tributary to the Seeds-ke-dee Agie, or Green River, into which it flowed
at some distance to the south.

Captain Bonneville now considered himself as having fairly passed the
crest of the Rocky Mountains; and felt some degree of exultation in
being the first individual that had crossed, north of the settled
provinces of Mexico, from the waters of the Atlantic to those of the
Pacific, with wagons. Mr. William Sublette, the enterprising leader
of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, had, two or three years previously,
reached the valley of the Wind River, which lies on the northeast of the
mountains; but had proceeded with them no further.

A vast valley now spread itself before the travellers, bounded on one
side by the Wind River Mountains, and to the west, by a long range of
high hills. This, Captain Bonneville was assured by a veteran hunter
in his company, was the great valley of the Seedske-dee; and the same
informant would have fain persuaded him that a small stream, three feet
deep, which he came to on the 25th, was that river. The captain was
convinced, however, that the stream was too insignificant to drain so
wide a valley and the adjacent mountains: he encamped, therefore, at an
early hour, on its borders, that he might take the whole of the next day
to reach the main river; which he presumed to flow between him and the
distant range of western hills.

On the 26th of July, he commenced his march at an early hour, making
directly across the valley, toward the hills in the west; proceeding at
as brisk a rate as the jaded condition of his horses would permit. About
eleven o'clock in the morning, a great cloud of dust was descried in the
rear, advancing directly on the trail of the party. The alarm was given;
they all came to a halt, and held a council of war. Some conjectured