others engaged in hunting in order to lay up a store of dried meat, and
the handy men of the party set to work on a carriage for the transport
of the boats. By good fortune they found a large cottonwood-tree, about
twenty-two inches in diameter, large enough to make the carriage-wheels,
"perhaps the only tree of that size within twenty miles." As they had
decided to cache a part of their stores and leave their largest boat
behind, its mast supplied them with two axle-trees.
In the meantime the survey of Clark showed that the series of cataracts
had an aggregate descent of three hundred and sixty-three feet in
seventeen miles, and that a very difficult portage of thirteen miles was
necessary. The country was barely practicable for travel, and was
covered with frequent patches of prickly pear, against the tiny
penetrating needles of which the moccasins of the dragging men afforded
almost no protection. To add to their misfortunes, when about five miles
from their destination the axle-trees, made of the old mast, broke, and
then the tongues of green cottonwood gave way. After diligent search
sweet-willow trees were found with which they managed, by shifts and
expedients familiar to frontiersmen, to patch up the carriage so as to
go on. It broke down so completely about a half mile from the new camp
that it was easier to carry boat and baggage on their shoulders than to
build a new conveyance. The condition of the party is evident from the
narrative:
"The men are loaded as heavily as their strength will permit; the
crossing is really painful; some are limping with the soreness of their
feet, others are scarcely able to stand for more than a few minutes from
the heat and fatigue; they are all obliged to halt and rest frequently,
and at almost every stopping-place they fall, and many of them are
asleep in an instant."
Later it was needful to repair the carriage and to travel over and over
the portage until, after ten days of weary labor, all the equipage was
above the falls.
In the meantime the hunters had accumulated nearly half a ton of dried
meat, buffalo being plenty. The grizzly bear, however, was also present,
active, aggressive, and dangerous as usual. They infested the camp at
night, causing much alarm, and once carried off buffalo-meat from a pole
within thirty yards of the men. A hunter sent out to bring in meat was
boldly attacked by a bear and narrowly escaped death, being pursued to
within forty paces of the camp. Another animal was killed when rushing
up to attack men who had to climb a tree, while making sufficient noise
to attract their rescuer, Drewyer, the interpreter and hunter, who shot
him through the head. He proved to be the largest they had seen, being
eight feet seven and a half inches long, while his fore feet measured
nine inches and hind feet seven inches across, and eleven and
three-quarters long exclusive of the talons. Another hunter was attacked
by a grizzly, fortunately near the river, so that he was able to conceal
himself under a steep bank; otherwise he would probably have lost his
life.
The perils of navigation and the chase were not all, for a cloud-burst
and hail-storm contributed to their danger and suffering. The hail was
so large and driven so furiously by the high wind that it knocked down
several of the men, one three times, bruising another very badly and
wounding some so that they bled freely. The fallen hail lay in drifts,
which in places completely covered the ground, and some of the stones
weighed three ounces and measured seven inches in circumference. Clark,
Chaboneau and his wife took shelter under shelving rocks in a deep
ravine, congratulating themselves on their protected position. Suddenly,
however, the rain fell in a solid mass, and instantly collecting in the
ravine, came rolling down in a dreadful torrent, carrying rocks and
everything before it.
"But for Lieut. Clark, Chaboneau, his wife and child would have been
lost. So instantly was the rise of the water, that as Lieut. Clark had
reached his gun and began to ascend the bank, the water was up to his
waist, and he could scarce get up faster than it rose, till it reached
the height of fifteen feet, with a furious current which, had they
waited a moment longer, would have swept them into the river just above
the Great Falls, down which they must have inevitably been
precipitated."
Though the phases of their daily life brought much that was rough and
hard, yet their privations were not unmixed with pleasures, rude though
they may seem to the city dweller. Long tramps and exciting rides after
game, side marches to commanding hill-tops for grateful views of an
unknown country--barren to the eye, perhaps, but grateful to the soul,
for were they not the first men of their race who ever looked upon
it?--or pleasant journeys through upland forests or the undergrowth of
the intervale, to search and gather whatever was beautiful to the eye,
novel to the mind, or a welcome addition to their scanty larder; such
were their rare pleasures.
Now they waded through waist-high patches of wild rye, recalling with
its fine soft beard the waving fields of grain they had left in the far
East; again they pushed on in dense copses of the sinuous redwood, whose
delicate inner bark furnished pleasant Indian tobacco to the Frenchman
and half-breed. Sometimes the trail lay through an open wood with
smaller undergrowth, where beds of odorous mint recalled his Virginian
home to Lewis; where the delicate mountain-rose, in countless thousands,
was born to blush unseen; where, if only one ripened berry to-day
invited the hunter, other kinds promised their welcome fruit in due but
later season.
Rarely did the dull gray of the sky dim the glory of a whole day, and
the short summer showers, freshening the beauty of the landscape and
abating the fervid heat of mid-summer, seemed only too infrequent. And
above all, the pure, free, upland air, that gives vigor and health to
the body, joy and lightness to the heart, almost annihilates distance to
the eye; and in breathing which, one drinks into the lungs the very wine
of life. Surely more than the heroes of Virgil's song did they feel that
sweet in their memory would abide these days forever.
Of the mountains, now always in sight, and a constant source of
inspiration to the eager explorers, those to the north and northwest
were yet snow-capped, and Lewis says: "They glisten with great beauty
when the sun shines on them in a particular direction, and most
probably from this glittering appearance have derived the name of the
Shining Mountains."
During his explorations of the country around the falls Captain Lewis
visited a remarkable and beautiful spring, near the present city of
Great Falls, Montana. Of it he writes:
"The fountain, which perhaps is the largest in America, is situated in a
pleasant level plain, about twenty-five yards from the river, into which
it falls over some steep irregular rocks, with a sudden descent of about
six feet in one part of its course. The water boils up from among the
rocks with such force near the centre, that the surface seems higher
than the earth on the sides of the fountain, which is a handsome turf of
fine green grass."
While the main party was making the portage, a detachment was "occupied
in fitting up a boat of skins, the iron frame of which, thirty-six feet
long, had been prepared for the purpose at Harper's Ferry. The iron
frame is to be covered with skins, and requires thin-shaved strips of
wood for lining. The skins necessary to cover it have already been
prepared--twenty-eight elk and four buffalo skins." This experimental
boat proved to be a total failure, and it was not till Lewis's long
journey was nearly over that he copied the skin boat of the Indian
squaws, which had excited his surprise, and found that the methods of
the locality could be followed with advantage in navigation as well as
otherwise.
[Illustration: Lieutenant William Clark.]
As the six canoes were insufficient to carry all their men and
supplies, Clark was sent ahead to find suitable wood for two more, there
being no fit trees below the falls. With much difficulty trees were
found, and two canoes, three feet wide and twenty-five and thirty-three
feet long respectively, were fashioned. Near here a deserted Indian
lodge or council house was seen. It was two hundred and sixteen feet in
circumference, made of sixteen cottonwood poles, fifty feet long,
converging toward the centre, where they were united and secured by
large withes of sinewy willow.
Although the swivel and some other articles had been cached at the head
of the falls, their loads were yet very heavy, and all walked except
those engaged in working the canoe. The windings of the river became
very tortuous, and frequent rapids made their progress correspondingly
slow and laborious.
Game was less plentiful, and, as it was necessary to save the dried and
concentrated food for the crossing of the mountains, it became somewhat
of a task to provide food for a party of thirty-two which consumed a
quantity of meat daily equal to an elk and deer, four deer or one
buffalo. Fortunately, the berries were now ripening, and, as they grew
in great quantities, proved a not inconsiderable contribution to their
food-supply. Of currants there were red, purple, yellow, and black, all
pleasant to the taste; the yellow being thought superior to any other
known variety. The purple service-berry and pinkish gooseberry were also
favorites. Besides, they made use of the very abundant and almost
omnipresent sunflower. Of it Lewis says: "The Indians of the Missouri,
more especially those who do not cultivate maize, make great use of the
seed of this plant for bread or in thickening their soup. They first
parch and then pound it between two stones until it is reduced to a fine
meal. Sometimes they add a portion of water, and drink it thus diluted;
at other times they add a sufficient proportion of marrow grease to
reduce it to the consistency of common dough and eat it in that manner.
This last composition we preferred to all the rest, and thought it at
that time a very palatable dish."
The Missouri now took in general a southerly course, and on July 18th
they reached a bold clear stream, which was named Dearborn River for the
then Secretary of War. They had intended to send back a small party in
canoes with despatches, but as they had not met the Snake Indians, and
so were uncertain as to their friendliness, it was thought best not to
weaken their already small party for hostilities. Lewis decided,
however, to send Clark, with three men, in advance to open up
communication with these Indians and, if possible, to negotiate for
horses. Clark's journey was a failure, for the Indians, alarmed at the
firing of a gun, fled into the mountains.
The mountains now closed in on the explorers and they camped one night
at a place named the Gates of the Rocky Mountains. "For five and
three-quarter miles these rocks rise perpendicularly from the water's
edge to the height of nearly twelve hundred feet. They are composed of
black granite near the base, but ... we suppose the upper part to be
flint of a yellowish brown and cream color. Nothing can be imagined more
tremendous than the frowning blackness of these rocks, which project
over the river and threaten us with destruction.... For the first three
miles there is not a spot, except one of a few yards, in which a man
could stand between the water and the towering perpendicular of the
mountains."
On July 25th Clark, who was in advance, reached the three forks of the
Missouri, where he had to camp, his party worn out, their feet full of
prickly pear needles and Chaboneau unable to go farther. The forks were
all clear pebbly streams, discharging large amounts of water. The
southeast fork was named Gallatin, the middle Madison, and the southwest
Jefferson, the latter two, of equal size, being larger branches than the
Gallatin.
At the three forks Sacajawea, the wife of Chaboneau, was encamped five
years before, when the Minnetarees of Knife River attacked the Snakes,
killed about a dozen and made prisoners of her and others of her tribe.
Strangely enough Chaboneau nearly lost his life crossing the Madison,
where Clark saved him from drowning. Lewis was struck with the seeming
indifference of the Snake woman on her return to the spot and her own
country.
The party followed Jefferson River, their journey being marked by the
killing of a panther seven and a half feet long, and the overturning of
a canoe, injuring one of the party, Whitehouse, losing some articles,
and wetting others, but the all-important powder was so well packed that
it remained dry.
"Persuaded," says the narrative, "of the necessity of securing horses to
cross the mountains, it was determined that one of us should proceed ...
till he found the Shoshones, ... who could assist us in transporting
our baggage." Captain Lewis with three men preceded, and on August 11,
saw "with the greatest delight a man on horseback, at the distance of
two miles, coming down the plain toward them. On examining him with the
glass, Captain Lewis saw that he was armed with a bow and a quiver of
arrows; mounted on an elegant horse without a saddle, and a small string
attached to the under jaw answered as a bridle. Convinced that he was a
Shoshonee, and knowing how much of our success depended on the friendly
offices of that nation, Captain Lewis was full of anxiety to approach
without alarming him, and endeavor to convince him that he was a white
man. He therefore proceeded on towards the Indian at his usual pace;
when they were within a mile of each other the Indian suddenly stopped,
Captain Lewis immediately followed his example, took his blanket from
his knapsack, and holding it with both hands at the four corners, threw
it above his head and unfolded it as he brought it to the ground, as if
in the act of spreading it. This signal, which originates in the act of
spreading a robe or skin as a seat for guests to whom they wish to show
a distinguished kindness, is the universal sign of friendship among the
Indians on the Missouri and Rocky Mountains." Unfortunately, the brave
took alarm at the movement of Lewis's companions and fled. The next day
brought them to the head-waters of the Jefferson. Here, "from the foot
of one of the lowest of these mountains, which rises with a gentle
ascent for about half a mile, issues the remotest water of the
Missouri. They had now reached the hidden sources of that river, which
had never yet been seen by civilized man; and as they quenched their
thirst at the chaste and icy fountain--as they sat down by the brink of
that little rivulet, which yielded its distant and modest tribute to the
parent ocean, they felt themselves rewarded for all their labors and all
their difficulties."
Pushing on they soon saw, to the west, high, snow-topped mountains.
"The ridge on which they stood formed the dividing line between the
waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They followed a descent much
steeper than that on the eastern side, and at the distance of three
quarters of a mile reached a handsome, bold creek of cold, clear water
running to the westward. They stopped to taste for the first time the
waters of the Columbia, and, after a few minutes, followed the road
across steep hills and low hollows, till they reached a spring on the
side of a mountain. Here they found a sufficient quantity of dry willow
brush for fuel, and therefore halted for the night, and, having killed
nothing in the course of the day, supped on their last piece of pork,
and trusted to fortune for some other food to mix with a little flour
and parched meal, which was all that now remained of their provisions."
In the early morn of August 13, Lewis hastened impatiently forward
without food, and after a few hours of travel saw three Indians; but
they fled. A little later he surprised three women, and succeeded in
reaching two, who covered their heads and awaited in silence their
expected death. Showing them that he was a white man, and giving them
trinkets, they were reassured and recalled their comrade, when he
painted their cheeks with vermilion, a Shoshone custom emblematic of
peace.
The women pointed out the direction of camp, and Lewis, marching on,
soon saw a band of sixty well-mounted Indian warriors riding full speed
toward him and his two companions. With perfect composure and undaunted
courage Lewis laid down his rifle, and alone marched forward to parley
with this horde of unknown savages, relying on the integrity and
uprightness of his mission. Received with the greatest cordiality, Lewis
at once smoked a pipe of peace with them, and after giving them some
blue beads and vermilion went to their camp.
On arrival he was inducted into a council lodge and seated on a robe,
when a fire was kindled. "The chief then produced his pipe and tobacco,
the warriors pulled off their moccasins, and our party were requested to
take off their own. This being done, the chief lighted his pipe at the
fire within the magic circle, and then retreating from it, began a
speech several minutes long, at the end of which he pointed the stem
toward the four cardinal points of the heavens, beginning with the east
and concluding with the north."
By this time the day was well spent, and no food of any kind had passed
the lips of Lewis and his men since the previous day. On learning this
the chief told him that they only had cakes made of sun-dried service-
and choke-berries, which served as a hearty meal to the hungry men.
Later an Indian gave Lewis a piece of antelope and a bit of salmon,
which satisfied him that he was now on the waters of the Columbia.
The next day they had an experience of the Indian mode of hunting, which
is thus described: "The chief game of the Shoshonees is the antelope,
which, when pursued, retreats to the open plains, where the horses have
full room for the chase. But such is its extraordinary fleetness and
wind, that a single horse has no chance of outrunning it or tiring it
down, and the hunters are therefore obliged to resort to stratagem.
About twenty Indians, mounted on fine horses and armed with bows and
arrows, left camp. In a short time they descried a herd of antelopes;
they immediately separated into little squads of two or three, and
formed a scattered circle round the herd for five or six miles, keeping
at a wary distance, so as not to alarm them till they were perfectly
enclosed, and usually selecting some commanding eminence as a stand.
Having gained their positions, a small party rode toward the herd, and
with wonderful dexterity the huntsman preserved his seat, and the horse
his footing, as he ran at full speed over the hills and down the steep
ravines and along the borders of the precipices. They were soon
outstripped by the antelopes, which, on gaining the other extremity of
the circle, were driven back and pursued by the fresh hunters. They
turned and flew, rather than ran, in another direction; but there, too,
they found new enemies. In this way they were alternately pursued
backward and forward, till at length, notwithstanding the skill of the
hunters, they all escaped; and the party, after running for two hours,
returned without having caught anything, and their horses foaming with
sweat. This chase, the greater part of which was seen from the camp,
formed a beautiful scene; but to the hunters is exceedingly laborious,
and so unproductive, even when they are able to worry the animal down
and shoot him, that forty or fifty hunters will sometimes be engaged for
half a day without obtaining more than two or three antelopes."
Captain Lewis succeeded with great difficulty in persuading the band of
Shoshones to pass over the divide in order to assist in bringing his
impedimenta across. The presence of a Shoshone woman, the monstrosity of
a man entirely black, favorable barter for their horses were urged; in
short he played on their avarice, curiosity, tribal pride, and by
questioning their courage succeeded in stimulating them to make the
journey.
It transpired that Cameahwait, the Shoshone chief, was the brother of
Sacajawea, and one of the Shoshone women, now in camp, had been for some
time prisoner with her in the hands of the Minnetarees. The meeting of
these Indians after long separation disclosed such emotion as proved
their tender feelings and genuine interest in each other.
[Illustration: Castle Rock, on the Columbia River.]
A long and tedious council was held, with the usual smoke and speeches.
Lewis set forth in lively terms the strength of the government, the
advantages of trade, and the importance of hastening the day of
fire-arms and supplies by facilitating the journey. Meanwhile they were
amused, as the Indian must be, by the queer negro, the sagacious and
well-trained dog, the rifles, the air-gun, clothing, canoes, etc. All
game brought in was divided; the Indians feasted on hulled corn, and
presents were liberally distributed.
The good-will of the Shoshones was finally secured, and four horses
purchased by barter; so that Lewis was to send Clark ahead to
reconnoitre the route along the Columbia, and build canoes if possible,
which the Indians declared to be impracticable, as timber was wanting,
and the river and mountains impassable. They said that for seven days
the route lay over steep, rocky mountains, with no game and only roots
for food; then for ten days an arid sandy desert, where men and horses
would perish for want of food and water. On inquiry, Clark learned that
Nez Percés came from the west by a very bad road towards the north,
where they suffered excessively from hunger and travel. Believing that
difficulties surmountable to Indians with women and children could not
be formidable, Clark pushed on with a guide, but soon found that the
Indian accounts had not been exaggerated, as he fell in with the points
of four mountains, which were rocky, and so high that it seemed almost
impossible to cross them with horses. The road lay over sharp fragments
of broken rock which had fallen from the mountains and were strewed in
heaps for miles together.
Occasionally he met small parties of Indians, who, in wretched plight
themselves, yet acted most generously, giving him, as he says, willingly
what little they possessed, which was usually a few dried berries and a
bit of salmon, never enough to entirely appease the hunger of his
famished men. Clark says:
"Our men, who are used to hardships, but have been accustomed to have
the first wants of nature regularly supplied, feel very sensibly their
wretched situation; their strength is wasting away; they begin to
express an apprehension of being without food in a country perfectly
destitute of any means of supporting life, except a few fish."
Clark's explorations showed that it was impossible to follow the river,
to which he gave the name of Lewis, as he was the first white man to
visit its waters, either by canoe or along its banks on horses. The
mountains were one barren surface of broken masses of rock which crowded
into the river, where the stream presented either continuous rapids or
series of shoals.
Meanwhile, Lewis moved his necessary baggage to the Shoshone village,
previously caching his surplus baggage and sinking his canoes for
safety. As a rule the Indians were most friendly, but during a hunting
expedition a young brave snatched up his rifle and made off with it.
Drewyer pursued him ten miles, and overtaking the women of the party,
watched his opportunity, and seeing the Indian off his guard, galloped
up to him and seized his rifle. The Indian struggled for some time, but
finding Drewyer getting too strong for him, had the presence of mind to
open the pan and let the priming fall out; he then let go his hold, and
giving his horse the whip, escaped at full speed, leaving the women at
the mercy of the conqueror.
Considerable time was spent in making needful preparations for crossing
the mountains and in negotiating for horses, of which they obtained
twenty-nine--young, vigorous animals, though in poor flesh and with sore
backs.