Morning very cold, raw, windy; some rain, which soon stops. The sky is densely overcast. The wind became strong and, according to the way the river turned, sometimes favorable so that we could sail. At 7:30, 59°F [15°C]. The Indians returned early that morning; they wanted to set out immediately for the fort, which they can reach in a day by land. All in all, we were very satisfied with their conduct, and Mr. Mitchell himself had to admit that these Indians of ill repute had conducted themselves far better than all the others on the Missouri would have done in similar circumstances. Now, however, they are compelled to be on good terms with the American traders, for in all other respects, they have completely forfeited the goodwill of the whites. Actually, they live north, near the English frontiers; there they destroyed a fort and killed a clerk and eighteen men of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and in the Rocky Mountains they slew a number of whites. No one wanted to have any more dealings with them.

The region we are passing through today is most interesting. The sandstone valley of the Missouri has greenish gray, moderately high hills, rounded off on top or flattened like ridges and overgrown with short clumps of low plants. White sandstone walls are found everywhere: out in the open, partly on the hilltops, partly in the middle section. They appear in the places where the turf cover has been washed away or collapsed, and there one sees the most unusual formations. Isolated, freestanding ledges like walls extend horizontally; they contain caves [as well as] perpendicular and horizontal ledges. On top of them stand rows of strange figures, partly pillars with stone slabs like tables, then figures like organs, pulpits, [and] small towers, even like men. In many places they have varying shapes, like several examples here [see figs. 11.33–11.36]. The tall peak is covered with grayish green grass. In front of it are nothing but white walls in the center section on which the strange jagged edges stand. Between eight and nine o’clock, the valley was especially curious, for on all sides one saw white, extremely strangely formed sandstone sections standing in full view, with the already described rows of figures—complete ramparts, organs, perpendicularly striped and furrowed—the most unusual domes and turrets of all kinds. Every moment one sees new shapes, and the most curious formations appear intermittently; one could fill thick volumes with their description. Below, before the sandstone hills, the domes of which also consist partially of clay, one sees narrow prairies overgrown with Artemisia or the thorn ([——]).

The bighorn, of which our men saw three this morning, lives in these mountains. Somewhat farther distant we saw six of these animals in a troop running up over the strange white sand[stone] walls. They stood on top, silhouetted against the sky. In this region there were again the most unusual formations like fortresses, a church with two steeples, etc. (For the latter see sketch D.D.) To the right along these strange rocky walls, we now saw a troop of about twelve bighorn; they seem to be most numerous in this region. Soon we again saw seven to the right, five to the left; in short, the whole mountain was full of these interesting animals.

The sandstone rocks had rows of the most singular jagged points and conical peaks. Entire long tracts looked exactly like a big demolished fortress because, thanks to the stratification, a certain regularity prevailed in all the walls. Yet at the same time, wild destruction was not lacking. At several places one believed for certain that one saw complete old mountain castles; a wall, set quite regularly, ran along the whole mountain down into the valley in an absolutely straight direction, just as one saw the surrounding walls cutting through the moat near the old castles. One could not sufficiently turn from one side to the other here. While sketching, one was repeatedly called over to the other side [as] the boat hastened forward with a sailing wind. The peculiar mountain formations are as fleeting as thoughts, and one regrets having to surrender them moment by moment for new, even more singular ones. Most striking was the stone wall running crosswise through three valleys where an old castle stood on the tip of each peak. Here, for example, [is] just one of these peaks.

We halted here on the left bank for a moment and took in the twenty-seven men who had been pulling on the cordelle, because the brisk wind was very favorable for sailing. Surrounded by this most singular—may I say, unique—world of nature, one forgot the cold weather prevailing today, which made drawing nearly impossible. I have not yet read anything about this strange mountain formation, and an exact description of it would certainly not be without interest for the European reader. The unusual cliffs have given this interesting stretch of the Missouri Valley the name Stone Walls, by which it is known.

We crossed to the right bank, again took in the men on the cordelle, and then continued sailing through the interesting region of the stone walls, which altogether is about 12 to 15 miles long and where the river has a rather straight course. Dreidoppel moved along beside us on the left bank; he had to hurry to keep up with the sailing boat. We sailed past interesting lateral valleys that were closed on the end by rocks. At the end of some of them, there were black caves. Last year someone drove a whole troop of bighorn into one such closed ravine here and killed all ten or twelve of them. We, too, saw a group of these animals standing on a high rock on the left bank; the strangest domes surrounded them. A gull flew up the river ahead of us. Juniperus prostrata grew at the foot of the unusual rocky domes.

About twelve o’clock Dreidoppel returned; he had seen over fifty bighorn in a herd. He found the lower jaw of a beaver [and] shot a chipmunk (Tamias [——]) and several young Icterus. He had examined the white sandstone and found it very brittle. At twelve o’clock, 61°F [16.1°C]. The wind is very strong and raw. Sand flies about. On an eminence to the left, [a] striking mass of rock [with] the appearance of an old Gothic city; it is spread out wide, full of jagged points and towers, [and] has steep walls, [all crowning] several tall domes. On the opposite side, too, one sees a similar mass, completely white, full of jagged points [and] towers, with smooth walls and regular corners underneath. One can scarcely find a more noteworthy region than this. Here and there small strips of old cottonwoods lie along the bank. Otherwise everything is devoid of forest. However, on the prairies here one finds Fringilla amoena [and] Fringilla grammaca Say very abundantly. Another small bird, like a redstart, lives in the rocks; it is gray in color, [with a] somewhat darker tail [and] brown on its wing. Blackbirds and Lanius septentrionalis were also seen. Rocky walls now run down from the rocks again, [looking] as though they had been artificially constructed. One saw bighorn in the prairie along the river; this region seems to be the suitable place to hunt these animals. Dreidoppel shot twice at them at 200 paces. They leap with extraordinary agility and stretch their forelegs far ahead. On the rocks they are like a bird in the air. Full-grown rams seem to move separately; the larger troops consist of ewes and young rams.

Now we approached a most unusual area in the river that here forms an entire gate. It seems quite narrow. From the right side, the mountain descends, and opposite it to the left stands a high, dark brown, narrow, pointed rock tower (see sketch (——)), which the French engagés have named la Citadelle [the Citadel]. We soon passed beneath this solid rock, which has a completely different mass of brittle clay and sandstone formations. It seems to consist of argillite, graywacke, and a conglomeration of stone fragments in yellowish clay. [It] is vertical and rough on the side toward the river and is connected to the land by a ridge. Immediately above it is a similar but much smaller cone. Mr. Bodmer made a second sketch after we had passed it (see sketch (——)).

We put in behind the rock tower, and the crew had lunch; then we continued the journey against [a] strong, wholly contrary wind. The region is now more open, the hills much lower, and only a few distinctive domes or rocks are visible. These include a tooth-shaped conical rock on the right bank, which stands wholly isolated on bare elevations overgrown with short grass. (See Mr. Bodmer’s sketch B.+.) Not far from it are two other distinctive, though much less distinctive, domes, of which the lower one (according to the course of the river) resembles a small old fortress. The hills here are again smooth, with mostly level or gently rounded domes and gray-green or gray and light gray-brown color—that is, barren and parched. In the afternoon we had a contrary wind and had to pull laboriously. Several elevations with gullies to the left revealed six bighorn. Farther distant, strange white rock walls with various jagged points appeared along the mountains, which are not high here. Bodmer and Papin had gone ashore to look for the bighorn, but they saw Indians without doubt the ones from yesterday on horseback and hence returned. Saucier, too, returned. He asserted that he had seen buffalo cows, and Papin and Deschamps were sent out after them.

On the right bank, we now had an indescribably strange rock wall, completely white, equally high almost everywhere, with short jagged points on top that continued far along the middle of the mountains. Before us, where the river seemed to enter a narrow gap, this wall reached the bank, as did another one from the left bank, and they seemed to form a narrow gate. These white walls are all the more striking because the hills everywhere overtop them, and they form a center streak along the mountains. If one looked backward from here, one [could] still discern behind various promontories the high, dark-brown rock tower, which reminded me of the old Roman tower at Andernach on the Rhine. Before us a large herd of buffalo grazed at the rocky gate, to which Deschamps and Papin hastened. Beside us to the right, we saw on each dome, over which the rocky wall extended, a broad frontispiece in front, as though it were regularly constructed with squared stones, one of which Mr. Bodmer sketched (sketch C.+). Inside the gate before us stood a black tower on the right bank. Beside us were the most regular walls, which looked as though they had been constructed from thick cubical stones, the joints as regular as though [the stones had been] hewn to size. On a hill (sketch D.+) stood a rock like an old Gothic chapel with a chimney. Spruces grew around the walls; in the cliff, which extended toward the right from the mentioned chapel, there was an attractive gate demarcated most distinctly as though it had been built artificially. We had observed the buffalo herd; finally we heard shots and saw one fall. The herd took flight.

Meanwhile, we had advanced toward another cliff on the right bank that looked like a citadel or a barracks built on the summit (see sketch E.+). Its corners were sharp and looked as though they had been regularly cut; the entire formation resembled a long building. We [again] saw the previously mentioned wall on the ledge, where it has a quite narrow but highly regular shape (see sketch F.+). Before us, in the rocky wall of the left bank, stood a thick tower rock (see sketch G.+), which we will look at more closely tomorrow. Somewhat above it was a cliff that formed a horseshoe, or crescent, in which pines were growing. On one side, there was a cross-shaped figure, which, from the boat, one could have regarded as artificial. Our hunters had killed four buffalo on that side. We crossed over and put in for the night at the prairie.

Here we climbed the incredibly strange rocky hills, and I found the white sandstone so brittle that it could be pulverized in one’s hand. The reddish stones, which here and there form the roofs, are in part a little firmer. Cedars (Juniperus virginiana) grew extremely stunted and strangely crooked in these rocks. The pines (Pinus [——]) had grown up straight but were not over 40 feet high. If one stood between those strange rocks, one could believe one was in an old French garden: such unusual figures, urns, pyramids, obelisks, and the like, often with very regular shapes, surrounded us. On top, often [formed] from somewhat older sandstone strata, they bore spheres or slabs that were a little more hardened but still very fragile. One could discern round holes, basin-shaped hollows, and stratification on all these stones. Large round blocks could easily be divided into regular, nearly inch-thick discs. The tracks of the bighorn and, on the lower areas, of the buffalo appeared all over. Among the cedars (Juniperus) lives a herpetologist’s curiosity: a small green tree frog, which lets its loud chirping voice be heard toward evening. It is the first tree frog I have seen on conifers. Until now I have not yet been able to catch it. Cactus ferox grew above on the prairie above the walls. The latter form basin-shaped valleys down along the river that are open only partway on the front side facing the river. Our two hunters had stalked the buffalo herd there today and in this way caused them to pay tribute. The evening was dark but not as cool as the day.