LEWIS AND CLARKE.
In the year 1786, John Ledyard of Connecticut, who had been with Capt.
Cook in his voyage of discovery to the north-west coast of America in
1776-1780, was in Paris, endeavoring to engage a mercantile company in
the fur-trade of that coast. He had seen, as he thought, unequalled
opportunities for lucrative traffic in the exchange of the furs of that
country for the silks and teas of China. But his representations were
listened to with incredulity by the cautious merchants of Europe, and he
found it impossible to interest any so far as to induce them to fit out
an expedition for the object proposed.
Disappointed and needy, he applied for advice and assistance to Mr.
Jefferson, at that time the American minister at the court of France.
Ledyard had no views of pecuniary gain in the contemplated enterprise:
he sought only an opportunity of indulging his love of adventure by
exploring regions at that time unknown. Mr. Jefferson, as the guardian
of his country's interests and the friend of science, was warmly
interested in any scheme which contemplated the opening of the vast
interior regions of the American continent to the occupancy of civilized
man. Since it was impossible to engage mercantile adventurers to fit out
an expedition by sea, Mr. Jefferson proposed to Ledyard that he should
go as a traveller, by land, through the Russian territories, as far as
the eastern coast of the continent of Asia, and from thence get such
conveyance as he could to the neighboring coast of America, and thus
reach the spot where his main journey was to begin. Ledyard eagerly
embraced the proposal. Permission was obtained from the Empress
Catharine of Russia, and the enterprising traveller, in December, 1786,
set forth. He traversed Denmark and Sweden; passed round the head of the
Gulf of Bothnia, after an unsuccessful attempt to cross it on the ice;
and reached St. Petersburg in March, 1787, without money, shoes, or
stockings, having gone this immense journey on foot in an arctic winter.
At St. Petersburg he obtained notice, money to the amount of twenty
guineas, and permission to accompany a convoy of stores to Yakoutsk, in
Siberia. But, for some unexplained reason, he was arrested at that
place by order of the empress, and conveyed back to Europe; being
cautioned, on his release, not again to set foot within the Russian
territories, under penalty of death. This harsh treatment is supposed to
have arisen from the jealousy of the Russian fur-traders, who feared
that Ledyard's proceedings would rouse up rivals in their trade.
Mr. Jefferson did not, upon this disappointment, abandon the idea of an
exploration of the interior of the American continent. At his
suggestion, the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia took
measures, in 1792, to send suitable persons to make a similar transit of
the continent in the opposite direction; that is, by ascending the
Missouri, and descending the Columbia. Nothing was effected, however, at
that time, except awakening the attention of Capt. Meriwether Lewis, a
young officer in the American army, a neighbor and relative of Gen.
Washington. He eagerly sought to be employed to make the contemplated
journey.
In 1803, Mr. Jefferson, being then President of the United States,
proposed to Congress to send an exploring party to trace the Missouri to
its source; to cross the highlands, and follow the best water
communication which might offer itself, to the Pacific Ocean. Congress
approved the proposal, and voted a sum of money to carry it into
execution. Capt. Lewis, who had then been two years with Mr. Jefferson
as his private secretary, immediately renewed his solicitations to have
the direction of the expedition. Mr. Jefferson had now had opportunity
of knowing him intimately, and believed him to be brave, persevering,
familiar with the Indian character and customs, habituated to the
hunting life, honest, and of sound judgment. He trusted that he would be
careful of those committed to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance
of discipline. On receiving his appointment, Capt. Lewis repaired to
Philadelphia, and placed himself under its distinguished professors,
with a view to acquire familiarity with the nomenclature of the natural
sciences. He selected, as his companion in the proposed expedition,
William Clarke, a brother-officer, known and esteemed by him.
While these things were going on, the treaty with France was concluded,
by which the country of Louisiana was ceded to the United States. This
event, which took place in 1803, greatly increased the interest felt by
the people of the United States in the proposed expedition.
In the spring of 1804, the preparations being completed, the explorers
commenced their route. The party consisted of nine young men from
Kentucky, fourteen soldiers of the United-States army who volunteered
their services, two French watermen, an interpreter, a hunter, and a
black servant of Capt. Clarke. In addition to these, a further force of
fifteen men attended on the commencement of the expedition to secure
safety during the transit through some Indian tribes whose hostility was
apprehended. The necessary stores were divided into seven bales and one
box, the latter containing a small portion of each article in case of a
loss of any one of the bales. The stores consisted of clothing, working
tools, ammunition, and other articles of prime necessity. To these were
added fourteen bales and one box of Indian presents, composed of richly
laced coats and other articles of dress, medals, flags, knives, and
tomahawks for the chiefs; ornaments of different kinds, particularly
beads, looking-glasses, handkerchiefs, paints, and generally such
articles as were deemed best calculated for the taste of the Indians.
The company embarked on board of three boats. The first was a keel-boat,
fifty-five feet long, carrying one large square sail and twenty-two
oars. A deck of ten feet, at each end, formed a forecastle and cabin.
This was accompanied by two open boats of six oars. Two horses were to
be led along the banks of the river, for bringing home game, or hunting
in case of scarcity.
The narrative of the expedition was written by the commanders from day
to day, and published after their return. We shall tell the story of
their adventures nearly in the language of their own journal, with such
abridgments as our plan renders necessary.
May 14, 1804.--All the preparations being completed, they left their
encampment this day. The character of the river itself was the most
interesting object of examination for the first part of their voyage.
Having advanced, in two months, about four hundred and fifty miles, they
write as follows: "The ranges of hills on opposite sides of the river
are twelve or fifteen miles apart, rich plains and prairies, with the
river, occupying the intermediate space, partially covered near the
river with cotton-wood or Balm-of-Gilead poplar. The whole lowland
between the parallel ranges of hills seems to have been formed of mud of
the river, mixed with sand and clay. The sand of the neighboring banks,
added to that brought down by the stream, forms sand-bars, projecting
into the river. These drive the stream to the opposite bank, the loose
texture of which it undermines, and at length deserts its ancient bed
for a new passage. It is thus that the banks of the Missouri are
constantly falling in, and the river changing its bed.
"On one occasion, the party encamped on a sand-bar in the river. Shortly
after midnight, the sleepers were startled by the sergeant on guard
crying out that the sand-bar was sinking: and the alarm was timely
given; for scarcely had they got off with the boats before the bank
under which they had been lying fell in; and, by the time the opposite
shore was reached, the ground on which they had been encamped sunk also.
"We had occasion here to observe the process of the undermining of these
hills by the Missouri. The first attacks seem to be made on the hills
which overhang the river. As soon as the violence of the current
destroys the grass at the foot of them, the whole texture appears
loosened, and the ground dissolves, and mixes with the water. At one
point, a part of the cliff, nearly three-quarters of a mile in length,
and about two hundred feet in height, had fallen into the river. As the
banks are washed away, the trees fall in, and the channel becomes filled
with buried logs."
RIVER SCENERY.
"July 12.--We remained to-day for the purpose of making lunar
observations. Capt. Clarke sailed a few miles up the Namaha River, and
landed on a spot where he found numerous artificial mounds.
NOTE. A late traveller, Rev. Samuel Parker, speaks thus of
these mounds: "The mounds, which some have called the work of
unknown generations of men, were scattered here in all
varieties of form and magnitude, thousands in number. Some of
them were conical, some elliptical, some square, and some
parallelograms. One group attracted my attention particularly.
They were twelve in number, of conical form, with their bases
joined, and twenty or thirty feet high. They formed two-thirds
of a circle, with an area of two hundred feet in diameter. If
these were isolated, who would not say they were artificial?
But, when they are only a group among a thousand others, who
will presume to say they all are the work of man?...
"It is said by those who advocate the belief that they are the
work of ancient nations; that they present plain evidence of
this in the fact that they contain human bones, articles of
pottery, and the like. That some of them have been used for
burying-places, is undoubtedly true; but may it not be
questioned whether they were _made_, or only _selected_, for
burying-places? No one who has ever seen the thousands and ten
thousands scattered through the Valley of the Mississippi will
be so credulous as to believe that a hundredth part of them
were the work of man."
"From the top of the highest mound, a delightful prospect presented
itself,--the lowland of the Missouri covered with an undulating grass
nearly five feet high, gradually rising into a second plain, where rich
weeds and flowers were interspersed with copses of the Osage plum.
Farther back from the river were seen small groves of trees, an
abundance of grapes, the wild cherry of the Missouri,--resembling our
own, but larger, and growing on a small bush. The plums are of three
kinds,--two of a yellow color, and distinguished by one of the species
being larger than the other; a third species of red color. All have an
excellent flavor, particularly the yellow kind."
PIPE-CLAY ROCK.
"Aug. 21.--We passed the mouth of the Great Sioux River. Our Indian
interpreter tells us that on the head waters of this river is the quarry
of red rock of which the Indians make their pipes; and the necessity of
procuring that article has introduced a law of nations, by which the
banks of the stream are sacred; and even tribes at war meet without
hostility at these quarries, which possess a right of asylum. Thus we
find, even among savages, certain principles deemed sacred, by which the
rigors of their merciless system of warfare are mitigated."