Spring, and described as containing iron andsulphur. It probably possesses some of the properties of the Ballston water.
The time had now arrived for Captain Bonneville to go in quest of the party of freetrappers, detached in the beginning of July, under the command of Mr. Hodgkiss, totrap upon the head waters of Salmon River. His intention was to unite them with theparty with which he was at present travelling, that all might go into quarters together forthe winter. Accordingly, on the 11th of November, he took a temporary leave of hisband, appointing a rendezvous on Snake River, and, accompanied by three men, setout upon his journey. His route lay across the plain of the Portneuf, a tributary stream ofSnake River, called after an unfortunate Canadian trapper murdered by the Indians.
The whole country through which he passed bore evidence of volcanic convulsions andconflagrations in the olden time. Great masses of lava lay scattered about in everydirection; the crags and cliffs had apparently been under the action of fire; the rocks insome places seemed to have been in a state of fusion; the plain was rent and split withdeep chasms and gullies, some of which were partly filled with lava.
They had not proceeded far, however, before they saw a party of horsemen, gallopingfull tilt toward them. They instantly turned, and made full speed for the covert of awoody stream, to fortify themselves among the trees. The Indians came to a halt, andone of them came forward alone. He reached Captain Bonneville and his men just asthey were dismounting and about to post themselves. A few words dispelled alluneasiness. It was a party of twenty-five Bannack Indians, friendly to the whites, andthey proposed, through their envoy, that both parties should encamp together, and huntthe buffalo, of which they had discovered several large herds hard by. CaptainBonneville cheerfully assented to their proposition, being curious to see their manner ofhunting.
