In 1742 Sieur de la Verendrye, the French Governor of Quebec, sent out an expedition, under his sons and brother, that discovered the Rocky Mountains, which were named La Montana Roches.  On the 12th of May, 1744, this expedition visited the upper Missouri, and planted on an eminence, probably in the near region of Great Falls, a leaden plate bearing the arms of France, and raised a monument above it, which the Verendryes named Beauharnois.  It is stated that this monument was erected on a river-bluff, between bowlders, and that it was twenty feet in diameter.

There are people who claim to have discovered this monument, but they fail to produce the leaden plate with the arms of France that the explorers buried.  The search for this hidden plate will one day begin, and the subject is likely greatly to interest historical societies in Montana, and to become a very poetic mystery.

Into this wonder-land of waterfalls, sun-dances, and legends, our young explorers came, now paddling in their airy canoe, now bearing the canoe on their backs around the falls.

Mr. Mann’s white face was a surprise to the native tribes that they met on the way, but Benjamin’s brightness and friendly ways made the journey of both easy.

They came to the Black Eagle Falls.  The great nest still was there.  It was as is described in the book of the early explorers.

It hung over the mists of the rapids, and, strangely enough, there were revealed three black plumes in the nest.

Benjamin beheld these plumes with a kind of religious awe.  His eyes dilated as he pointed to them.

“They are for me,” he said.  “One for me, one for father, and one for you.  I’ll get them all.”

He glided along a shelf of rocks toward the little island, and mounted the tree.  The black eagles were yet there, though their nest was empty.  He passed up the tree under the wings of the eagles, and came down with a handful of feathers.

“The book was true,” said he.

They went to Medicine River, now called the Sun River, and there witnessed a Sun-dance.

It was a scene to tempt a brilliant painter or poet.  The chiefs and warriors were arrayed in crystals, quartz, and every bright product of the earth and river that would reflect the glory of the sun.

They returned from where the city of Great Falls is now, back to the mountains and to the tributaries of the Columbia.  Benjamin appeared before his father, on his return, with a crest of black eagle’s plumes, and this crest the young Indian knight wore until the day of his death.

“I shall wear mine always,” he said to his father.  “You wear yours.”

“Yes,” said his father, with a face that showed a full heart.

“Both together,” said Benjamin.

“Both together,” replied Umatilla.

“Always?” said Benjamin.

“Always,” answered the chief.