3 Hector's Journal from August 22 to August 25, 1858

Previous entries from James Hector's Journal

August 22, 1858

Three hours march this morning brought us to a large tributary from the north taking its rise from Mount Ball, the pyramidal top of which, completely snow-clad, had a very imposing appearance from this side. ... The valley is again well wooded, and the river becomes confined in a narrow ravine... The valley is not the least confined at this point, however, only the river channel.

Just below this place we were embarrassed with fallen timber, and, as it looked better on the opposite side of the river, we forded it, but were soon compelled to ascend the bank, still in the fruitless search for an easy road.... Night overtook us, so that we had to camp in a little swampy "opening," tying up several of our horses, as they might be inclined to start off in the night to seek for food. During the night we had a thunder storm and heavy rain.

August 23, 1858

Being determined to make no more blind attempts at seeking for an easy trail, at daybreak we re-descended to the river, and kept along its margin as well as we could. As every bush and tree was loaded with moisture, it soon did not matter much whether we went into the river or not, so that we frequently saved a difficult turn by accepting a ducking.

After four miles we came to where the river again changes its course to the S., and receives a large stream from the N.E. This is perhaps the stream from the Simpson's pass to the east of Mount Bourgeau.

In the afternoon the valley became much contracted, by the approach to two lofty mountains on either hand but still there was ample space on each side of the river to carry a good trail.

Just before entering the "gorge," we passed high banks of white gritty calcareous marl, having a chalk-like texture. This deposit is l 50 feet thick, and at many places the banks showed the marks of teeth, where the white goats had been gnawing it, and their wool was plentiful on the bushes all round.

The tops of the mountains form conical and pyramidal masses, marked as if ruled with parallel lines. But in the bottom of the valley the river first cuts through grey slaty rock not cleaved, and then through soft white sandy slates... The men, by Nimrod's advice, carried away pieces of this soft slate, and at night they were all busy manufacturing pipes from it.

August 24, 1858

This morning Nimrod, who had set off early to hunt, returned shortly as white as it is possible for a red Indian to be with fear. He had been chasing a deer, and had suddenly come on a panther, but further than saying that he had wounded him, we could get him to tell us nothing.

The panther is not very common in the mountains, but the Indians generally kill a few every year about Red Deer River or along Bow River, and in spring they are sometimes met with by the Blackfeet Indians out on the plains, when they run them with horses like buffalos. From seeing them so seldom the Indians are much more afraid of them than they are of grizzly bears, although there is no comparison between the ferocity of the two animals.

We now left the trail which we had seen very distinctly in passing through " the gorge," and turned to the right in a west course through dense woods. ... being still in woods so thick that we were travelling for no advantage.I therefore camped, and sent off Peter and Nimrod to spy out the land, ... as everything was soaking with wet they adopted the Indian plan of stripping to their shirts, so as to go lighter through the woods, and in this garb they were absent the whole day. They had crossed the Kootanie river, in the valley of which we were encamped, and returned with great accounts of the size of the timber where they had been. They had also found a faint trail leading up the valley.

August 25, 1858

After three hours we descended 300 feet to the bottom of the valley, and crossed the Kootanie river, which is at this place only a small stream, much blocked with fallen timber, having a tortuous course through a wide fiat bottom, occupied by large swampy meadows. The valley is two to three miles wide, and the timber is very fine on its slopes, especially that to the south.

After a short halt we continued up the valley, keeping by the edge of the stream, in hopes of getting a shot at a beaver, which animals are very numerous, judging from their tracks, which were like beaten pathways all along the bank. We saw where they had been cutting up trees five and six inches in thickness into short billets, to use in constructing their houses and dams.

Shortly after passing two streams, one from each side of the valley, we encamped in some burnt woods by the side of a morass. As we were encamping, we heard the cries of a panther, which are exactly like those of an infant. Nimrod says that they call in this manner when they come on the tracks of men or horses, and he seemed to think it might come close, or even into our camp during the night; so when he lay down to sleep, he kept his " dagare," or big Indian knife, close to his hand.