The Missouri River was low in 1864, and Barker and Dennis only made it as far as Cow Island before low water forced the steamboat to unload passengers and freight. The freight and paying passengers were carted by team and wagon the rest of the way to Fort Benton, but the former Confederates were on their own. News had come down the river that a new gold strike had been made at Last Chance Gulch (present-day Helena, Montana), at the foot of Mullan Pass, but by the time Barker and Dennis walked there from Cow Island, the good ground was taken, no jobs were to be had, and the cost of living was high.