In the area of present-day Cascade, Montana, Lewis and Clark had not seen any American Indians and in fact had not seen any Indians since entering Montana, although they found signs of their presence in the form of “boothes” or leather lodges and very large pole lodges. Many historians believe the Indians were watching the expedition without revealing themselves. On July 16, 1805, Captain William Clark wrote that Captain Lewis and three men went to the mountain to take a meridian altitude and passed about forty small camps that appeared to have been abandoned ten or twelve days earlier. Clark supposed they were Snake Indians, and a few miles farther on he saw poles still standing in the position of a very large lodge sixty feet in diameter, along with signs of a number of leather lodges that appeared to date from the previous fall.