forts to procure for them. A new war of the Blackfeet against the whites had compelled the missionaries of St. Peter to abandon that mission and repair to the mission of St. Ignatius, on the west slope of the Rocky Mountains 200 miles distant. They told me the circumstances and the condition of the country in which they were and stated that it was impossible for them to take possession of the effects and begged me to dispose of the cargo at the house of some inhabitant of Benton. The cargo contained objects precious to the churches and were for the use of the Indian missions. Altogether their value amounted to a large sum of money. I have never yet received the least news whether these objects have reached their destination. I enter into these details to give you the uncertainties of the route of the Missouri for reaching Benton and the missions in the mountains.
I shall not return to Benton next spring. If the good Lord will grant me health, and with the permission of my superiors, I will make a visit among the Yanktons, a tribe of 3,000 Indians, belonging to the Sioux nation, which is very numerous. They are on this side of the mountains about 1,8oo miles from Benton.
As to the price of passage upon the steamers from St. Louis to Benton, it amounts to $300 for each passenger; and for all. that he brings beyond fifty pounds he pays from fifteen to twenty cents per pound.
Until this year I have always had my passage with my effects gratis upon the steamers of the Fur Company of St. Louis. This company is to-day dissolved and it is, consequently, very doubtful if I shall meet again with such a favor inasmuch as the companies are constituted principally of Protestants. I cannot, at this time, give you the least assurance that there will be a diminution in the price, nor do I yet know the names of the steamers that propose to risk the voyage to Benton the coming spring (j867).
The voyage from New York to Idaho and Montana, by way of Panama, San Francisco and by the Columbia river,