Note 26 — Chapter XVII · VOYAGE FROM FORT UNION TO MUSCLESHELL RIVER, FROM THE 6TH TO THE 28TH OF JULY

Milk River was named by Lewis and Clark from the peculiar color of its waters, "being about the color of a cup of tea with the admixture of a tablespoonful of milk"—Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, ii, p. 10. It is by far the largest of the northern tributaries of the Missouri, rising in the main range of the Rockies in north-west Montana, and flowing in a generally eastern course on both sides of the international boundary line—the 49th parallel. The stream drains the territory between the Saskatchewan and the Missouri, and its valley is for many miles followed by the Great Northern Railway.—Ed.