CHAPTER 2. TO WHITE MUD RIVER AND BACK

June 25. Got things packed up & after considerable delay arising from Commisariat carts &c. also going S. got off about 10 o'c. Came N. on so called S. road from Woody Mt. about 7 m. to a large wooded coulée where remains of several shanties occupied last winter. Halted for lunch. Capt. Anderson who had stayed behind to arrange various matters here caught up. Thunder storm with heavy rain between 2 & 3 o'c. Off again & travelled till late. The road kept disappearing on the hills & gave much trouble. At length struck into a well marked trail & reached the wooded creek. Camped having come in all about 201-2 m. Say deduct about l-2 for detours made. Told that all half breeds of this region now at "big camp" which situated northward of Cypress Hills. Engaged in hunting buffalo. They club together for protection & as it were a tribe of themselves. As many as 100 to 200 families congregated there now.

Country passed over dry & barren on hills. In vallies & low ground good growth of grass though barely sufficient to cut for hay.

Sections. Saw at a distance banks of usual lig. tert.[?] character. Appeared to be very uniformly of whitish clay. Plateau forming watershed in some places. Evidently capped by hard grey sandstones belonging to this series.

Woody Mt. 5 A.M. B. 26.82 T. 710

Noon halt Large wooded coulée bottom

26.64

73

Two readings at different points on height of plateau forming watershed.

Second at 5.30 PM, first about an hour before

B 26.40, B 26.44.

Camp Evg. 9 PM Wooded Creek

B. 26.73

T. 58

Odom.at halt 3000.

Odom.atat evening camp 8730.

The watershed passed over is a sort of plateau of which not much now remains. The vallies running N. & those going S. seem almost to interlock & give rise to much broken ground below the general level of the plateau. The streams flowing N. for the most part if not entirely lose themselves in salt lakes &c.

Got wood out & loaded up the Commisary carts with it. Got away at 7.5. Travelled on by a pretty good road considering the broken nature of the country & reached Featherstone's Astronomical Station before noon. Found it unexpectedly near the place where the S. road crosses