PART II
THE FLATHEAD MISSION.
Itinerary for the Years 1840, 1841 and 1842.
1840.
FATHER DE SMET left St. Louis by steamer March 27th and went as far as Westport where he joined the American Fur Company caravan under Andrew Drips (1) - Left Westport by land April 30th - Followed the usual route across the country to the Platte and up that stream past Fort Laramie, Independence Rock and South Pass (2) - Arrived at the fur company rendezvous June 30th where he met the advance guard of the Flatheads sent out to meet him - In company with the Flatheads he continued his route via the head of Green river; across the divide to Jackson's Little Hole on the head of Hoback river; down the valley of that stream to the Snake river; across the Snake at the lower end of Jackson Hole; across Teton Pass, and into the valley called Pierre's Hole, where he met the main camp of the Flatheads, Pend d'Oreilles and Nez Percés about July 12th.
Continued his route in company with the Indians up Henry Fork of Snake river to Henry lake July 22d; across the Divide to Red Rock lake (Mosquito lake of the trappers), the ultimate source of the Missouri: down the Stinking Water river to its confluence with the Beaver Head
(1) A distinguished trader of the American Fur Company, and later Indian agent for the tribes of the upper Missouri.
(2) The most noted pass across the Continental Divide. It lay between the source of the Sweetwater river in the Missouri watershed and Big Sandy river, a tributary of Green river, itself the main tributary of the Colorado of the West.