Extract from a Letter dated St. Louis, January 1, 1847
I shall close this letter by giving you a geographical description of the great river which I have just descended, accompanied by only two men, for about 2,500 miles.
Heart, from the west (right), x,446 miles.
Big Knife, from the south (right), 1,514 miles.
Little Missouri, from the south (right), x,582 miles. Rises in the northern foothills of the Black Hills.
White Earth, from the north (left), x,646 miles.
Yellowstone, largest tributary of the Missouri, from the south .(left), I,76o miles. (See earlier note.) Principal tributaries, all from the south: Powder, Tongue, Rosebud, Big Horn, Pryor, Clark. Of these the Big Horn is the largest, and bears the name Wind river in the upper third of its course. Its principal tributaries are the Shoshone (old Stinkingwater) and Grey Bull, from the west or left bank.
Poplar, from the north (left), 1,858 miles. Milk, from the north (left), 1,937 miles. Muscleshell, from the south (right), 2,076 miles. Judith, from the south (right), 2,196 miles. Marias, from the west (left), 2,263 miles. See earlier note. Sun, from the west (left), 2,334 miles.
Three forks of the Missouri, 2,547 miles. The Gallatin is the easternmost and the Jefferson the westernmost, the Madison lying between the two. The Jefferson is the largest, its two principal tributaries being the Big Hole and Beaverhead rivers.
The following table of distances is from one of Father De Smet's unpublished letters.
" Here are the supposed correct distances from St. Louis to the mouth of the Yellowstone river. I give the principal names known in that country, but hitherto unheard of outside." [The second column of distances is from the surveys of the Missouri River Commission.)
TABLE of DISTANCES.
From St. Louis to Bellevue, above the the mouth of Miles. blues.
Nebraska or Platte river............................ Boo 646
Hence to old Council Bluffs .......................... 85 36
Hence to Little Sioux river .......................... 75 40
Hence to Black Bird's Hill and tomb................. 45 31
Hence to Big Sioux river ............................ 56 59
Hence to Fort Vermillion ........................... 6o 49
Hence to Jaques or James river ...................... 50 27