Game, which had been somewhat scarce after leaving the Yellowstone,
became more plentiful as they passed on to the westward, still
following the winding course of the Missouri. Much of the time, baffling
winds and the crookedness of the stream made sailing impossible, and the
boats were towed by men walking along the banks.
Even this was sometimes difficult, on account of the rocky ledges that
beset the shores, and sharp stones that lay in the path of the towing
parties. On the twenty-eighth of April, however, having a favorable
wind, the party made twenty-eight miles with their sails, which was
reckoned a good day’s journey. On that day the journal records that game
had again become very abundant, deer of various kinds, elk, buffalo,
antelope, bear, beaver, and geese being numerous. The beaver, it was
found, had wrought much damage by gnawing down trees; some of these, not
less than three feet in diameter had been gnawed clean through by the
beaver. On the following day the journal has this record:--
“We proceeded early, with a moderate wind. Captain Lewis, who was on
shore with one hunter, met, about eight o’clock, two white (grizzly)
bears. Of the strength and ferocity of this animal the Indians had given
us dreadful accounts. They never attack him but in parties of six or
eight persons, and even then are often defeated with a loss of one or
more of their party. Having no weapons but bows and arrows, and the bad
guns with which the traders supply them, they are obliged to approach
very near to the bear; as no wound except through the head or heart
is mortal, they frequently fall a sacrifice if they miss their aim. He
rather attacks than avoids a man, and such is the terror which he has
inspired, that the Indians who go in quest of him paint themselves and
perform all the superstitious rites customary when they make war on a
neighboring nation. Hitherto, those bears we had seen did not appear
desirous of encountering us; but although to a skilful rifleman the
danger is very much diminished, yet the white bear is still a terrible
animal. On approaching these two, both Captain Lewis and the hunter
fired, and each wounded a bear. One of them made his escape; the other
turned upon Captain Lewis and pursued him seventy or eighty yards, but
being badly wounded the bear could not run so fast as to prevent him
from reloading his piece, which he again aimed at him, and a third shot
from the hunter brought him to the ground. He was a male, not quite full
grown, and weighed about three hundred pounds. The legs are somewhat
longer than those of the black bear, and the talons and tusks much
larger and longer. Its color is a yellowish-brown; the eyes are small,
black, and piercing; the front of the fore legs near the feet is usually
black, and the fur is finer, thicker, and deeper than that of the black
bear. Add to which, it is a more furious animal, and very remarkable for
the wounds which it will bear without dying.”
Next day, the hunter killed the largest elk which they had ever seen. It
stood five feet three inches high from hoof to shoulder. Antelopes were
also numerous, but lean, and not very good for food. Of the antelope the
journal says:--
“These fleet and quick-sighted animals are generally the victims of
their curiosity. When they first see the hunters, they run with great
velocity; if he lies down on the ground, and lifts up his arm, his hat,
or his foot, they return with a light trot to look at the object, and
sometimes go and return two or three times, till they approach within
reach of the rifle. So, too, they sometimes leave their flock to go
and look at the wolves, which crouch down, and, if the antelope is
frightened at first, repeat the same manoevre, and sometimes relieve
each other, till they decoy it from the party, when they seize it. But,
generally, the wolves take them as they are crossing the rivers; for,
although swift on foot, they are not good swimmers.”
Later wayfarers across the plains were wont to beguile the antelope by
fastening a bright-colored handkerchief to a ramrod stuck in the ground.
The patient hunter was certain to be rewarded by the antelope coming
within range of his rifle; for, unless scared off by some interference,
the herd, after galloping around and around and much zigzagging, would
certainly seek to gratify their curiosity by gradually circling nearer
and nearer the strange object until a deadly shot or two sent havoc into
their ranks.
May came on cold and windy, and on the second of the month, the journal
records that snow fell to the depth of an inch, contrasting strangely
with the advanced vegetation.
“Our game to-day,” proceeds the journal, “were deer, elk, and buffalo:
we also procured three beaver. They were here quite gentle, as they have
not been hunted; but when the hunters are in pursuit, they never leave
their huts during the day. This animal we esteem a great delicacy,
particularly the tail, which, when boiled, resembles in flavor the
fresh tongues and sounds of the codfish, and is generally so large as to
afford a plentiful meal for two men. One of the hunters, in passing near
an old Indian camp, found several yards of scarlet cloth suspended on
the bough of a tree, as a sacrifice to the deity, by the Assiniboins;
the custom of making these offerings being common among that people, as,
indeed, among all the Indians on the Missouri. The air was sharp this
evening; the water froze on the oars as we rowed.”
The Assiniboin custom of sacrificing to their deity, or “great
medicine,” the article which they most value themselves, is not by any
means peculiar to that tribe, nor to the Indian race.
An unusual number of porcupines were seen along here, and these
creatures were so free from wildness that they fed on, undisturbed,
while the explorers walked around and among them. The captains named
a bold and beautiful stream, which here entered the Missouri from the
north,--Porcupine River; but modern geography calls the water-course
Poplar River; at the mouth of the river, in Montana, is now the Poplar
River Indian Agency and military post. The waters of this stream, the
explorers found, were clear and transparent,--an exception to all the
streams, which, discharging into the Missouri, give it its name of the
Big Muddy. The journal adds:--
“A quarter of a mile beyond this river a creek falls in on the south,
to which, on account of its distance from the mouth of the Missouri, we
gave the name of Two-thousand-mile creek. It is a bold stream with a bed
thirty yards wide. At three and one-half miles above Porcupine River,
we reached some high timber on the north, and camped just above an
old channel of the river, which is now dry. We saw vast quantities of
buffalo, elk, deer,--principally of the long-tailed kind,--antelope,
beaver, geese, ducks, brant, and some swan. The porcupines too are
numerous, and so careless and clumsy that we can approach very near
without disturbing them, as they are feeding on the young willows.
Toward evening we also found for the first time the nest of a goose
among some driftwood, all that we had hitherto seen being on the top of
a broken tree on the forks, invariably from fifteen to twenty or more
feet in height.”
“Next day,” May 4, says the journal, “we passed some old Indian
hunting-camps, one of which consisted of two large lodges, fortified
with a circular fence twenty or thirty feet in diameter, made of timber
laid horizontally, the beams overlying each other to the height of five
feet, and covered with the trunks and limbs of trees that have drifted
down the river. The lodges themselves are formed by three or more strong
sticks about the size of a man’s leg or arm and twelve feet long, which
are attached at the top by a withe of small willows, and spread out so
as to form at the base a circle of ten to fourteen feet in diameter.
Against these are placed pieces of driftwood and fallen timber, usually
in three ranges, one on the other; the interstices are covered with
leaves, bark, and straw, so as to form a conical figure about ten feet
high, with a small aperture in one side for the door. It is, however, at
best a very imperfect shelter against the inclemencies of the seasons.”
Wolves were very abundant along the route of the explorers, the
most numerous species being the common kind, now known as the coyote
(pronounced kyote), and named by science the canis latrans. These
animals are cowardly and sly creatures, of an intermediate size between
the fox and dog, very delicately formed, fleet and active.
“The ears are large, erect, and pointed; the head is long and pointed,
like that of the fox; the tail long and bushy; the hair and fur are of a
pale reddish-brown color, though much coarser than that of the fox; the
eye is of a deep sea-green color, small and piercing; the talons are
rather longer than those of the wolf of the Atlantic States, which
animal, as far as we can perceive, is not to be found on this side of
the Platte. These wolves usually associate in bands of ten or twelve,
and are rarely, if ever, seen alone, not being able, singly, to attack a
deer or antelope. They live and rear their young in burrows, which they
fix near some pass or spot much frequented by game, and sally out in a
body against any animal which they think they can overpower; but on the
slightest alarm retreat to their burrows, making a noise exactly like
that of a small dog.
“A second species is lower, shorter in the legs, and thicker than the
Atlantic wolf; the color, which is not affected by the seasons, is of
every variety of shade, from a gray or blackish-brown to a cream-colored
white. They do not burrow, nor do they bark, but howl; they frequent the
woods and plains, and skulk along the skirts of the buffalo herds, in
order to attack the weary or wounded.”
Under date of May 5, the journal has an interesting story of an
encounter with a grizzly bear, which, by way of variety, is here called
“brown,” instead of “white.” It is noticeable that the explorers dwelt
with much minuteness upon the peculiar characteristics of the grizzly;
this is natural enough when we consider that they were the first white
men to form an intimate acquaintance with “Ursus horribilis.” The
account says:--
“Captain Clark and one of the hunters met, this evening, the largest
brown bear we have seen. As they fired he did not attempt to attack,
but fled with a most tremendous roar; and such was his extraordinary
tenacity of life, that, although he had five balls passed through his
lungs, and five other wounds, he swam more than half across the river to
a sand-bar, and survived twenty minutes. He weighed between five and six
hundred pounds at least, and measured eight feet seven inches and a half
from the nose to the extremity of the hind feet, five feet ten inches
and a half round the breast, three feet eleven inches round the neck,
one foot eleven inches round the middle of the fore leg, and his claws
five on each foot, were four inches and three-eighths in length. This
animal differs from the common black bear in having his claws much
longer and more blunt; his tail shorter; his hair of a reddish or bay
brown, longer, finer, and more abundant; his liver, lungs, and heart
much larger even in proportion to his size, the heart, particularly,
being equal to that of a large ox; and his maw ten times larger. Besides
fish and flesh, he feeds on roots and every kind of wild fruit.”
On May 8 the party discovered the largest and most important of the
northern tributaries of the Upper Missouri. The journal thus describes
the stream:--
“Its width at the entrance is one hundred and fifty yards; on going
three miles up, Captain Lewis found it to be of the same breadth and
sometimes more; it is deep, gentle, and has a large quantity of water;
its bed is principally of mud; the banks are abrupt, about twelve
feet in height, and formed of a dark, rich loam and blue clay; the
low grounds near it are wide and fertile, and possess a considerable
proportion of cottonwood and willow. It seems to be navigable for boats
and canoes; by this circumstance, joined to its course and quantity of
water, which indicates that it passes through a large extent of
country, we are led to presume that it may approach the Saskaskawan
(Saskatchewan) and afford a communication with that river. The water has
a peculiar whiteness, such as might be produced by a tablespoonful of
milk in a dish of tea, and this circumstance induced us to call it Milk
River.”
Modern geography shows that the surmise of Captain Lewis was correct.
Some of the tributaries of Milk River (the Indian name of which
signifies “The River that Scolds at all Others”) have their rise near
St. Mary’s River, which is one of the tributaries of the Saskatchewan,
in British America.
The explorers were surprised to find the bed of a dry river, as deep and
as wide as the Missouri itself, about fifteen miles above Milk River.
Although it had every appearance of a water-course, it did not discharge
a drop of water. Their journal says:--
“It passes through a wide valley without timber; the surrounding country
consists of waving low hills, interspersed with some handsome level
plains; the banks are abrupt, and consist of a black or yellow clay,
or of a rich sandy loam; though they do not rise more than six or eight
feet above the bed, they exhibit no appearance of being overflowed; the
bed is entirely composed of a light brown sand, the particles of which,
like those of the Missouri, are extremely fine. Like the dry rivers we
passed before, this seemed to have discharged its waters recently, but
the watermark indicated that its greatest depth had not been more than
two feet. This stream, if it deserve the name, we called Bigdry (Big
Dry) River.”
And Big Dry it remains on the maps unto this day. In this region the
party recorded this observation:--
“The game is now in great quantities, particularly the elk and buffalo,
which last is so gentle that the men are obliged to drive them out
of the way with sticks and stones. The ravages of the beaver are very
apparent; in one place the timber was entirely prostrated for a space of
three acres in front on the river and one in depth, and great part of it
removed, though the trees were in large quantities, and some of them as
thick as the body of a man.”
Yet so great have been the ravages of man among these gentle creatures,
that elk are now very rarely found in the region, and the buffalo have
almost utterly disappeared from the face of the earth. Just after
the opening of the Northern Pacific Railway, in 1883, a band of sixty
buffaloes were heard of, far to the southward of Bismarck, and a party
was organized to hunt them. The _bold_ hunters afterwards boasted that
they killed every one of this little band of survivors of their race.
The men were now (in the middle of May) greatly troubled with boils,
abscesses, and inflamed eyes, caused by the poison of the alkali that
covered much of the ground and corrupted the water. Here is an entry in
the journal of May 11:--
“About five in the afternoon one of our men (Bratton), who had been
afflicted with boils and suffered to walk on shore, came running to the
boats with loud cries, and every symptom of terror and distress. For
some time after we had taken him on board he was so much out of breath
as to be unable to describe the cause of his anxiety; but he at length
told us that about a mile and a half below he had shot a brown bear,
which immediately turned and was in close pursuit of him; but the bear
being badly wounded could not overtake him. Captain Lewis, with seven
men, immediately went in search of him; having found his track they
followed him by the blood for a mile, found him concealed in some
thick brushwood, and shot him with two balls through the skull. Though
somewhat smaller than that killed a few days ago, he was a monstrous
animal, and a most terrible enemy. Our man had shot him through the
centre of the lungs; yet he had pursued him furiously for half a
mile, then returned more than twice that distance, and with his talons
prepared himself a bed in the earth two feet deep and five feet long;
he was perfectly alive when they found him, which was at least two hours
after he had received the wound. The wonderful power of life which these
animals possess renders them dreadful; their very track in the mud or
sand, which we have sometimes found eleven inches long and seven and
one-fourth wide, exclusive of the talons, is alarming; and we had rather
encounter two Indians than meet a single brown bear. There is no chance
of killing them by a single shot unless the ball goes through the brain,
and this is very difficult on account of two large muscles which cover
the side of the forehead and the sharp projection of the centre of the
frontal bone, which is also thick.
“Our camp was on the south, at the distance of sixteen miles from that
of last night. The fleece and skin of the bear were a heavy burden for
two men, and the oil amounted to eight gallons.”
The name of the badly-scared Bratton was bestowed upon a creek which
discharges into the Missouri near the scene of this encounter. Game
continued to be very abundant. On the fourteenth, according to the
journal, the hunters were hunted, to their great discomfiture. The
account says:--
“Toward evening the men in the hindmost canoes discovered a large brown
(grizzly) bear lying in the open grounds, about three hundred paces from
the river. Six of them, all good hunters, immediately went to attack
him, and concealing themselves by a small eminence came unperceived
within forty paces of him. Four of the hunters now fired, and each
lodged a ball in his body, two of them directly through the lungs. The
furious animal sprang up and ran open-mouthed upon them.
“As he came near, the two hunters who had reserved their fire gave him
two wounds, one of which, breaking his shoulder, retarded his motion
for a moment; but before they could reload he was so near that they
were obliged to run to the river, and before they had reached it he
had almost overtaken them. Two jumped into the canoe; the other four
separated, and, concealing themselves in the willows, fired as fast
as they could reload. They struck him several times, but, instead of
weakening the monster, each shot seemed only to direct him towards the
hunters, till at last he pursued two of them so closely that they threw
aside their guns and pouches, and jumped down a perpendicular bank of
twenty feet into the river: the bear sprang after them, and was within
a few feet of the hindmost, when one of the hunters on shore shot him
in the head, and finally killed him. They dragged him to the shore, and
found that eight balls had passed through him in different directions.
The bear was old, and the meat tough, so that they took the skin only,
and rejoined us at camp, where we had been as much terrified by an
accident of a different kind.
“This was the narrow escape of one of our canoes, containing all our
papers, instruments, medicine, and almost every article indispensable
for the success of our enterprise. The canoe being under sail, a sudden
squall of wind struck her obliquely and turned her considerably. The man
at the helm, who was unluckily the worst steersman of the party, became
alarmed, and, instead of putting her before the wind, luffed her up into
it. The wind was so high that it forced the brace of the square-sail
out of the hand of the man who was attending it, and instantly upset the
canoe, which would have been turned bottom upward but for the resistance
made by the awning. Such was the confusion on board, and the waves ran
so high, that it was half a minute before she righted, and then nearly
full of water, but by bailing her out she was kept from sinking until
they rowed ashore. Besides the loss of the lives of three men, who, not
being able to swim, would probably have perished, we should have been
deprived of nearly everything necessary for our purposes, at a distance
of between two and three thousand miles from any place where we could
supply the deficiency.”
Fortunately, there was no great loss from this accident, which was
caused by the clumsiness and timidity of the steersman, Chaboneau.
Captain Lewis’s account of the incident records that the conduct of
Chaboneau’s wife, Sacajawea, was better than that of her cowardly
husband. He says:--
“The Indian woman, to whom I ascribe equal fortitude and resolution with
any person on board at the time of the accident, caught and preserved
most of the light articles which were washed overboard.”