On May 26th, from the summit of a hill, Captain Lewis had the first sight of the Rocky Mountains, which seemed to be about fifty miles away. This was from a few miles below Judith River, and the mountains seen were probably the Belt range. They were not the first to see the Rocky Mountains. The French and the Spaniards had been to them farther south. They were surrounded by immense quantities of game from here on to the sources of the Missouri, and their larder was always full of dainties. The river was 150 to 250 yards wide, and they had no difficulty in ascending. There were many signs of the aboriginal owners of the soil, particularly old lodges. This was the country of the Minitarees, who had described it to the leaders. It seems singular that they did not secure two or three of these Amerinds as guides. Had they done so, they would have been spared a good deal of labour and considerable delay. As they toiled up the Missouri they came at length to a point where it was difficult to tell which of two branches to take—that is, which was the real Missouri,—but they finally made a correct decision, and, naming the northern branch Maria's River, continued up the left or southern stream, when they soon arrived at the Great Falls. Had Fidler come down as far as this it would seem that he would have discovered these falls and would have described them, hence as he seems not to have mentioned them it is probable that he did not come much below the branches of Maria's River, and that Lewis and Clark were now in the untrodden Wilderness, untrodden by whites with the possible exception of the Verendryes or some other Frenchman of that period. A portage eighteen miles long was imperative to surmount the falls, and it was rendered more difficult by extremely hot summer weather. A large cottonwood, the only one of the proper diameter within miles, was felled for the purpose of sawing from its trunk wheels with which to make a carriage for transporting the canoes. Sacajawea had been seriously ill since leaving Maria's River and it was fortunate for the party that she recovered, a happy event largely assisted by draughts from some sulphur springs found here. Here too she, together with Captain Clark, his negro, and her husband, was nearly lost by the flood from a cloudburst, having encamped in a deep, dry ravine. Even to this day people have not learned to avoid camping in the Great West, in the bottoms of ravines and washes which in a few minutes may become filled by roaring torrents. [Illustration: Junction of the Madison and Jefferson. The Madison at Left, the Jefferson at the Right Centre. From _The Trail of Lewis and Clark_, O. D. Wheeler.]