Fifteen miles of western course brought them, on the following day, down into an intervening plain, well stocked with buffalo.

Here the Snakes and Flatheads joined with the white hunters in a successful hunt, that soon filled the camp with provisions.
On the morning of the 9th of September, the travellers parted company with their Indian friends, and continued on their course to the west.
A march of thirty miles brought them, in the evening, to the banks of a rapid and beautifully clear stream about a hundred yards wide.

It is the north fork or branch of the Bighorn River, but bears its peculiar name of the Wind River, from being subject in the winter season to a continued blast which sweeps its banks and prevents the snow from lying on them.

This blast is said to be caused by a narrow gap or funnel in the mountains, through which the river forces its way between perpendicular precipices, resembling cut rocks.
This river gives its name to a whole range of mountains consisting of three parallel chains, eighty miles in length, and about twenty or twenty-five broad.

One of its peaks is probably fifteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, being one of the highest of the Rocky Sierra.