A march of fifteen miles, over a mountain ridge, brought them to a stream about fifty feet in width, which Hoback, one of their guides, who had trapped about the neighborhood when in the service of Mr.Henry, recognized for one of the head waters of the Columbia.

The travellers hailed it with delight, as the first stream they had encountered tending toward their point of destination.

They kept along it for two days, during which, from the contribution of many rills and brooks, it gradually swelled into a small river.

As it meandered among rocks and precipices, they were frequently obliged to ford it, and such was its rapidity that the men were often in danger of being swept away.

Sometimes the banks advanced so close upon the river that they were obliged to scramble up and down their rugged promontories, or to skirt along their bases where there was scarce a foothold.