volume xxv.--ED.

[19] Lewis and Clark so named this stream from the unusual number of porcupines seen near its mouth. The present Porcupine River is a branch of the Milk. The stream here so designated is now Poplar River, whose several branches have their rise on the southern border of Assiniboia; it flows nearly south into the Missouri, through Fort Peck Indian reservation. The station of Poplar, on the Great Northern Railway, is near its mouth.--ED.

[20] Deschamps was probably one of the family of half-breeds who were later (1835) murdered at Fort Union. See _Larpenteur's Journal_, i, pp. 77, 78, 95-101; also note 124, _post_, p. 151.--ED.

[21] Probably Red Water Creek, just above Poplar River, but on the south, not north, side of the Missouri. In the _Original Journals_, both Lewis and Clark speak of this creek as on the "larboard side." There is some reason to think that Maximilian was mistaken in his identification of these three rivers of Lewis and Clark--Martha's, Porcupine, and Two Thousand Mile Creek. The one called by him Martha's, or La Rivière aux Trembles, was probably the present Poplar, which would correspond to the French-Canadian name; but this was not the river named Martha's by Lewis and Clark (see _ante_, note 16). Maximilian speaks of Porcupine River as a "small stream," while in reality it was the largest river passed above the Yellowstone, and Lewis and Clark considered it as a possible line of communication with the Saskatchewan. Maximilian's "Porcupine" would thus be either Tulle Creek, or some of the smaller northern affluents of this stretch of the river, which would also account for his misplacing Two Thousand Mile Creek.--ED.

[22] See Plate 21, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.

[23] Alexander Culbertson, who afterwards was prominent as chief factor and partner of the American Fur Company, had, in this year (1833), entered its employ, upon recommendation of an uncle, John Culbertson, with whom he had been in Florida the preceding years. Born of Scotch-Irish stock in Pennsylvania (1809), he was a large man, of a mild temperament, and popular both with his subordinates and the Indians. He married a Blackfoot woman, and was for several years in charge of Fort Mc Kenzie; he also built Fort Sarpy, Fort Lewis, and Fort Benton. In 1861 he retired from the company, having made a considerable fortune, and went to live in Peoria, Illinois. He nevertheless was frequently in the Indian country thereafter, and in 1863 was present at a Sioux attack upon the upper river (see _Larpenteur's Journal_, ii, pp. 350, 351). He also served as official interpreter for the government, in 1869 and 1874. What is essentially the journal of Major Culbertson's life in the Indian country, is published by the Montana Historical Society under title, "Affairs at Fort Benton," in their _Contributions_, iii, pp. 201-287. He most entertainingly describes Prince Maximilian's visit (see preface to our