Volume 1

SNAKE AND WOLF CREEKS—PRICKLY PEAR.
32 I
At two o'clock we saddled and proceeded along the
water-side, at the foot of the Loge de Serpent/" which is
stupendous bank on the N. side of the Missourie, about
300 feet perpendicular ; the side fronting the river is steep
and bare, composed of red gravel mixed with flat, crumbling
stones of a bluish and iron color with streaks of white.
From the face of this bank issue several rills of clear, cold
water, in some places boiling up several inches, and having
the same taste as mineral springs.
A short distance from the foot of this bank stands the
Big Belly winter village." The water was so high that
the huts appeared almost overflowed. Near this place are
great quantities of fruit, all perfectly ripe— pears, chokecherries,
red cherries, raspberries, and gooseberries.
Pomme de raquette " grows here in great plenty and very
large, some the size of the hand ;
it is painful to horses,
when they happen to tread upon it, for the points project
on all sides, as strong and sharp as awls. The plants lie in
clusters on the ground, and are generally flat and green.
The river here is well wooded on every low point, where it
does not approach too near the high banks.
Having passed this place we proceeded over a rough
country for a few miles to a high, steep bank, which our
horses could hardly climb. We were obliged to walk most
of the way, as it was impossible for horses to ascend such
heights with a rider, and were all quite harassed when we
*" Snake hill, noted in L. and C, ed. 1S93, p. 261, as " a hill called Snake
den," thus translating F. Loge de Serpent. In connection with this hill, L. and
C. note "a small run" on the right, which they make 7.% m. below the mouth
of Miry cr. This is now known as Wolf cr., falling in at lat. 47° 80' N., in
McLean Co.
*' "On the north a hunting-camp of Minnetarees, consisting of 30 lodges, built
in the usual form of earth and timber," L. and C, ed. 1893, p. 261, where this
camp or village is located 2.% m. below Miry cr., and, therefore, about the
mouth of Wolf cr.
42 The prickly-pear {Opuntia), so called from the racket-shaped, or rather
oval, flat, and fleshy joints of the stem, beset with prickles, and bearing upon
a
their edges a juicy fruit,
the Spanish-Americans.
the " pommes " of the Canadians, and the " tunas " of