EXPLORERS OF A CONTINENTAL PURCHASE
AS William pored over his big geography in the firelight of his
Pennsylvania home, that great stretch of territory vaguely called
the “Northwest” filled his mind with interesting visions of possible
adventures. Another name given to it by his elders, and by the books,
was the “Great American Desert,” and the boy could never hear enough of
the tales that came out of it. He always wanted to learn more about the
Indians, with their strange beliefs and customs, and about the great
brown herds of buffalo that roamed over the plains, and that were being
slaughtered wantonly by white man and red man alike. He day-dreamed
of Indian camps, of the long wagon-trains of venturesome pioneers, of
swift, pony express riders, and of the hardy hunters of wild animals in
the mountains.
“When I am old enough, I am going west,” said the boy to his friends.
“I shall come back to Pennsylvania to live, but I am going to see the
land of Lewis and Clark first.”
The adventures of these explorers had a great fascination for the
schoolboys of that period even as they have at the present time. The
great western land of which William dreamed became known to the world
principally through the journeys of these daring men. William loved
to hear about every one of their wonderful experiences. The story of
the Louisiana Purchase, by which most of these territories had been
acquired by the United States, was a favorite, too. He liked especially
to read about the day when the Louisiana Purchase had the unique
experience of flying three different flags in twenty-four hours. In
1803 Spain ceded all this unexplored land to France. France sold it to
the United States. So in one day the Spanish flag came down and, for
form’s sake, the French flag was put up; and in turn that was lowered
for the flag that has floated over the Purchase ever since, the Stars
and Stripes.
President Jefferson made plans at once for the exploration of the new
domain, and chose as the leaders of the expedition two young Virginia
college men of energy, ability, and high character. They were well
fitted for the dangerous enterprise ahead. None but stout hearts could
have completed the venture, of which William Wesley Van Orsdel and
thousands of other boys were to hear and read many years later. Lewis
was President Jefferson’s secretary and a man whom he loved much.
Jefferson has left this fine appreciation of him: “Of courage undaunted,
possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but
impossibilities could divert from its direction, careful as a father of
those committed to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance of order
and discipline, intimate with Indian character, customs and principles,
honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding, and a fidelity
to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should report would be as
certain as if seen by ourselves.”
The maps showed few cities on the Missouri River when Lewis and Clark
started on their expedition. St. Louis was then forty years old; it
contained less than two hundred houses and about two thousand people,
nearly all of whom were French. These men who started up the Missouri
in the fleet bearing the expedition, little dreamed that from the
territory which they were to explore there would be carved the great
states of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota,
Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon――fertile and prosperous states
from which would come the necessities to strengthen nations in need in
the great war more than a hundred years later. Not only wheat, sugar,
and cattle, but timber, and metals to renew the world’s shipping, were
to come from those western fields, forests, and mines.
The fleet consisted of three craft; the largest was a keel-boat,
fifty-five feet long, drawing three feet of water, carrying a sail, and
propelled by twenty-two oars, eleven on each side. It had a forecastle
and a cabin guarded by breastworks to protect against Indian attacks.
The other two were piroques. These were boats bound together side by
side and floored over; one with seven oars, another with six oars, and
both carried sails.
Besides Lewis and Clark, the party consisted of three sergeants――Ordney,
Pryor, and Lloyd――twenty-three privates, two interpreters, and a
Negro servant. The interpreters were Charbonneau and his Indian wife,
Sacajawea. The Negro, whose name was York, was Clark’s slave and
body servant. Many heroes were discovered in that company before it
had reached the waters of the Pacific. There is just one heroine,
Charbonneau’s wife, Sacajawea, or the Bird Woman. By birth she belonged
to the Shoshone tribe. When a little girl she had been taken prisoner
in a war between the Minnetarees and Shoshones and sold to a traveling
Frenchman, who was a roving hunter and guide. He brought her up as a
slave and afterward married her. Sacajawea guided the expedition and
acted as interpreter, all the while giving her baby tender and watchful
care. She received no gift when the party disbanded, but to-day she
lives in the grateful memory of the West as one of its real explorers
and a true benefactress. In the city park in Portland there stands a
statue in honor of this brave Indian matron.
Illustration: A STATUE IN HONOR OF SACAJAWEA IN THE CITY PARK,
PORTLAND, OREGON
The romantic episode of the return of this woman guide to her own
tribe was one of the strange incidents of the expedition. Over unknown
trails the daring scouts went in the untracked wilderness. It is
hard to realize the suffering they endured from hunger, sickness, and
other dangers. Their advance along the upper Missouri is of particular
interest here. One day Captain Lewis, who was traveling on foot in
order to lighten the canoes, climbed a high cliff and there before his
glad eyes lay the “Land of the Shining Mountains,” for such was the
Indian name for the region which was afterward known as Montana. As
they pressed on, the roaring of water sounded in the distance, and soon
the great falls of the Missouri came into view. Here the river drops
over four hundred feet in a ten-mile stretch. The map that Lewis and
Clark made of this section is so accurate that in 1892, when William
Van Orsdel resided temporarily in the town of Great Falls, it was
reproduced in facsimile with the modern improvements added. It was near
the falls that Sacajawea recognized the spot where she had been taken
prisoner by the Minnetarees.
Just at that point in their progress the expedition was in need of
horses for the journey across the mountains, and taking Sacajawea,
Captain Clark set out to find her people and to buy horses from them.
Captain Lewis went with another detachment on a different course. After
much journeying he found Chief Cameahwait and gave him an American
flag as an emblem of peace. The chief took them to a leathern lodge,
smoky and ancient, and seated them on green pine boughs covered with
antelope and buffalo skins. A warrior in splendid attire kindled a fire
in the center of the lodge; the chief produced a pipe and tobacco; the
warriors took off their moccasins, showing the white men that they were
expected to remove their shoes.
When all was in readiness and the circle completed, the chief lit his
pipe. He then made a speech, and at its close he indicated the four
cardinal points with the stem of his pipe, beginning with the east and
ending with the north. He handed the pipe to Lewis, who supposed that
he was to smoke, but the chief drew the pipe back three times, then
pointed to the heavens and to the center of the group. This concluded
the ceremony and Lewis was allowed to smoke.
After the foregoing reception Lewis was permitted to tell how he and
Captain Clark had separated as they started to find Sacajawea’s people,
and how they had agreed to meet at Three Forks but had missed one
another. He explained his anxiety concerning the safety of his friend
and his party and asked for help. Suddenly some Indians came in crying,
“White man! White man!” Eagerly the group seated around the fire left
the lodge, as from its entrance they saw that Captain Clark’s party
was drawing near. Sacajawea approached the watching Indians sucking her
fingers, signifying that they were of her native tribe. As she advanced,
a woman darted to meet her and weeping and laughing alternately
embraced her. It was then found that they had been childhood friends
and now were meeting for the first time since the day on which the
Minnetarees had taken Sacajawea captive.
Captain Lewis and Captain Clark embraced also in their joy at meeting,
and the chief called for the ceremony of smoking. The warriors and the
white men arranged themselves in a circle, and the pipe was about to be
smoked when Sacajawea was sent for to act as interpreter. She entered
modestly and shyly, but when her eyes sought the chief, she suddenly
ran to him weeping once more, for the big chief was her own brother,
from whose side she had been snatched on the day of the tribal war.
After this meeting Charbonneau and Sacajawea were taken to the camp of
the Shoshones. Anything that the white men wanted was easily secured
now. Fifty horses were bartered for and delivered to them, so the
expedition was able to proceed. Sacajawea was eager to go to the coast
to see the “big water” and the “monster fish,” but the time of parting
had come. Charbonneau was paid five hundred dollars and thirty-three
cents for two years’ service, and the little Bird Woman, Sacajawea, was
given nothing but the gratitude and respect of the white man.
The party proceeded with other guides and finished the hard journey
through the mountains to the Columbia River and to the Pacific. They
brought back to the American public a romantic story of strange animals,
of prairies, of rivers, of waterfalls, of mountains, and, above all, of
Indians with their weird, barbaric customs, their strength, and their
eagerness to learn.
As a result of the travels of Lewis and Clark, and of other explorers
and early settlers who followed them, a strong interest in the West
sprang up among the people of the East. Many adventure-seeking boys
left homes of comfort in the older states during the next fifty years
in search of larger opportunities in the opening West. But these
glowing tales of Indian tribes, and of wealth easily gained, had
another effect besides that of luring high-spirited boys to seek
new fortunes beyond the Mississippi; there was also kindled a flame
of missionary endeavor in the churches of the East. Some of the
great chapters of American history are written about the men who gave
their lives to the task of carrying the gospel to the Indians, and to
establishing churches in the new settlements scattered over almost half
a continent.
Growing up as he did in a Christian home, William Van Orsdel heard
the stories of the brave pioneers of the Cross as well as those of
explorers and hunters. It is not strange that as a young man he should
respond with enthusiasm to the calls that were being made throughout
the churches of the East for strong, energetic, and devoted men to
enlist for Christian service in these new and difficult fields.
William had already proved the depth and earnestness of his Christian
faith. When a boy on the farm he had given his life fully into God’s
guidance and keeping. That he had caught the spirit of his Master he
showed to all about him by his many acts of neighborly service to those
who were in need. Although he had to work very hard on the farm even
while attending school, he found time on Saturdays and Sundays to visit
the sick and the unfortunate and to help and encourage them. Thus the
boy who had carried the news of the battle of Gettysburg to the village
people now became the bearer of news of another battle――of the battle
against all that is mean and unworthy in life――and of the Great Captain
of our salvation who gives the victory to those who in loyalty of heart
place themselves under his leadership. The people came to love his
simple telling of the old message and crowded the little churches and
schoolhouses whenever he would speak to them. Soon they began to call
him the “boy evangelist” which was only the first of many honors that
his friends and neighbors were to pay him in the long years of useful
service that lay ahead.
Thus young manhood brought to William the firm conviction that in
the missionary service of his church in those distant regions of the
Northwest, where there was such need for young men who could be at once
both pioneers and Christian leaders, he would find the life-work which
would allow him to be of the largest service to his country and to his
God. Each year brought him a stronger sense of beckoning Indian hands.
To these people of the western plains and forests, he must go and
preach; his decision was clear and firm. His small savings were far
from sufficient to cover the cost of the long and expensive journey,
for he found that the money which he could scrape together would carry
him only as far as Champaign, Illinois. He had faith, however, that if
he made the start, the way would be opened for him to reach his final
destination in Montana. He knew how to do hard work; he could earn his
fare for the remainder of the journey.
So William started on his eagerly anticipated travels. No mother was
there to give a farewell blessing, but he carried with him an abundance
of good wishes from the people in the neighborhood of Gettysburg,
for they had known him since childhood and loved him for his helpful,
friendly ways, and for his sincere character. Tucked away in a safe
pocket was his most highly prized possession, an exhorter’s license
granted him in recognition of his work as an evangelist, a high honor
for a boy of seventeen. Alone and unafraid he pressed on toward the
western land of his dreams.