Montana, Its Story and Biography: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Montana and Three Decades of Statehood Vol.1 (2025)

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A HISTORY OF A80RIGINAL ANO TERRITORUL ~iONTANA
ANO THREE DECADES OF STATEHOOD

VNDE"- TH& EOl'TORIAL[...]JC.-.t SOCIETY
C:HICACO ANO NEW YORJC
1921

As the lives of the States go, Montana has had a short record, but,
like intense personalities, ?dontana and her people have condensed much
achievement into a brief sp:1n of activities. The "L.,nd of the Shining
Mountains" and of Magnificent Distances commenced to be sprinkled
with a few adventuresome gold seekers during the early yc.,rs of the
Civil War, albeit her diverse and wonderful territory lying along the
great range of northern travel between the Mississippi Valley and the
Pacific Coast had been traversed by such government agents as Lewis
and Oark and by faithful enthusiasts of the Catholic Omrch. The Jesuit
fathers and the pioneer trappers and fur traders had even planted the
seeds of industry in the valleys of the Missouri and Yellowstone before
the California of a previous generation was rc1>roduced with all its excite-
ment and riot within the confines of what is now the St>te of Montana.
The old fur traders and i:ttides of the older days led the seeker of gold
to Dannack and Virginia cities, to 1-lclcna and the Hell Gate regions of
western Montan:t. ~I ining c:imps and town~. wit[...]th small cattle ranrhes and farms; but 1he
basis of the first period of progress was laid in the gold mines. l\gricnl•
ture and the raising of live stock were side issues.
Then c:,me the time of the great ranges for c:,ttle, horses and sheep,
with the mining of gold, silver and copper as still the powerful age[...]equate
transportation, and the protecting forces of civil L1w and order were only
wc.,kly organized. Uncle S.,m attempted to tide over this critical period
with his military arm. then still weakened by the stress of the Civil war.
He did what he could, but until[...]ds "got into their stride" the
pot<ntial riches of Montana were yet conjectural. To be fair to the great
commonwc.-,.lth, the truth is that it is only within forty years that she
has been given a fair chance with her sisters of the \Vest. At that.
N:uurc, in the fonns of drought and "bad lands." h:is been tnost unkind.
so that. althoueh th:: •errltory of Mont:ma is within a few thous.·md square
miles of that of California, the home are.,s which arc naturally p[...]rc
everywhere being reclaimed. The virile spirit of ~lontana, coupled with
the engineering and scientific solutions of irrigation, draining and forming
which are being continuously put into practice. are bound to give the
state a high and ~rmancnt standing. The schools, t[...]

LllsT Erocn OFOF MONTANA ...... . . •.. . ·.. • . . .••.[...]CHAPTER XX

F.JRST DECADE OF

T WENTY YEARS MORE OF STATEHOOD... . ...•... • . •• ... . •.[...]CHAPTER XXIV

CoNSl!ltVATJON OF LANDS ....••........•.•.... . . .. .. •[...]I

l.{tLITARY HISTORY OF MONTANA ..••. . ..... ..... , ........[...]

Failures in State (1910-19), I, 875. Fir.st railroad in h{ontana, I, 407.
Fairfield, I, 843,[...]ny, The, III, First silver mining in Montana, I; 237.
1171.[...]I, 199, 206, 208. First street railway in the territory, I,
Fallon, I 810. · 851.
Fallon County: irrigation in, I, · 6oo; First Texas drive to Montana, I, 393.
description of 713. , First Montana[...]State, Volunteers, , 644-48, again at
'dition of (1920), 581. San Fra[...]Fisher, Daniel R., II, 574.
Featherman, H. A., II, 114. Fisher, Harvey[...]I, 698. Fitzgerald, Thomas A., II, 441.
F<rgus, Andrew, I!I, 1293.[...]4-50; irrigation in. ~ -r; description of,
Ftrj!.IS county: as an oil producer, I, 723; population, I r,,,.
386; created, 409; irrigation in, 6o1: Flathead county scllool' children (illus•
description of, 715_; development of tration), I, 517.. .
oil field$, 7[...]tducation and population, 718; water · of the white, \l~s8), I, 167.
l)<)wers and publi[...]nty Argus, I, 123. · asks Congress to aid, I, 48o.
Fergus Coun!l Democrat, I, 723.[...]d Lake Bird Reservation, I, 536.
Ferris, Joseph A., ll11 687. Flathead National Fores[...]Fletcher, Gayle M., II, 328.
Finlay, Francois: A1ontana's first gold Flinchpaugh, I. L.. II, 633.[...]Flint Cr<ek Valley, I, 790.
Fir~t bank. in Montana, .Virginia City Flore.nee-Carlton Consoli[...](illustration), I, 505.
First beef driven out of iMontana I, 393. Flower, Harold, III, 7¢.
Firs[...], 1, 323. Flowerree., 1: 702.
First brewery in Montana, I; 775. Flowerrec, Daniel A. G., Ir, s82.
First discovery of oil in Montana, I, 387, Flowctrcc, William K., II, 583-[...]Floyd, Harmon H., III, u88.
First gold miner of Montana, I, 184. Fluhr, William H., III, 1'200.
~irst postofficc in :Montana, I, 219. Fluss, Alonzo, III,[...]

· death ofA., attempted assassina-
McLaren, John, III, 8S6. tion of, I, 359; 362, 363, 364-
McLaughlin, Angus L., II, 188. Milcs City: great center of range cattle,
McLean, Sal!,uel, I, 207, 218,[...]i\.{iles City Club, I, 70_s.
McLure, A. K., I, 286. Miles City[...]r reclamation project, I, s87,
McMillan, John A . II, 99. sSS-
McMulle'[...], Howard P., II, 37. Miller, Henry A., Ill, 747.
lllcTag~rt, Archie, II, 473.[...]; 412; on quartz mining litigation,
Mead, C. A., I, 761. 424. .[...]n \V., II. 416.
I, 28o; 298, 299; death of, J00-303; Miller, Leslie F., II, 1146.
4o8, 416, 417; memorials to (illustra- i:\{iller, Lillian G., II 568.[...]ll E., h, 192.
lleagher County: placer mines in 1862- :Miller, Sidney, II, 62o.
68, I, 213; num~r and value of cattle Miller, Thomas B., III, 763.
(1884), 395; irrigation in, 6os; de- Miller, \Villiam D., III, 1153.
scription of, 777. Miller, \V. H. H., I.[...]S.. I, 213.
Meldrum, Rob<rt, I, 1:19; sketch of, 130; Mills, \Villiam S., III, 848.[...]214. i(incra1 County: as a copper producer,
?.!elton, J. Thomas, II, 367. I, 384: irrigation in, 606; description
?.lelstonc, I, 7'l'I• of, 778.
~kndcnhall, Henry S., II, 168. Mineral output of Montana, value and
Menctry, Joseph, I, 786. qualities of (1919), I, 384.
Mengarini, Grct;ory, I, 147[...]ilining. ~m~lting and ore testing, in Hel-
Merkle, Arthur W., II, 472.[...]issionaries, I , 145. leys), sketch of, 7ll,j; her parks, I,
Metropolitan Police l[...]I, 1095. 281: number and \laluc of cattle
Meyer, Carl R .• II, :no. (1884). 395; irrigation in, 6o6; of the
llleycr, \V. F., I. 471.[...], 1245. water supply, 781; c,•oJution of, 782;
•

.
Park County, I. 411; irriiJation in, 61:17: Pe1crson, Peter M., Ill, 845.
description · of, i 97; nuning days in, Peterson, S. L., I, 503.
i9S; created, 799[...]ry :M., II, 410. Petric, Donald A., Ill, 993.
Parker, Samuel, I, 145. Pfaus, Mrs. A.. I, 1.21.
Parkin, Ernest J., II, 400.[...], I, 28o, 415. dc-Scriptton of, Sor.
Pauons, John M. II!, 766.[...]H. (Lewistown), II, 92. Pioneer lawyers of ?i..fontana, I, 415.
Peck, \Valier H., III. 1216.[...]eler, D. R., I. 727. Place of Skulls (Bradley's "Journal"),
Peeso, F. E., Ill,[...], Herbert l\1., II, 590. ' Placc of the Bitter Root," I, 142.

Peltier, Joseph, I II,[...]i mining and water right$, I, 421.
Peltier, Louie A.. III, 816. Placer production in Helena Region, I,
Pemberton, Calvin \V., I II, 13[...]Plains, I, 824.
284, 289, 316, 324; sketch of, 435 ; II, Plassm•n. l\f•rtha E., !,_ 278.[...]Plentywood, I, 825.
Pender, Peter A ., II, 16o. Plevna. I, 714.
Pcn[...]576. 251, 252 : execution of, 264, 266; 332.
Perham, George B., III, 799. Plummer, Stinson and Ray, execution of,
Perham, Josiah, I, 559.[...]

"Vigi lantes in Montana" (Dimsdale), I, \ Vandell , Alexan[...]\Varfield, I, 770.
Vigilantes of Montana, I, 242-277; or- \Varner, Alfred C., III, 749.
ganization of, :z6o; last work of, 275, \Varren, 01arles S., I, 222, 316, 320,[...]e Copper Compony, I, 377.
Virginia City: founding of (Blake), I, \Vashoc Sampler, I. 38o.
216; incorporated. Z20; 232, 2<)8; \Vatcr of the Cottonwood Groves
fourth and fifth Assembli[...]capital contest. 422 ; \Vatc Rights legislation in :Montana, I,
771; of today, 772-75. 590.
Virgin[...]nal Corps, ?,fontana, I, \Vcavcr, James A., II, 119.
~,._ 64,i. \Vcavcr. Samuel C., II, 133.
von uachcnhauscn, A .. II, 545. \Vcbb, \\/illiam H., I[...]s S., I, 404 1 412; service as \Veil, Charles A., IJ, 185.
chief justict, 419; 421. 42;; (portrait), \Vein rich, Frank A .._ !JI, 1139.
428; ret ires as chief justice,[...]tto, Ill, 751. \Veld, Horace A., II, 148.
\Vagoner, John (Dutch), I, 249, 263; \\/cldon, I, 777.
execution of. 268; 334. \Veldon, James I',[...]I!,-643. \Vcstcrn Central Basin of l\!ontana, J,
Walker, Thomas J., 11, 521.[...]786.
Wallace, Robert B.: death of, I, 454; \Vestern :Montana Park-to-Park High-
6.is; (portrait), 646.[...], Ill, 693. 854.
\Yaish, J . A., I, 461, 868. \Vcstmorc, I, 71[...]63, 471; sketch \Veston, D. H., I, 404.
of, 491; ;6o, 868. \Vcsto.. er, George A., II, 375.
\Valtcrs, N. P., II, 515.[...]

APPROACHES TO THE "LAND OF THE SHINING
MOUNTAINS"[...]'
I1J the.days of ancient classic lore when Rome was sending her legions
into the rocky mountains of Western Europe, the Latin authors spoke
of the sirange and unexplored land as l\llontana-the land of the moun-
tains. Thus the name became attached to the American Land of the
Mountains, although her lovers of several generations have chosen to
th:::!-: of her in the translated poetry of the Ind.ian christening bestowed
upon the Rocky l\1ountains-the Land of the Shining Mount~ins. Vague
rumors reached the whites of the New World that such poetic and grand
christening was based upon the prosaic but enticing fact of reflected
light from precious minerals and stones. The magnet ,was one with
that which drew the Spaniards in!o the interior of southern United States.
Besides the lust for[...]stance, the French especially were
possessed with a religious ardor for the ,conversion of the natives and
an unquenchable spirit of adventure in • the discovery and exploration
of unknown rivers and lands. America discovered as a continent, the
second great quest for the adventurers, geographers and royalists of
France was to trace the grand waterways at which the Indians ha[...]heir splendid courses from The Mississippi
Valley to the coast of the Pacific.

LA HoNTAN's "LONG RlvER''

In 169<>-1703, La Hontan, a French baron, adventurer and somewhat
romancer, explored the country around the headwaters of the Mississippi
and wrote a purported account of his travels and "adventures." In the
maP,s which he published, Long River appeared as a distinguishing
feature. It was outside of his immediate field of investigation and
probably drawn from rather vague information which he had obtained
from the Sioux of the upper Mississippi valley. From the fact that he
was a proven prevaricator, in many respects, most historians put down
Long River as a figment of his imagination. Others more charitable, l[...]

LEw1s ,, i-o C LARK ExP£OITIOi< IN ~ IONTANA

the late Joaquin l\'liller, who wrote a history of l\1ontana in 1!S94, give
him this credit: "This is unjust to La Homan, for there is good reason
to believe that the information concerning Long river which he obtained
from the Indians referred to the Missouri, but in pa.ssing through the
many intervening tribes, it[...]r instance,
the many lakes on Long River do exist in the vicinity of the headwaters
of the l\>Iissouri-such as Flathead lake, Henry's la[...]at Salt lake, etc., but by the
time the knowledge of them reached the Indians with whom he came
in contact, it is very natural they should locate th[...]ho severely criticised La Hontan was Father Bobe, a
learned priest of Versailles, who, nevertheless, held that the Miss[...]st and south and was constantly urging the
French government to search for a northern interior route to the
Pacific. On the 15th of March, 1716, he wrote to De L'Isle, geographer
of the Academy of Science, at Paris: "They tell me that among the
Sioux of the l\fississippi there arc always Frenchmen trading; that the
course of the l\fississippi is from north to west and from west to south;
that it is known that toward the source there is in the highlands a river
that leads to the western ocean. * * * For the last t wo years[...]he governor-general, :M:. Raudot, and l\1. Duchc, to
endeavor to discover this ocean. If I succeed, as I hope, we[...]d I shall have the pleasure and the consola-
tion of having rendered a good service to geography, to religion-and to the
state:'

DUKE OF ORLEANS COMMENCES WESTERN EXPLORATIONS

At this period, F ranee was being ruled by the Duke of Orleans, as
regent, who decided to launch the great adventure in a practical way by
establishing .three bases of- supply for the western explorations. .T he
first of these was at the head of Lake Superior near the mouth of the
Kaministiguia River, where Sieur Greysolon DuLuth had founded ~ post
as early as 1678; a second was ordered to be built at Lac des Cristineaux
(Lake of the Woods) and a third at Lake \Vinnipcg. The work of
construction was under the supervision of L ieut. Robertel de la
Nouc. These posts were not to be a charge on the French government. ,
Parkman says, in his "Half Century of ConRict," that "by a device
common in such cases,, those who built and maintained them were to be
paid by a monopoly of the fur trade in the adjacent countries." Once
the posts were established, however, it would be incumbent upon the
government to equip, pay and direct the future explorations.•
• Historical Magazine, New York, 1859.

In rhe meantime, Pierre Gaulthier de Varenne (known afterward as
Sieur de La Verendrye), a native of. a worthy French Canadian family
of Three Rivers. who had served as a brave soldier of fortune in the
War of the Spanish Succession, returned to Canada and become a
coureur de bois, had his mind full of these talcs of Western rivers and a
\.Yestern Sea. Furthermore, the Indians stories w[...]timony presented by the priests with whom he came
in contact.
ln his middle age, Verendrye was so well established as a fur trader
that in 1728 he was in command of ihe post at Lake Nepigon, Canada,
whose waters Ro[...]uperior from the north. The most complete
account of his endeavors to explore the great western interior in search
of a \ranscontinental waterway, for which historic event he laid the
foundation and two of his sons enjoyed the realization, was prepared
fo[...]ago by Rev. E. D. Neill, historian and president of
?-<facalcster College, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and to his paper were

adde[...]es by Granville Stuart, the gold pioneer and long a
leader in the up-building of the Historical Society of i\iontana.
While stationed at Lake Nepigon, V[...]ived from the
Indians such positive assurances as to a river which flowed toward the
Sea of the West that he resolved to make an exploration. At l\fackinaw,
while on .his way to confer with the government of Canada upon the
subject, Father de Gonor arrived[...]ck, Wisconsin, on ..
the shores of Lake Pepin. The latter is an expansion of the i\iississippi
River, about midway between Minnesota and Wisconsin. "After an
interchange of views," says Dr. NeiU's narrative, "the priest promised
to assist him as far as he could in obtaining a permit and outfit for the
establishment of a post among the Knisteneaux, or the Assiniboels,
from which to go farther west. •
"Charles de Beauharnois, then governor of Canada, gave him a
respectful hearing, and carefully examined the map of the region west
of the great lakes, which had been drawn by Otchaga, the Indian guide of
Verendrye. Orders were soon given to fit out an expedition of fifty men.
It left l\fontreal in 1731, under the conduct of his sons and nephew, he
not joining the party· until 1733, in consequence of the detention of
business. After establishing several posts and fo[...]ake and Lake \Vinnipeg, their advance was stopped in the Winnipeg
region by the exhaustion of supplies. In April, 1735, arrangements were
made for a second equipment and a fourth son joined the expedition.
"In June, 1736, while twenty-one of the expedition were camped
upon an isle in the Lake of the \.Voods, they were surprised by a band
of Sioux hostile to the French allies, the Knisteneaux, and all killed.
The island, upon this account, is called in the early maps i\fassacre Island.
A few days after, a party of five Canadian voyagers discovered their
dead bodi[...]the missionary, was
found upon one knee, an arrow in his head, his breast bare, his left hand
touching[...]hand raised.
"Among the slaughtered was also a son of Verendrye, who had a
tori,ahawk in his back, and his body was adorned with garters and brace-
lets of porcupine. The father was at the fort at the Lake of the Woods
when he received the news of his son's murder, and about the same time
heard of the death of his enterprising nephew. * * • On the 3rd of
October, 1738, they built an advance post, Fort L[...]ne, which they called St. Charles, and beyond was a branch
called St. Pierre. These two rivers received the baptismal name of •
Verendrye, which was Pierre, and Governor Beauharnois (governor of
Cattada), which was Charles. This post (Fort La Reine) became the
center of trade, and point of departure for explorations either north
or south.[...]ished post, La Verendrye receive·d news from
the A·ssiniboines (a friendly offshot of the Sioux) of the existence of
the strange i\'fantanes (Mandans), or White Beards, of the Dakota
family, whose villages were alo[...]

from the fact that they became gray haired so young. The Assiniboines
also assured the leader of the expedition, which was more to his mind,
that the Mandans knew the way to the \Vestem Sea and would furnish
him guides thither. On the 18th of October, 1738, La Verendrye, with
three of his sons and a mixed company of Indians and French Canadians,
to the number of fifty-two, staned for the land of the i\landans. The
succeeding ten days took them, as is believed, to Turtle Mountain, thence
along the Assiniboine and[...]and helpful Indian guides on the way. On the 28th
of October, the first l\'landans were seen, and La V[...]their first description by white men. At the time of his visit
during the first days of December, they occupied six villages on the
banks of the i\'lissouri, in what is now the northwestern part of North
Dakota; and La Verendrye called the i\'lissouri "the Great River of the
Couhatchatte Nation." While thus engaged in friendly intercourse, the
leader was robbed of all the presents which he had brought with which
to propitiate the Indians along the route of his western journey, and
was therefore obliged to retrace his way to Fort La Reine to replace
his stock of gifts which was, perhaps, the most necessary part of his
outfit. Leaving two of his men among the Mandans to learn their
language and collect information which might be of benefit to him, La
Verendrye retraced his way to Fon La Re ine. It was a terrible journey,
in the dead of a bitter northern winter, and was not completed until
near the middle of February. ·[...]who ha!! been
Jiving with the l\1andans returned to Fon La Reine to report to their
leader. They brought tidings of strange western tribes who had visited
the l\iandans in the conduct of trade and told of a Great Salt Lake
and the Great Salt Water. La Verendrye therefore dispatched to the
l.\fandan villages as large a company as he could gather under his oldest
son, Pierre, with instructions to secure guides and push on to the
Western Ocean. But when La Vcrcndrye, the younger, reached his
destination, the Indians of the fanhcr west who professed to know of
the existence of that Western Ocean had dcpaned from the Mandan
villages and left no trace behind them. In the· summer of 1740. he
therefore did no more than to bring to Fort La Reine another bitter
disappointment to the cider man, already nearly crushed with bodily and
mental struggles.
In the year named, La Verendrye went to l\1ontreal for the third
time to solicit aid in support of his futile attempts to open up a western
way. Instead of proffered assistance, he found hungry creditors awaiting
him. In his journal, published in ~fargry's collections, he further
describes the pitiful state of his affairs: "In spite of the derangement of
my affairs, the envy and jealousy of various persons impelled them to
write letters to the court insinuating that I thought of nothing but
making my fortune. If more than forty thousand livres of debt which
I have on my shoulders arc an advantage, then I can flatter myself that
I am very rich. In all my misfortunes I have the consolation of seeing

THE VERENORYE BROTHERS START \.YESTWARO

Now broken in health and subdued in spirit, the father turned over
his dear enterprise to his more vigorous sons, Pierre de La Verendrye
an[...]again headed for the
l\1andans on the ~Iissouri, in the spring of 1742. They left the Lake of
the \¥oods on the 29th of April and reached the 'l\1issouri after about
three weeks of travel. After impatiently waiting for the coming of
some western Indians, called Horse Indians by the l\{andans, and passing
the spring and summer in tiresome inaction, the young Frenchmen
induced two of their red· friends to guide them to the camping grounds
of the Horse tribe. These were found to be deserted. Parkman believes
the site of this camp to be west of the Little Missouri "and perhaps a
part of the Powder River Range." The locality would seem, at least,
to have been in SouthCl!5tern Montana. The time was in August, 1742,
and it was not until nearly a month later, after one of the ?11andan
guides had deserted the party, that the four Frenchmen met a band of
Indians whom they called Les Beaux Hommes, or Handsome ?lfen-
believed •to be the Crows. They were enemies of the l\1andans, and
the remaining guide of that tribe hastily deserted. The expedition
remai[...]th the Handsome Men, and on October
9th continued its explorations in a southwesterly direction, still looking
for the Horse Indians.
\.Vhen the four reached the village of these evident nomads, they
were told that the tribe Bows, still to the southwest, would enlighten
them as to the Western Ocean. As was customary, each tribe referred
the whites to a more distant tribe. This seemed to have been the settled
policy of the red man-to lure the white farther and farther from his
own, and by the attrition of hard travel and slaughter attempt to wear
away his strength and life. ·[...].
INDIAN PICTURE OF 1742

When, in October, 1742, the Frenchmen at last reached the lodges
of the long-sought Horse Indians (as stated by Parkm[...]ve from the Chevalier's journal), they found them in the
extremity of distress and terror. Their camp resounded with ho[...]nd not without cause, for the Snakes or Shoshones-a

8 HISTORY OF MONTANA

formidable people living farther westward- had lately destroyed most
of their tribe. The Snakes were the terror of that country. The
brothers were told that the yea[...]ldren as slaves.
Parkman, who, as he observes in a footnote, draws the particulars
of his description from "repeated observations of similar scenes," draws
a graphic picture ("Hall Century of ConRict," Vol. II, p. 48) of this
breaking-up of the camp. "The squaws,'' he says, "took down the[...]rairies dreary and brown with the withering
touch of autumn. The spectacle was such as men still young have seen
in these western lands, but which no man will see ag[...]ain
swarmed with the moving multitude. The tribes of the Missouri and
Yellowstone had by this time abundance of horses, the best of which
were used for war and hunting, and the others as beasts ·of burden.
These last were equipped in a peculiar manner. Several of the long
poles used to frame the tepees or lodges were secured by one end to
each side of a rude saddle, while the other end trailed on the ground.
Crossbars lashed to the poles just behind the horse kept them three or
four feet apart, ana formed a firm support, on ~vhich was laid compactly
folded the buffalo-skin covering of the lodge. On this again sat a
mother with her young family, sometimes stowed for safety in a large
open willow basket, with the occasional addition of some domestic pet-
such as a tame raven, a puppy or even a small bear cub. Other horses
were laden in the same manner with wooden bowls, stone hammers and
other utensils, along with stores of dried buffalo-meat packed in cases
of rawhide whitened and painted. ~fany of the innumerable dogs-
whose manners and appearance strongly suggested their relatives, the
wolves, to whom, however, they bore a mortal grudge-were equipped
in ~ similar .manner, with shorter poles and lighter loads. Bands of
naked boys, noisy and restless, roamed the prairi[...]find. Gay young squaws
adorned on each cheek with a spot of ochre or red clay, and arrayed in
trmic of fringed buckskin embroidered with porcupine quill[...]ke men; while lean and tattered hags-
the drudges of the tribe, unkempt and hideous-scolded the laggin[...]disorderly dogs, with voices not unlike the
yell of the great homed owl. ~1ost of the warriors were on horseback,
armed with round, white shields of bull-hide, feathered lances, war-
clubs, bows and quivers filled with stone headed arrows; while a few of
the ciders, wrapped in robes of buffalo hide. stalked along in groups
with a stately air, chatting, laughing and exchanging un[...]tA:<s

Finally the Verendryes reached the land of the Bow Indians (Gene
de !'Arc) and found them preparing to take the warpath against the
powerful Snak[...]

The Bo[...]were very courteous. They knew
nothing personally of the \Vestern Sea, although they had heard of
the Great Water from certain Snake prisoners. Par[...]as follows : "Thus far we had been well received
in all the villages we had p~ssed ; but this was nothing compared with
the courteous manners of the great chief of the Bow Indians, who,
unlike the others, was not self-interested, in the least, and who took
excellent care of everything belonging to us."

TRIP OF VENGEANCE AND DISCOVERY

Further, according to Parkman's "Half Century of Conflict," the
courteous and honorable chief of the Bows extended this invitation, so
vital to the definite course of this narrative and which meant so much
to the fame of the sons of La Verendrye: "Come with us. We are going
towards[...]you
are looking for."
The Great Water was not to be seen, but the vast shining piles of
the Rocky Mountains were to be first $pread before the eyes of white
travellers and recorders.
The camp of the Bows was broke up, its warriors poured across the
prairie cager to attack their Snake enemies, the Frenchmen riding[...]er, were
near the great chief. When, on the first of January, 1743, they came
in sight of the vast mountain range, capped and shining with snow,"
a council of the chiefs and warriors was held to determine what course
to pursue. The decision of the council was that the women and children
and. infirm be left behind in a place. of comparative safety, while the
warriors sallied forth in a body to strike the hated Snakes.

THE CHEV[...]CK1e5

"Pierre and the Chevalier were invited to accompany the advancing
army. After deliberation, the elder Pierre determined to remain with
the camp, to watch over and protect the belongings of the party, and the
young Chevalier chose to oroceed with the warriors, though he prudently
declined to engage in any possible combat with the foe."
The war party started on its advance January 21, 1743, and, according
to the Chevalier, who kept a journal of the expedition, reached the base
of the mountains (probably the Big Horn Range), twelve days later.
The young French leader was anxious to ascend some peak o( the range
and look for the \V[...]conveyed the
idea that everything must give place to vengeance upon the Snakes when
some of their scouts returned to the main body of the warriors with the
information that they had discovered a camp of the enemy, hastily
abandoned, the Bows were panic[...]ad circumvented them and wiped out their own camp of women,
children and infirm. The Indian war[...]

DEATH OF St£UR DE LA VERENDRYE

On the 2nd of April, Pierre and the Chevalier commenced their
travels toward the Northwest, which brought them to the Mandan
villages on the 18th of ~lay. The return of the sons to the Sieur de
La Verendrye not only lightened the anxiety and depression of the
father, but appears to have improved his fortunes. The latter was
made captain of the Order of St.Louis, and the two sons were promoted
in the royal service. In 1749 the new governor, Monsieur the !11arquis
de la J onquiere, a hard man and master, had, nevertheless, commissioned
the Sicur to "look after the posts and explorations in the west," and
he had already prepared maps and memoranda of his future explorations,

when[...]im from his unrealized ambitions, on December 6th
of the year named (1749).
About a year after the death of his father, Chevalier de la Verendryc
wrote to La Jonquiere appealing for service in the field of western ex-
plorations on the score of the sacrifices made by his father and brothers.
Instead, the governor appointed one M. de Saint Pierre to head one of
the expeditions, and, by various misrepresentations to La Jonquicre, the
La Verendryes were made decidedly "persona non gratis" and rejected
from all participation in it.

LAST YEARS OF Tll£ CHEVALIER

The condition of 'the family whose various members had blazed the
way to the Rock-y },fountains is thus described in the Chevalier's petition
to the governor: "My returns this year amount to half, and in con-
sequence of a thousand harassments my ruin is accomplished. For[...]in without money or patrimony; I am
simply ensign of second grade, my elder brother has only the same[...]ther is only cadet; and this is the actual
result of all that my father, my brothers and I have done. That brother
of m.ine who was murdered, some years since, by the[...]a, was not the most unfortunate one; his blood
is to us nothing worth, the sweat of oui- father and ourselves has availed
us naught; we are compelled to yield that which has cost us so much,
if M. de St. Pierre does not entertain a better feeling and communicate
same to ?.{. le ?.1qs. de la Jonquicre."
Both expeditions sent out by La Jonquiere were failures. In 1753,
about the time that the St. Pierre fiasco was reporting to the authorities,
the Chevalier was made ensign of the first grade and four years later
became a lieutenant. In November, 1761, after Quebec had fallen to
the English, the Chevalier with other fellow officers sailed for France
in the' "Auguste." One hundred persons were on board. Not far from
tl\e North Cape of Isle Royal, on the coast of Cape Breton, at the mouth
of the St. Lawrence, the ship was wrecked and all perished (including
the Chevalier), except the captain, a colonial officer and five soldiers.
Thus died the actual white discoverer of the Rocky Mountains, although
it is still a matter of conjecture as to how far West he penetrated, or
the specific location of the leaden plate and the rough stone monument
erected somewhere in the region of the Cheyenne and Missouri rivers
to commemorate the exploration and international claim of France to
some little portion of what afterward was known as Louisiana.[...]drye and his sons had bee!' approaching the "Land of the
Shining ?.1ountains" through the interior of the East, and the next prog-
ress in tracing the transcontinental watenvay was to be from the Pacific-
Columbia River route of the West. The Spaniards and Portuguese pushed

12 HISTORY OF ~IONTANA

up the Pacific coast in eal'ly historic times, and left such names on the
maps as Cape Blanco, Straits of Fuca and Oregon, but in their rush for
gold and booty found little time to record their voyages in the interest
of cartography.
Then came the more reliable nort[...]rs, Behring, the Dane,
and Drake, the Englishman, to approach the latitude of Montana on the
Pacific coast, "but it was left for Captain James Cook, so far as we can
say positively, to point his ships prow toward the mountains of Montana,
and break the hush of ice-bound seas as nearly under the beetling banks
of ~1ontana as ocean ships have ever sailed or ever[...]while the Revolution was raging along th~ fringes of the Atlantic Coast,
Captain Cook was exploring th[...]ver as far as bis ocean craft would take him, and in the
following year was killed by cannibals on the island (now Hawaii)
which he had discovered among a group (the old Sandwich islands).

JONATH-'N[...]AL WATERWAY

It is said that Jonathan Carver, of Connecticut, a captain in the war
waged with England by which France lost Canada, was the first to
definitely propose the transcontinental journey by way of the .Missouri
and the Oregon (Columbia) ri vers. Three years after the peace of 1763,
he left Boston to visit the sou rces ol the Mississippi and the adjacent
regions for purposes of trade, exploration and investigation as to the
country of the far \Vest. He applied himself to the study of the Indian
languages that he might pursue all these objects, and in this work he spent
two years and seven months. After his return to Boston, in 1768, he
published an account of his travels and experiences, and he tells us:
"Fr[...]dians, whose
language I perfectly obtained during a residence of five months; and
also from the accounts I afterwa[...]peak the Chippeway language and inhabit the heads of the river Bourbon
-I say from these nations, toge[...]hat the four most capital rivers on the continent of. North
America, the St. Lawrence, the river Bourb[...]gon, or the River ol the West, have their sources in the same
neighborhood. The waters of the three former are within thirty miles
of each other, the latter, however, is rather farther ,vest." .
The want of means prevented Carver from prosecuting his design
with the government, which was to prevail upon its authorities to esta~
lish a post near the Straits of Anian, after a journey had been effected
to the Pacific coast. In 1774, he obtained the support and cooperation.
of Richard Whitworth, member of the British Parliament for the town
of Stafford, of whom the projector of the enterprise says: "He (Mr.
\¥hit worth) designed to have pursued nearly the same route that I did;
and after having built a fort at Lake Pepin to have proceeded up a ·
branch of the ri\'er ?l!e.ssorie, till, having discovered the source of the
Oregon, or River of the \Vest, on the other side o.f the lands[...]

JEFFERSON CnECKMATI NC Ei<GLA!<D tN TR£ \VEST

In 1783, the year of the treat)' of peace with England, John Ledyard,
a Connecticut adventurer, an educated man and a British corporal of
marines under Captain Cook-also a deserter from the British army
before the war closed-published an account of the romantic voyages
of that world navigator. The mercurial author also incorporated not
a little practical information, quoting Captain Cook's glowing account of
the quantity of sea otter and the superior quality of their fur, in the
regions of the northwestern Pacific. And although England had lost
the war, her agents were already preparing to explore the country between
the i\1ississippi[...]fic coast. Thomas Jefferson was then
governor of Virginia, as he had been during the Revolution, and in the
year of the Peace he suggested to Gen. George Rogers Clark, the
elder brother of Capt. \'lilliam Clark, a way to checkmate this obvious
intention of English policy. Jefferson's words to Clark were: "I find
they have subscribed a very large sum of money in England for exploring
the country from the ~1ississippi to California. • • • They pretend
it is only to promote knowledge. I am a(raid they have thoughts of colon-
izing into that quarter. • • • Some of us have been talking here in a
feeble way of making an attempt to search that country, but I doubt
wliether we have enough of that kind of spirit to raise the money. How
would you like to lead su_ch a party? • • • tho' I am afraid our
prospect is not worth asking the question."
Albeit a master mind was pondering the scheme of a l'l·(ississippi-

Pacific expedition, the time was not yet ripe to bring it to fruition.
In the year following his proposition to General (not Captain) Clark,
while serving as minister to France, Jefferson met Ledy;ird in Paris.
The restless adventurer was then out of employment, and Jefferson,
through the inftuence of the Empress Catherine's representatives in
Europe, e.nabled Ledyard to travel through Russia to within two hundred
miles of Kamschatka, where he was turned back and dismissed (1788).
Their design was to reach the Pacific coast of America by way of the
Russian dominions, and pass up the Oregon }.1issouri to the ?.1ississippi
valley. The proposed agent of that journey died in Africa in the follow-
ing year.

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF CoLUMDIA \VATERS

Ledyard's account of the voyages of Captain Cook, with its suggestions
to thrifty Yankee merchants, was enthusiastically di[...]ch, his son Charles, and Joseph Barrell, the last a business man of
considerable wealth. The result was that two vessels were equipped
and an expedition fitted out to sail to the Pacific coast. They were
called the Columbia[...]ips sailed from Boston on
September 30, 1787, and in January, 1788, while rounding Cape Horn,
a storm separated them. In August, the Washington reached the north-
west coast near the forty-sixth degree of latitude, or about the latitude
of the Three Forks of the upper llfissouri River and the Oregon
(Colum[...]point Captain Gray believed that he saw the mouth of a
river, but his vessel grounded, his party were attacked by the Indians, one
of them killed and another wounded; so he had no opportunity to verify
his conclusions. On the 17th of September, 1788, the Washington
sailed into Nootka Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island-the
rendezvous agreed upon in the event of separation, and she was joined
there a few days later by the Columbia.
Both ships wintered in the Sound and the Columbia continued there
during[...]e waters near by making explorations. He returned to Nootka,
and he and Captain Kendrick agreed that K[...]command
the \<Va.shington, remaining on the coast to pursue his discoveries, while
Captain Gray, on board the Columbia, should proceed to Canton, China,
with a cargo of furs representing the entire catch of both ships. This
plan was carried into effect. Gray reached Canton, disposed of his
furs, purchased a shipload of tea and returned to Boston in August,
1790. He had carried the United States Rag on its first voyage around
the world.
While Captain Gray was on his voyage, Kendrick sailed to the Straits
of Fuca, traversing their entire length to the Pacific, at latitude 51 degrees.
He discover[...]formed an island which, how-
ever, took the name of the British commander, Vancouver, who did not

JEFFERSON SENDS Two lv!ORE INEFFECTIVE AGENTS

The discovery of the mouth of the Columbia by Captain Gray laid a
firm international basis for the American c;laim to the vast extent of
country watered by it. For a dozen years afterward, until the United
States acquired the vast extent of country known as Louisiana from
France, the government, and Jefferson in particular, made no real headway
in e,ploring the t1issouri and the newly discovered Columbia. Capt.
John Armstrong, one of those who accepted the mission, got as far as
St. Louis and turned back because of disquieting stories of hostile Indians[...]

told to him by Frtnch traders, and one of Jefferson's men, a famous
French botanist, l'\1ichaux, who had traveled in many lands of the Old
;\,Vorld in search of strange plants and trees, had commenced his.scientific
investigations in the New \.Vorld. The Frenchman started from Phila-
delphia under the auspices of the American Philosophical Society, and the
support of \Vashington's cabinet, of which Jefferson was then secretary of
state, on the 15th •of July, 1794, but when he reached Kentucky got en-
tangled in the machinations of Citizen Genet against Spain and England in
their dealings with the United States, and the two fell together. Michaux
returned' to France in 17!)6.

THE UNITED STATES[...].
In 18oo, after having been shuffled back' and forth[...]ory, and
Napoleon's threatened occupation of New Orleans menaced the · free
navigation of the Mississippi, as had been the ease when it was under
Spanish ownership. In March, 18o3, President Jefferson sent James Mon-
roe as a special envoy to France that the complications between .t he two
countries might be disentangled without a resort to war. Monroe was even
authorized to guarantee to France her holdings beyond the Mississippi, if
the United States could be assured an outlet to the Gulf of Mexico for the
ever-increasing products of the Mississippi valley.
While Monroe was on his way to France, Napoleon's plans had all
centered on his ambition to crush England in Europe. No outside eam•
paigns were to be considered, and a vast expenditure of money was re-
quired to carry out his consuming desire. Robert R. Livings[...]an minister at the French Court, and while he was in no sense
superseded. by Monroe, President[...]ere so momentous that they justified the addition of
l'\1onroe's long experience in diplomatic matters to' the abilities of Livings-
' ton. \l\lhen ?,1onroe arrived Livingston had only asked of France, " a bit
of marsh and sand off the extreme end of West. Florida, and the margin
of delta land that lies east of the main channel of the Mississippi between
Lake Pontchartrain and the river's mouth." These modest sites were to
serve for the founding of a town, or gateway, thr9ugh which might pass[...]'
the American trade of the Mississippi valley.
l'\{onroe arrived with the authorization to offer France $2,000,000
'
for New Orleans and the Floridas. After discussions and negotiations,
in which the chief figures were Livingston, Monroe and their friend,
Barbe Marbois, minister of the public treasury, Tallyrand; the tool of
Napoleon, threw a bomb into the proceedings by suddenly asking what[...]United States would pay for the entire province of Louisiana. To cut
many corners of explanation, wh1ch are hardly apropos to a clear-cut-his-
tory of ?,fo.ntana, the brilliant dictator of France offered Louisiana- if
taken quick-to Livingston and ?,1onroe for $15,000,000. There were no
cables by which they could consult their government, and like brave men

they assumed the heavy responsibility of sig,1ing the treaty of session, in
behalf of the United States, on the 30th of April, 1803.
This all-important treaty was between the Uni(ed States of America
and the French Republic, or more personally, as stated in the preamble,
between the president of the United States of America, and the first
consul of the French republic, "in the name of the French people." It
also specified that the treaty was made by "the president of the United
States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United
States;" consequently Messrs. Livingst[...]e responsibility.
The treaty traced the title of the very indefinite province through
the agreemen[...]rance and Spain, and stated that "the inhabitants
of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United
States, and be admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles
of the Federal Constitution," etc. Provision was made by the government
of France to send a ·commissary to Louisiana to take over that country
from Spain and transmit it to the agent of the United States. Special
mention was madi: of the military posts of New Orleans, all troops, either
of France or Spain, to embark from occupied territory within three
months from the ratification of the treaty. The rights of Indians, secured·
by previous treaties, were sec[...]rench and American ships passing through the port of New Orleans for
a period of twelve years from the exchange of ratification of the treaty.
"It is. however, well understood," co[...]ticle dealing with this
subject, "that the object of the above article is to favor the manufacture,
commerce, freight and navigation of France and Spain, so far as relates to
the importations that the French and Spanish shall make into the said
ports of the United States, without in any sort affecting the regulations
that the United States may make concerning the exportation of the
produce and merchandise of the United States, or any right that may have
to make such regulations."
Article 8 reads: "In future and forever, after the expiration of the
twelve years, the ships of France shall be treated upon the' footing of
the •most favored nations in the ports above mentioned."
When news of the daring transactions reached Washington in June,
1803, there was a storm of dissenting opinions, mostly caused by politi-
cal[...]ously opposed it, but it was ratified by Congress in
October. In November and December, 18o3, the transfer from Spain
to France and from France to the United States was formally made at
New Orleans, and in the early part of !\>larch, 1804, similar ceremonies
occurred in St. Louis. The American transfer commissioner at St. Louis
was Capt. Amos Stoddard, an officer of the United States army there
stationed and accompanied, the greater part of the winter, by Capt.
111eriwether Lewis, who was then about to start on the history-making
expedition to the Pacific coast, via the l\1issouri and[...]

ers to Pierre Clement Laussat, the French representative, and by him
to the American commissioners, William C. C. Oaibomc, who had been
appointed governor of the new province, and Gen. James Wilkinson,
military comm[...]h flag was then hauled down and Laussat
proceeded to perform the same offices at St. Louis. He ordered De
Lassus, lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana, with headquarters in that .
place, to tum his district over to Captain Stoddard.
On March 9, 1804, the American troops under command of Captain
Stoddard's adjutant, Lieut. Stephen Worr[...]toddard and Lewis and othe.r prominent Americans
to the government house. From that mansion De Lassus read a pro-
clamation releasing all French inhabitants in the d.istrict from allegiance
to their mother country. After this the transfer was[...]o was Capt. Meri-
wether Lewis. As had been done in New Orleans, the tri-color of France
was then lowered, the Stars and Stripes w[...]ry salutes
and martial music proclaimed that all of Louisiana was territory of the
United States.

•

The United States having acquired a good color of title 10 the Oregon
country through Captain Gray's discovery of the mouth of the great
Viestern River and Jefferson, evidently[...]ome an American possession, continued his efforts to obtain
some definite knowledge of the geography and possibilities of the Trans-
~Iississippi land. Previous failures in no wise dampened his ardor to
delve into the grand mysteries of that unknown country which loomed
just beyond the[...]and scientists had
failed him, and he now turned to young, eager, educ.i.ted, practical and
brave young men for the consummation of the grand adventure. He
selected for this purpose[...]ly admired and loved, and Capt. \'Vill-
iam Oark, a younger brother of Gen. George Rogers Clark and an
intimate friend of Lewis. \¥hen Captain Lewis was present in St. Louis,
as one of the prominent figures in the official transfer of Louisiana to the
United States, he was deep in the work, under the authority and instruc-
tions of President Jefferson, of preparing the expedition for its advance
up the Missouri to the Rockies and the great beyond.

INITIAL STEPS OF TH£ LEWIS-Cl.ARK ExrEI>tT!ON

~fore than three months before Louisiana had been sold to the United
States-that is, January 18, 18o3-President Jefferson sent a confid.en-
tial communication to Congress asking that $2,500 be appropriated for an
exploring party to establish friendly relations with the Indians along the
route and secure the fur-trade to the United States rather than leave
it in the hands of the English companies. H~ recommended the estab-
lishment of government trading posts, by which he hoped to "place
within their (the Indians') reach those things which will contribute
more to their domestic comfort than the possession of extensive and
uncultivated wilds." Jefferson doubtless felt the grandeur of the pro•
ject, but, with the wisdom of a statesman who knew he was dealing ,vith
a practical nation and Congress, placed the material benefits of such
an expedition and exploration foremost. Elsewhere in his message of
the date g;vcn, he adds: "An intelligent officer,[...]ve chosen
men, fit for the enterprise and willing to undertake it, taken from our
posts where they may[...]inconvenience, might explore
the whole line even to the \Vestern occ.i.n, have conference with the natives
on the subject of commercial intercourse, get admission amon[...]

our traders as others arc admitted, agree on convenient deposits for an
interchange of articles, and return with the information acquired in the
course of two summers. Their arms and accoutrements, some instru-
ments of observation and light and cheap presents for the[...]aratus they could carry, and with the expectation of a
soldier's portion of land on their return would constitute the whole e[...]civilized nations have encountered great expense to enlarge the boundaries
of knowledge by undertaking voyages of discovery, and for other lit-
erary purposes, in variOus parts and directions, our nation seems to owe
to the same object, as well as to its own interests, to explore this, the
on.ly line of easy communication across the continent, and so directly
traversing our own part of it. The interests of commerce place the
principal object within the constitutional powers and care of Congress,
and that it should incidentally advance the geographical knowledge of our
own continent can.not but be an additional gratification."
In April, 18o3, while negotiations were still pendin[...]ent at Lancaster, Harpers Ferry
and other places; in May, before news of the treaty had reached America,
he received his first set of instructions from the President, and on the
5th of July, after the tidings had been received in \'Vashington, the young
leader of the historic expedition-then in his twenty-eight year-bade
his great patron farewell.

LITERARY $0URCES OF h<FORMATION

The most authentic source of information regarding the famous ex-
pedition was its history prepared, by order of the Government of the
United States, in 1814, by Paul Allen. In the preface to that edi-
tion the editor states: "It was the original design of Captain Lewis to
have been himself the editor of his own travels, and he was on his
way towards Ph[...]sudden death frus-
trated these intentions. After a considerable and unavoidable delay,
the papers co[...]ition were deposited with another
gentleman, who, in order to render the lapse of time as little injurious
as possible, proceeded immediately to collect and investigate all the
materials within his reach.
"Of the incidents of each day during the expedition a minute jour-
nal was kept by Captain Lewis or Cap[...]ard revised and enlarged at the different periods
of leisure which occurred on the route. These were carefully perused
in conjunction wtth Captain Clark himself, who was able from his own
recollection of the journey, as well as from a constant residence in
Louisiana since his return, to s upply a great mass of explanations, and
much additional information with regard to part of the route which has
been more recently explored. Besides these, recourse was had to the
manuscript jo.un1als kept by two of the sergeants (Patrick Gass and

JEFFERSON'S SKETCH OF MEIUWETHER LEWIS

Jefferson's article is not only of deep personal interest as furnishing
the best biography of Captain Lewis, of limited compass, which has been
published, but is weighted with valuable historic matter to form a rich
background to the great exped.ition itself. After noting the birth of
?,feriwethcr Lewis, "late Governor of Louisiana,'' near the town of
Charlotteville, Virginia, August 18, 1778, the di[...]nticello, sketches the distinguished Lewis family
of Virginia.• His great-uncle married a sister of George Washington, and
several of his relatives were prominent in the Revolutionary war, one of
whom (his uncle and guardian, Nicholas) fought bravely as commander
of a regiment sent against.the Cherokee Indians.[...]le and his widowed mother cared for
the bold, out-of-doors boy, huntsman and student. At thirteen he was
put to Latin school and after five years of schooling returned to the
home farm, but his instinct for adventure induced him to volunteer
as a militiaman in the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion of West-
ern P~nnsylvania. Soon afterward he was transferred to the regular
service as a lieutenant in the line and at the age of twenty-three was
promoted to a captaincy; "and," adds Jefferson, "always attract[...]elity were requisite, he was
appointed paymaster to his reg;ment.

JOHN LEDYAR[...],
"About this time a circumstance occurred which, leading to the transac-
tion which is the subject of this book, will justify a recurrence to its
original idea. While residing in Paris (as minister to France), John
Ledyard, of Conne~ticut, arrived there, well known in the United States
• This low estimate of the value of the Gass Journal, made in 1814, has not
been sustained by estimates of historians subsequently made. His first edition,
published in 18o7, was for sev,c n years the only source from which any authentic
knowledge of the enterprise could be obtained, and ever since ( with the issue of
1814) it ha.s been recognized as an intportant supplement to the work based u,pon
the diaries of the gr~t captains.

for energy of body and mind. He had accompanied Captain Cook on
his voyage to the Pacific ,Ocean· and distinguished himself on that voy-
age by his intepidity. Being of a roaming disposition, he was now
panting for some new enterprise: His immediate object at Paris was
to engage a mercantile company in the fur trade of the western coast
of America, in which, however, he failed. I then proposed to him to go
by land to Kamchatka, cross in some of the Russian vessels to Nootka
Sound, fall down into the latitude of the Missouri, and penetrate to,
and through that, to the United States. He eagerly seized the idea,
and only asked to be assured of the permission of the Russian Govern-
ment. I interested in obtaining that, 11( de Simoulin, minister plenipo-
tentiary of the empress at Paris, but more especially the Baron de Grimm,
minister plenipotentiary of Saxc-Gotha, her more special agent and cor-
respondent there in matters not immediately diplomatic. Her permis-
sion was obtained, and an assurance of protection while the course of the
voyage should be through her territories.[...]Petersburgh after the
empress had left that place to p,,ss the winter, i think, at l'lloscow. His
finances not permitting him to make unncce.ssary stay at St. Petersburgh,
he left it with a passport from one of the ministers, and at two hundred
miles from Kamschatka, was obliged to take up his winter quarters. He
was preparing, in the spring, to resume his journey, when he was arrested
by an officer of the empress, who by this time had changed her mind
and forbidden his proceeding. He was put into a closed carriage and con-
veyed day and night, wit[...]ey reached Poland,
where he was set down and left to himself. The fatigue of this journey
broke down his constitution, and when he returned to Paris, his bodily
strength was much impaired. His[...]ned firm, and he
after this undertook the journey to Egypt. I received a letter from him,
full of sanguine hopes, dated at Cairo, the fifteenth of November, 1788,
the day before he was to set out for the head of the Nile; on which day,
however, he ended his career and life-and thus failed the first attempt
to explore the western part of our northern continent..''

BOTANIST FAILS AS ExPLORER

"In 1792 I proposed to the American Philosophical Society that we
should set on foot a subscription to engage some competent person to
explore that region in the opposite direction; that is, by ascending the[...]Stony mountains and descending the nearest river
to the Pacific. Captain Lewis, being then stationed[...]on the recruiting service, warmly solicitated me to obtain for him the
execution of that object. I told him it was proposed that the person en-
gaged should be attended by a single companion only, to avoid exciting
alarm among the Indians. This did not deter him; but Mr. Andre Michaux,
a professed botanist, author of the 'Flora Boreali-Americana,' and of the
'Histoire des Chesnes d' Amerique,' of[...]

"In 18o3, the act for establishing trading houses with the Indian
tribes being about to expire, some modifications of it were recommended
to Congress by a confidential message of January 18th, and .an exten-
sion of its views to the Indians on the iMissouri. In order to prepare
the way, the message proposed the sending an exploring party to trace
the ~1issouri' to its source, to cross the Highlands and follow the best
water communication which offered itself thence to the Pacific ocean.
Congress approved the proposition and voted a sum of money for carry-
ing it into execution. Captain L[...]secretary, immediately renewed his solicitations to
have the direction of the party. I had now had opportunities of know-
ing him intimately. 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 the
Indian character, customs and principles; habituated to the hunting life;
guarded, by exact observation of the vegetables and ani.mals of his own
country, against losing time in the description of objects already pos-
sessed; honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding, and a fidelity
to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should repor[...]seen by ourselves-with all these qualifications, a.s if selected
and implanted in one body for his express purpose, I could have no
hesitation in confiding the enterprise to him. To fill up the measure
desired, he wanted nothing but a greater familiarity with ihe technical
language of the natural sciences, and readiness in the astronomical
observations necessary for the geography of his route. To acquire these,
he repaired immediately to Philadelphia and placed himself under the
tutorage of the distinguished professors of that place, who, with a
zeal and emulation enkindled by an ardent devotion to science, communi-
cated to him freely the information requisite for 'the purposes of the jour-
ney. While attending, too, at Lancaster, the fabrication of the arms
with which he chose that his men should be provided, he had the benefit
of daily com.munication with Mr. Andrew Ellicot, ·whose experience in
astronomical observation and practice of it in the woods, enabled him
to apprise Captain Lewis of the wants and difficulties he would en-
counter, and of the substitutes and resources offered by a woodland and
uninhabited country."
JEFFERSON'S FIRST INSTRUCTIONS TO LEWIS

In April, 18o3, a draft of his instructions was sent 10 Captain
Lewis, and President Jefferson signed them on the following 20th of

June. These included a list of accouterments, instruments, etc., to be
taken by the expedition of from ten to twelve men, and assurances of
safe conduct from. the ministers of France, Spain and Great Britain.
Louisiana had been ceded by Spain to France, and the protection of .
Great Britain entitled Lewis and Clark, with their men, to the frie.ndly
aid of any Brit ish traders ,vhom they might encounter. Afier stating
the main object of the mission was to ascertain "the mo\ t direct and
practicable water communication across the continent for the purposes
of commerce," Jefferson entered more into details: "Beginning at the
mouth of the llfissouri. you will take observations of latitude and Ion•
gitude at ·au remarkable points on the river, and especially at the
mouths of rivers, at rapids, at islands and other places, a[...]stinguished by such natural marks and characters, of a durable kind
as that they may with certainty be recognized hereafter. The courses
of the river between these points of obsevation may be supplied by the
compass, the lo[...]by the observations them-
selves. The variations of the needle, too, in different places should be
noted.
"The interesting points of the portage between the heads of the
i\lissouri and of the water offering the best communication with th[...]ould also be fixed by observation; and the course of the
0
water to the occ3n, in the same m3nncr as that of the Missouri.
The president cautioned the leader of the expedition to take great
pains in recording his obsen•ations; to make several copies of them, and,
as a special safeguard against their destruction make one of them "on the
cuticular membrane of the paper-birch, as less liable to injury from
damp than common paper." He defined the special objects of research
among the different Indian tribes, and the examination of the physical
features of the country was to be conducted with a view of ascertaining
the existence of vegetable products and animals not known to the "United
States;" also, mineral productions of any kind, especially "metals, lime
stone. pit-coa[...]ines and mineral waters, noting the tem-
perature of the last," and "volcanic appearances."
'"Alt[...]the instructions continue, "yet you will endeavor to inform yourself,
by inquiry, of the character and extent of the country watered by its
branches, and especially on its southern side. The North river, or Rio
Bravo. which runs into the Gulf of i\lexico, and the Rio Colorado, which
runs into the Gulf of California, are understood to be the principal
streams heading opposite to the waters of the l\1issouri and running
southwardly. \.Vhethcr[...]heir distances from the
l\{issouri, the character of the intermediate country and the people in-
habiting it, arc worthy of particular inquiry. The northern · waters of
the i\fissouri arc less to be inquired after, because they have been ascer-
tained to a considerable degree, and arc s till in a course of ascertain-
ment by English traders and travelers; but if you can learn anything
certain of the most northern source of the i\Hssissippi, and of its position

relatively to the Lake- of the Woods, it will be interesting to us. Some
account, too, of the path of the Canadian traders from the Mississippi,
at the mouth of the Ouisconsing, to where it strikes the Missouri, and
of the soil and rivers in its course, is desirable."
Kind treatment of the natives was urged, even to the length of
offering to receive some of their young people and. educ~ting them at
government expense. Kine-pox (vaccine) matter was to be taken, and
endeavors made to introduce it as a preventive against small-pox, the
scourge of the red race. As it was impossible to foresee how the ex-
pedition would be received by the natives, it was instructed to turn
back, if it met with extended and dangerou[...]structs President Jeffer-
son, "inform yourself of the circumsfances which may decide whether
the furs of those parts may not be collected as advantageously at the
head of the i1issouri ( convenient, as is supposed, to the waters of the
Colorado and Oregon or Columbia) as at Nootka sound, or any other
point of that coast; and that trade be consequently conduc[...]viga-
tion now practiced."
That last part of the instructions includes advice to return to the
United States by way of Cape Hom or Cape of Good Hope, 1f the
overland trip should be deemed too hazardous; instructions as to meet-
ing expeditionary expenses and the appointment of a successor to head
the expedition, in the event of Captain Lewis's death.
"Whjle these things were going on here," continues Jefferson, "the
country of Louisiana, lately ceded by Spain to France, had been the sub-
ject of negotiation at Paris between us and this last power, and .had
actually been transferred· to us by treaties executed at Paris on the
thirtieth of April ( 18o3). This information, received about the first of
July, increased infinitely the interest we felt in the expedition and
lessened the apprehension of interruption from other powers. Every-
thing in this quarter being now prepared, Captain Lewis left Washington
on the fifth of July', 18o3, and proceeded to Pittsburg, where other articles
had been ordered to be provided for him. The men, too, were to be
selected from the military stations on the Ohio. Delays of preparation,
difficulties of navigation down the Ohio and other untoward obstr[...]Cahokia until the season was so far
advanced as to render it prudent to suspend his entering the 11issouri
before the ice should break up in the succeeding spring.
"From this time his journal, now published, will give the history
of his journey to and from the Pacific ocean, until his return to St.
Louis on the 23rd of September, 18o6. Never did a similar event excite
more joy through the United States. The humblest of its citizens had
taken a lively interest in the issue of this journey, and looked forward
with impatienc[...]furnish . Their anxieties,
too, for the safety of the corps had been kept in a state of excitement
by lugubrious rumours, circulated from time to time on uncertain
authorities, and uncon[...]

from the time they had left the l\1andan towns on their ascent up the
river in April of the preceding year ( 18o5) until their actual return
to St. Louis."

ESTntATED CosT OF THE ExPEDiTION

The president requested Captain Lewis to estimate the cost oi the
expedition, which the la[...]55
l\1eans of transportation ....................... : . . 430[...]55
For the pay of hunters, guides and interpreters .... . 300
In silver coin, to defray the expenses of the party
from Nashville to the last white settlement on the
l\1[...]but preliminary estimates and, as the importance of
the expedition increased during the period of delay which resulted in
Louisiana becoming American territory, it is evident that they were not
adhered to.

CAPTAIN \V'lLLIA!d CLARK

The personnel of the expedition was of prime importance, howeve.r,
Capt. \V'illiam Clark,* who shared the honors of leadership with Captain
Lewis, was four years the senior of the latter, and was also a Virginian.
During his boyhood, the family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and in .
1796, after serving for eight years in the United States army he re-
signed his lieutenancy in the service on account of ill health. At one
time, l\Ieriwether Lewis served under him. In l\1arch, 18o4, after he had
been selected as Captain Lewis' assistant, he received a commission as
second lieutenant of artillery and not as captain of engineers, as he had
hoped. So that the title of "captain" is generally applied to him; officially
he was not entitled to it. He was also Lewis' subordinate, although
• In three editions of the Lewis and Clark journals. the latter n1mc is[...]e rontrary. Cap-
tain Clark himself omits the "c' in the inscription ldt by him on Pompey's pillar;
hi[...]ed himself. Clark, as did his son, Jcffnson
Clark of St. Louis. As the btarcr of the name himstlf, as wdl u his near rclati\"es.
in\'ariably omitted the .,c", it should be the duty of the historian to follow their
preferences.

TH& JOVRNEV TO THE J\,{ANDAN VILLAGES

It is far beyond the scope of this story to trace the real com•
mencement of the expedition at Pittsburg, in the summer of 18o3, when
Captain Lewis was there recruiting for members and arranging for
transportation down the Ohio to the mouth of the ?lfissouri. Dr. James
K. Hosmer, in his introduction to the "Gass Journal" ( edition of 1904)
goes into many interesting details regarding this phase of the enter-
prise and the care taken by Captain Lewis in the selection of his men.
The Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, were at last reached, and at the
Point of Rock, the home of George Rogers Clark, Lewis met his yoke-
fcllow, William Clark, who added to the company nine young men from
Kentucky, carefully selected from a throng of volunteers. Among them
was Jolin Colter, whose adventures were to be the most thrilli~g of all
the members of the expedition. Delaying as little as possible, Clark
taking charge of the boat with its important freight, worked his way
down stream, then up to St. Louis; while Lewis, following the "Vin-
cennes trace," proceeded across country to Kaskaskia. Recruits were
picked from various fron[...]d Pat-
rick Gass, who both contributed materially to the literature of the ex-
pedition.
"During the winter of 18o3-04," writes Doctor Hosmer, "the company •
was well disciplined and instructed in the camp at Wood River, and on
the 9th of ?lfay took part in a memorable ceremony. ?11ajor Amos Stod-
dard cross[...]ut de Lassus,
the Spanish governor, the surrender of St. Louis, the last post in the pur-
chased Louisiana. It was an occasion of solemnity. The flag of Spain

Tue B1RD \VO>IAX A[...]an
villages and the fort were reached on the 2nd of November, of that
year. There the party were joined by Charbonneau, the French-Cana-
dian trapper and former employe of the Hudson's Bay Company, and his
wife, Sacajawea, the Bird Woman, a native of the Shoshone, or Snake
nation, and whose services as guide and advisor gave her a standing in
the expedition next to the leaders themselves. Charbonneau, who was
eng[...], was brave, faithful, familiar with every detail of her na-
tive land, through which the expedition was to pass, and absolutely re-
liable. On February 11, 1804, she had been delivered of a son, so that
when the expedition of thirty-two members left Fort 11.fandan, on April 7,
18o5, Sacajawea carried with her a baby of fourteen months.
The Lewis-Clark Journal lau[...]arrangements, we left the fort about five o'clock in the
afternoon. The party now consisted of thirty-two persons. Besides
ourselves were Sergea[...]eorge Drewyer and Toussaint Charbonneau.
The wife of Charbonneau also accompanied us with her young ch[...]eter among the Snake Indians. She
was herself one of that tribe, but having been taken in war by the Min- •
nctarces, by whom she was sold as a -slave to Charbonneau, who brought
her up and afterwards married her. One of the l\fandans also embarked
with us, in order to go to the Snake Indians and obtain a peace with them
for his countrymen. All this party with the baggage was stowed in six
small canoes and two large pirogues. W[...]

REACH TUE MOUTH OF THE YELLOWSTONE

The party proceeded up the J\1issouri, past the mouths of the Big
Knife, Little Missouri, \Vhitc Earth ,and other tributaries to the mouth
of the Yellowstone, through a plcas.1nt land of elk, deer, beaver, and
J\{andans and Assiniboines. The disagreeable features of this part of
the expedition were evidently the high winds, which caused the men's·
eyes to be sore, and the cold weather. On . April 25th,,a[...]the men rowed, which, with the high wind, forced a halt. "This
detention from the wind," notes the Journal, under that date, "and the
reports from our hunters of the crookedness of the river, induced us
to believe that we were at no great distance from the Yellowstone River.
In order, therefore. to prevent delay as much as possible, Captain Lewis
dete'rntined to go on by land in search of that river and make the neces-
sary observations, so as to be enabled to proceed on immediately after the
boats should joi[...]n; the boats were prevented from
going until five in the afternoon, when they went on a few miles far-
ther. and encamped for the night at the distance of tourteen and a
half miles."
Captain Clark evidently writes the journal at this point, as he
says, under date of April 26, 18o5: "vVe continued our voyage in the
morning and by twelve o'clock e.ncamped, at eight miles distance, at the
junction of the l\lissouri and Yellowstone rivers, where we w[...]us yesterday, he pursued his route along the foot of
the hills, which he ascended at the distance of eight miles; from these
the wide plains watered b[...]before the eye, occasionally varied with the wood of the banks,
enlivened by the irregular windings of the two rivers and animated
by vast herds of buffalo, deer, elk and antelope.
"The confluence of the two rivers was concealed by the wood, but
the Yellowstone itself was only two miles distant to the south. He ·
therefore descended the hills and encamped on the bank of the river,
having killed as he crossed the plain four buffaloes; the deer alone
are shy and retire to the woods, but the elk, antelope and buffalo suf-
fered him to approach without alarm and often followed him quietly for
some distance. This morning he sent a man up the river to examine
it, while he proceeded down to the juncture.
"The ground on the lower side of the Yellowstone near its mouth

is flat and for about a mile seems to be subject to inundation, while
that at the point of juncture, as well as that on the opposite side of
the Missouri, is at the usual height of ten or eighteen feet above the
water and therefore not overflown. There is more timber in the neigh•
borhood of this place and on the ~lissouri as far below as the \Vhite Earth
river, than on any other part of the Missouri on this side of the Cheyenne;
the timber consists principally of cottonwood, with some small elm, ash
and box cider. On the sandbars and along the margin of the river grows
the small-leafed willow; in the low grounds adjoining are scattered rose•
b[...]igher plains arc either immediately on the river, in which case they
are generally timbered and have an undergrowth like that of the low•
grounds, with the addition of the broad-leafed willow, gooseberry, choke
cherry[...]without wood or anything
except large quantities of wild hysop; this plant rises about two feet
high and, like the willow of the sandbars, is a favorite food ofin the evening that he
had gone about eight miles, that during that distance the river winds
on both sides o f a plain four or five miles wide, that the current w[...]d by sandbars, that at five miles he had
met wi1h a large timbered island, three miles beyond which a creek
falls in on the southeast above a high bluff in which arc several strata
of coal. The country, as far as he could discern, resembled that of
the Missouri, and in the plain he met several of the bighorn animals
but they were too shy to be obtained.
" The bed of the Yellowstone, as we observed it near the mouth,
is composed of sand and mud, without a stone of any kind. Just aoovc
the confluence we measured the two rivers, and found the bed of the
Nlissouri five hundred and twenty yards wide,[...]e channel deep ; while the Yellowstone,
including its sandbar, occupied eight hundred and fifty-eight yards with
two hundred and ninety-seven yards of water; the deepest part of the
channel is twelve feet, but the water is now falling and seems to be
nearly at summer height.
"\\le left the mouth of the Yellowstone (April 27th). From the
point of juncture a wood occupies the space between the two rivers,
which at the distance of a mile came wi1hin two hundred and fifty yards
of each other. There a beautiful low plain commences and widening,
as the ri\'ers recede, extends along each of them for several miles, rising
aboul half a mile from the Missouri into a plain twelve feet higher
than itself. The low plain is a few inches above high water mark,
and wl,cre it joins the higher plain there is a channel of sixty or seventy
yards in width, through which a part of the ~'I issouri, when at its
greatest height, passes into the Yellowstone. At two and a half miles
above the juncture and between the high and low plain, is a small[...]

people, as indeed among all the In[...]following day, near their encampment, was passed "a curious collection
of bushes, about thirty feet high and ten or twelve in diameter, tied
in the fol1)l of a fascine ( a faggot used in fortifications) and standing
on end in the middle of the low ground." It, also, was supposed to have
been left by the Indians as a religious offering.
Fourteen miles farther up the river the expedition reached the
mouth of the Porcupine named from the unusual number of the animal
named found near it. In the journal of the explorers, it may .be con-
founded with \'l'hitewater River, as it is described as "a bold and
beautiful stream one hundred and twelve yards wide, though the water
is only forty yards at its entrance. Captain Clark, who ascended it
seve[...]ters the highlands, found it
continued nea~ly of the same width and about knee deep, and as far
as he could distinguish for twenty miles from the hills its course was
a little to the east of north. There was much timber on the low grounds;
he found some lime.stone, also, ?n the surface of the earth in the course
of his walk, and saw a range of low mountains at a distance to the
west of north (Little Creek Mountains) ·whose direction[...]ex-
ceedingly beautiful.
"The water of this river is transparent, and is the only one that
is so of all those that fall into the Missouri; before entering a large
sandbar through which it discharges itself, its low grounds are formed
of a stiff blue and black clay, and its banks, which are from eight to
ten feet high and seldom, if ever, overffow, are composed of the same
materials.
"From the quantity of water which this river contains, its direction
and the nature of the country through which it passes, it is not· im-
probable that its sources may be near the main bod)' of the Saskaskawan
(Saskatchewan), and as in high water it can be no doubt navigated to a
considerable distance, it may be rendered the means of intercourse with
the Athabasky country, from which the northwest company derive so
many of their valuable furs.
"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 it the name of Two-thousand Mile creek; it is a
bold stream, thirty yards wide."
Game, both small and large, was very abundant in this region, where
members of the party encountered and killed the largest brow[...]ifle balls through his lungs and
fiv.e others in other portions of his. body, he' swam half way across
the river to a sandbar and then survived twenty minutes. The ani[...]ut six hundred pounds and measured over eight and a half
feet from the nose to the extremity of the hind foot, five feet and ten
• inches aro[...]ssed and named Big Dry and Little
Dry creeks, in the present county of Garfield, which still appear on the[...]

map under those designations. The ·origin of the name is given in the
Lewis-Clark journal, thus : "'vVe passed three streams on the south:
the first, at the distance of . one mile and a half from our camp, was
about twenty-live yards wide, but although it contained some water in
standing pools, it discharges none. This we c[...]he third is six miles further, and has the bed o( a large
river two hundred yards wide, yet without a drop of water; like the
other two, this stream, which we called Big Dry river, continues its
width undiminished as far as we can discern."[...]•
Two days afterward, a light breeze from the east carried their boat,
sixteen miles, to the mouth of a river which came in from the north.
Captain Clark, on ascending a high point opposite to its entrance, dis-
covered a level and beautiful country which it watered; that its course
for twelve or fifteen miles was northw[...]into two
nearly equal branches, one pursuing a direction nearly north, the other to
the west of north . Its width at the entrance to the l\1issouri, in the
southern ·part of what is now Valley County, was one hundred and fifty
yards. A few nliles up stream, it was found to be of the same breadth-
deep, gentle and carrying a large volume of water. fts bed was formed
of a dark, rich loam and blue clay; banks some twelve feet in height;
the low grounds near it wide and fert[...]ing much cottonwood
and willow. The river had to be named, and the expeditionary journal
of May 8, 18o5, makes record: "It seems to be navigable for boats and
canoes, and this circumstance, joined to its course and the quantity of
water, which indicates that it passes through a large extent of country,
we are led to presume that it.may approach the Saskashawan and afford
a communication with that river. The water has peculiar whiteness,
such as might be produced by a table spoon full of milk in a dish of tea,
and this circu.mstance induced us to call it Milk River."

TH& MVSSELSHELI, Rtv&.R

The next river of any consequence reached by the expedition was
the l\fuscleshell, or Musselshell. Progress to this point had been ac-
complished by a twelve-days' journey from the Milk River district[...]ay 20th, the camp was pitched at the upper point of the river's juncture
with the l\1issouri, fro[...]s stream," says the record,
"which we suppose to be that' ~ lied by the l\,[innetarees the ~[uscle[...]two hundred and seventy
miles above the mouth of the latter river, and in latitude 47° o' :24"6
north. It is one hundr[...]rds wide and contains more water
than streams of that size usually do in this country; its current is by
no means rapid and there is every appearance of its being navigable by
canoes for a considerable distance; its bed is chieffy formed of coarse
ToJ. 1-a

sand and gravel, with an occasional mixture of black mud; the banks
abrupt and nearly twelve fee[...]ey are secure from being
overflowed; the water is of a greenish yellow cast and much more trans-
parent than that of the J\<lissouri, which itself, though clearer than below,
still retains its whitish hue and a portion of its sediment. Opposite to
the point of juncture the current of the J\<lissouri is gentle and two
hundred and twenty-two yards in width, the bed principally of mud
(the little sand remaining being wholly confined to the points) and still
too deep to use the setting pole. If this be, as we suppose,[...]e-
shell, our Indian information is that it rises in the first chain o[ the
Rocky Mountains not· far from the sources of the Yellowstone, whence,
in its course to this place, it waters a high, broken country, }veil
timbered, particularly on its borders, and interspersed with handsome
fertile[...]like that near our camp; that about five
miles up a handsome river about fihy yards wide, which we na[...]pper side.
"Anotf1er party found at the foot of the southern hills, about four
miles from the i\'lissouri, a fine bold spring, which in this country is
so rare that since we left the l\1andans we have found only one of a
similar kind, and that was under the bluffs on the south side of the
i\'lissouri, at some distance from it and abo[...]ne; with this exception, all the small fountains, of which we
have met a m,mber, are impregnated with the salts which are[...]l\1issouri is itself most probably tainted though
to us who have been so much accustomed to it, the taste is not per-
ceptible." ·[...]he
country more broken, and the leaders commenced to speculate whether or
not they were not approaching the outposts of the great Rockies, or
continental divide, which was the immediate object of their voyage.
On ?.1ay 25th, they record: · "The[...]d for some days, and where we now are, we suppose to be a
continuation of what the French tra<lers called· the Cote Noire or Black
Hills. The country thus denominated consists of high. broken, irregular
hills ·and short chains of mountains, sometimes one hundred and twenty
miles in width, sometimes narrower, but always much higher[...]ntry on either side. They commence about the head of the Kansasa,
where they diverge, the first ridge going westward along the northern
shore of the Arkansaw; the second approaches the Rocky Mountains
obliquely in a course a little to the west of northwest. and after passing
the Platte above it~[...]gh as they are represented much
smaller here than to the south they may not reach that river."
Wh[...]rcum-
~cribed than the supposititious range noted in the Lewis-Clark journal.
. ,

F1RST Vrnw O>' THE[...]On the day after noting the broken appearance of the country through
which they were passing, the first view was obtained of the Rocky
Mountains. From the description, they were probably some portions
of the Belt Range of Central J\1ontana. "It was here," says the journal,
"that, after ascending the highest summits of the hills on the north
side of the river, Captain Lewis first caught a distant view of the RockY
Mountains, the object of all our hopes an<I the rewa.r d of all our
ambition. On both sides of the river and at no great distance from it,
the mountains followed its course; above these, at the distance of fifty
miles from us, an irregular range of mountains spread themselves from
west to northwest from his position. To the north of these a few elevated
points, the most remarkable of which bore north 65° west, appeared
above the horizon, and as the sun shone on the snows of their summits
he obtained a clear and satisfactory view of those mountains which
close on the l\fissouri the passage of the Pacific."
It is probable that the hills[...]ain Lewis thus obtained
his first ravishing view of the outskirts of the Rockies were what are
now known as Little Creek i'llountains, as shortly afterward the members
of the party congratulated themselves "as having escaped from the last
ridges of the Black Mountains," and discovered and named "Bull c.rcck."
"To further fix the locality, on the following day they came to a handsome
river, which discharges itself on the south and which we ascended to
the distance of a mile and a half. \Ve called it' Judith river; it rises
in tl,e Rocky J\1ountains, in about the same place with the Muscleshell
and ne[...]iver."

\l\'HOLESALE SLAUGHTER OF BUFFALO

"On the north," reads the journal of J\1ay 29, 18o5, "we passed a
precipice about one hundred and twenty feet high, under which lay
scattered the fragments of at least one hundred carcasses of buffaloes,
although the water, which had washed away the lower part of the hill,
must have carried off many of the dead. These buffaloes had been
chased down the precipice in a way very common on the i\1issouri, and
by which vast herds arc destroyed in a moment. The mode of hunting
is to select one of the most active and fleet young men, who is disguised
by a buffalo skin round his body, the skin of t.he head, with the ears and
horns, fastened on his own head in such a way as to deceive the
buffalo; thus dressed he fixes himself at a convenient distance betwee11 a
herd of buffalo and any of the river precipices, which sometimes extend
for some miles. His companions, in the meantime, get in the rear and
side of the herd, and at a given signal show themselves and advance
toward[...]ard the ri,•er, when suddenly securing himself
in some crevice of the cliff which he had previously fixed on[...]

EARLY INHAlllTANTS OF TH>: PLAINS

we came to for dinner at the distance of seventeen miles, opposite to a
bold running river of twenty yards wide, and falling in on the south.
From the objects we had just passed[...]."
For several days, the party passed through a region of fantastic
sandstone cliffs and hills of freestone, and obtained another distant
view of the Rockies from some of the most considerable eminences. On
the 2nd of June a string of islands drew their attention, and at night
of that day they encamped "in a handsome lo.w cottonwood plain on the
south," where they remained "for the purpose of making some celestial
observations during the night, and of examining in the morning a large
river" which flowed into the Missouri oppos[...]•
At an early hour of the following day (June 3rd), the expedition
pitched its · camp in the point formed by the junction of i\faria's River
with the Missouri. "It now[...]

the journal of the perplexed explorers, ''which of these two streams
is what the ll·linnetarees cal[...]ri, which they
described as approaching very near to the Columbia. On our right
decision much of the fate of the expedition depends; 'since if, after
ascending to the Rocky !Mountains or beyond them, we should fi[...]ng did not come near the Columbia, and be
obliged to return, we should not only lose the traveling season, two
months of which had already elapsed, but probably dishearten the men
so much as to induce them either to abandon the enterprise, or yield
us a cold obedience instead of the warm and zealous support which they
ha\'e hit[...]· '
"We determined, therefore, to examine well before we decided on
our future cour[...]pose dispatched two canoes with three
men up each of the streams, with orders to ascertain the width, depth
and rapidity of the current, so as to judge of their comparative bodies
of water. At the same time parties were sent out by land to penetrate
the country and discover from the rising grounds, if possible, the distant
bearings of the two rivers; and all were directed to return towards
evening. \'l'hile they were gone we ascended together the high grounds
in the forks of these two rivers, whence we had a very extensive prospect
of the surrounding country.
"On every side it was spread into one vast plain covered with verdure,
in which innumerable herds of buffaloes were roaming, attended by
their enemies, the wolves; some Rocks of elks were seen, and the solitary
antelopes were scattered with their young over the face of the plain. To
the south was a range of lofty mountains, which we supposed to be a
continuation of the South Mountain, stretching themselves from southeast
to northwest (probably the Belt Range), and terminat[...]s. These were partially covered with snow; but at
a great distance behind 1hem was a more lofty ridge completely covered
with snow, which seemed to follow the same direction as the first, reaching
from west to the north of northwest (perhaps the Big Belt l\<louotains) ,
w[...]ere blended with the horizon.
"The direction of the rivers could not, however, be long dis-
tinguished, as they were soon lost in the extent of the plain. On our
return we continued our examination; the width of the north branch
is two hundred yards, that of the souih is three hundred and seventy-two.
The north, although narrower and with a gentler current, is deeper than
the south; its waters, too, are of the same whitish brown color, thickness
and turbidness; they nm in the same boiling and rolling manner which
has uniformly characterized the l\1issouri; and its bed is composed of
some gravel, but principally mud. The south fork is deeper, but its
waters are perfectly transparent; its current is rapid, but the surface
smooth and unruffled; and its bed. too, is composed of round and flat
smooth stones like those of ri\'ers issuing from a mountainous country.
The air and character of the north fork so much resemble those of the
Missouri that almosi all the party belie\·e that to be the true course· to
be pursued. ',Ve, howe,·er. although we h[...]

ROMANCE OF MARIA'S ·RIV£R

The foregoing extracts are taken· from the journal to show the care
with which the leaders examined all the evidences and the wisdom of
their ge.ne.r al conclusion that their way to the mountains lay along the
south rather than t[...]me con-
vinced that the northern stream pursued a direction too far north for
their desired route to the Pacific, by way of the Columbia. On the 8th
of June, 18o5, as his party came down the river, all its members, except
he himself, "were of opinion that this river was the true Missouri; bu[...]ain stream
nor that which it would be advisable to ascend, gave it the name •[...]of
Maria's River. After travelling all day they reached the camp at five
o'clock in the afternoon, and found Captain Clark and the pa[...]Elsewhere-Captain Lewis states: "I determined to give it a n~me, and
in honour of Miss Maria \IV'-d called it Maria's River. It is true that
the hue of the waters of• this turbulent and troubled stream but illy
c[...]re celestial virt ues and amiable .qualifications of that
· lovely fair one; but on the other band it is a noble river; one destined
to become in my opinion an object of contention between the two great
po\vers of America and Great Britain, with respect to the adjustment of
the North-westwardly boundary of the former, and that it ,viii become one
of the most interesting branches of the Missouri."
Dr. Elliott Coucs, the learned editor of the 1893 edition of the journal.
adds this enlightening bit of information: "The Ulyssean young captain
is not successful in concealing the name of 'that lovely fair one'; for
'W-d' spells 'Wood' without any vO\\;Cls. This lady was Miss 1\1aria
\.Vood, a cousin of his, afterward Mrs. 1\1. ,Clarkson. There were a

number of intermarriages between the Virginia Meriwethers, Lewises
and \¥oods; but one such, the prospect of which Captain Lewis may have
cherished in his heart of hearts, was destined never to be."
Captain Clark's independent explorations up the valley of Maria's
· River had also reconfirmed his belief that the stream mentioned was
not the one to be pursued. Furthermore, as he states in his contribution
to the journal, "the Indians had assured us, also, that the water of
the Missouri was nearly transparent at the fall[...]se with the
southern branch; that the falls lay a little to the south of sunset from
them; this, too, is in favor of the; southern fork, for it bears conside.rably
to the south of this place; that the falls are below the Rocky Mountains,
and near the northern termination of one range of those ,nountains.
Now, there is a ridge ·of mountains which appear behind the South
mountains and terminates to the southwest of us (Little Belt Mountains),
at a sufficient distance from the unbroken chain of the Rocky Mountains
to allow spaces for several falls, indeed, we fear, for too many of them."
The observations and conclusions of Captains Lewis and Oarl< were
communicated to the reunited party. But every one of them were of a
contrary opinion, and much of their belief depended on Crusatte, an
e.""<peri[...]afraid that the south fork would soon
terminate in the Rocky l\Jlountains and leave the expedition at a great
distance from the Columbia. That no radical error might be committed,
the leaders agreed. that one of then1 should ascend the southern branch
by land[...]the main camp should be pitched on the north side of the Missouri
near the entrance of Maria's River and await the_return of the ,n-
·vestigators.

LEWIS FINDS THE GREAT FAtLS OF TRE i\1ISSOURI

On June llth, Captain Lewis,[...]s afterward, while traveling
southwardly through a country of alternate plains and river hills, from
the latter of which he could obtain views of the Rocky Mountains,
"fearful of passing the falls before rea~hing the mountains,"[...]eft the hills and proceeded across the plain . . "In this direction,"
continues his narrath•e, "Cap[...]his ears were 'saluted with the agreeable sound of a fall of water and
as he advanced a spray, which seemed driven by a high southwest wind,
arose above the plain like a column of smoke and vanished in an instant.
Towards this point he directed his s[...]ing as he
approached, soon became too tremendous to be mistaken for anything
but the great falls of the i\1issouri. Having travelled seven miles afte[...]ock. The
hills, as he approached, were difficult of access and two hundred feet

SucCESSION OF \VONOERFUL RAl'IOS ANO FALLS

Captain Lewis gives some wonderful descriptions of the Great Falls
and the succession of smaller falls and rapids farther up the river
and to fully enjoy them, the reader must consult the text of the Journal,
especially the edition of 1902, edited by Dr. James K. Hosmer. At this
point in the story, it reads: "The river immediately at its cascade is
three hundred yards wide and is pressed in by a perpendicular cliff
on the left, which rises to about one hundred feet and extends up the
stream for a n1ile; on the right the bluff is also perpendicular for three
hundred yards above the falls. For ninety or a hundred yards from the
left cliff, the water falls in one smooth, even sheet over a precipice of
at least eighty feet. The remaining part of the river precipitates itself
with a more rapid current, but being received, as it fal[...]-
lar and son1ewhat projecting rocks below, forms a splendid prospect
of perfectly white foam, two hundred yards in length and eighty in
perpendicular elevation. This spray is dissip.-ited into a thousand shapes,
sometimes flying up in columns of fifteen or twenty feet, which are
then oppressed by larger masses of the white foam, on all which the
sun impresses the brightest colours of the rainbow. As it rises from
the fall, it beats with fury against a ledge of rocks which extend across
the river at one hundre[...]ards from the precipice . * * •
At the distance of three hundred yards from the same ridge is a second
abutment of solid perpendicular rock about sixty feet high, p[...]."
Captain Lewis encamped for the night under a tree near the falls
and walked along the river to find a place beyond where the canoes
might be again launched, but for three miles below found a succession
of rapids and cascades. On the following morning he sent one of his
men to Captain Oark with an account of the discovery of the falls and
resumed his course along the river toward the southwest. Five miles
above, he found a second fall. Here the river was about four hundred
yards wide, and for the distance of three hundred throws itself so
irregularly that the captain called this succession of pitches Crooked Falls.
"Above this fall," continues the narraticc, "the river bends suddenly
to the northward; while viewing this place Captain Lewis heard a loud
roar above him and crossing the point of a hill for a hundred yards,
he saw one of the most beautiful objects in nature: the whole Missouri
is suddenly stopped by one shelving rock, which, without a single niche,
and with an edge as straight and regular as if formed by art,. stretches
itself from one side of the river to the other for at least a quarter of
a mile. Over this it precipitates itself in an even uninterrupted sheet

to the perpendicular depth o( fift)• feet, whence[...]bottom it rushes rapidly down, leaving behind it a sproy of the purest
foam across the river. The scene which[...]s indeed
singularly beautiful, since, without any of the wild, irregular sublimity
of the lower falls, it combined all .the regular elegances which the fancy
of a painter would select to form a beautiful waterfall."
For several miles abov[...]cascades, or smaller waterfalls,
break the course of the river. During the day Lewis ascended a high
hill, whence he could trace the course of the :\lissouri to the base of the
Snow i\lountains (Big Belt range) toward the southwest, as well as
note a large river flowing from the northwest and joining it about four
miles above his point of observation. After descending the hill and
wouqding a buffalo, while preparing to sec him fall and provide meat
for himself and men, he was attacked by a large brown bear. His rifle
was unloaded and he only escaped death by fleeing to the river, plunging
in and facing boldly about. He then continued his course toward the
wcstcm river, found that it "was a handsome stre.am about two hundred
yards wide, apparently deep, with a gentle current, its waters clear, and
its banks, which were formed principally of dark brown and blue clay
were about the s.,mc height as the ~1issouri, that is, from three to five
feet. • * * This ri,·er is no doubt that[...]issouri
just above the falls." Before he returned to camp, Captain Lewis was
all but attacked by three[...]and on the following morning,
when awaking, found a large rattlesnake on the trunk of the tree under
which he had been sleeping. All of which were taken as the usual risks
of such an adventure as his. The messenger sent to Captain Clark
returned with the inform3tion that the latter had arrived fi,·e miles
below at a rapid. which he did not think it prudent to ascend, and would
wait until Captain Lewis and hi[...]ut five miles below the falls.
Captain Oark spent a number of days in examining the surrounding
country for some feasible portage around Great Falls and the succession
of rapids and cascades beyond. Portage Creek, so called, was finally
selected for that purpose. and to facilitate the transportation of the
canoes and the goods, rough carriages or wago[...]e. "\Ve were
very fortunate," notes the journal, "in finding. just below Portage Creek,
a cottonwood tree about twenty-two inches in. diameter, and large enough
to make the carriage wheels; it was perhaps the only one of the same
size within twenty miles; and the ~ottonwood, which we were obliged
to employ in the other parts of the work, is extremely soft and brittle.
The mast of the white pcriogue, which we mean to leave behind. supplied
us with two axletrees."
The hunters were sent out to kill buffaloes and other game, in order

•

NARROW EsCAPE OF CAPTALV Cl.ARK, TUE BIRD \'\TOMAN, ET ,\I,.[...]ark started for the other end ol the portage
with a portion of the baggage, but was overt~ken by a cloudburst and
was obliged to leave the heaviest articles behind. On the lollowing day
"finding it impossible to reach the end of the portage with their present
load, in consequence of the state of the road after the rain, he sent back
nearly all his party to bring on the articles which had been lefl yesterd[...]made on first
ascending the river, he determined to go up to the Whitebear Island
along its banks, in o rder to supply the deficiency. He left one man to
guard the baggage and went on to the falls, accompanied by his servant,
York, Char[...]er young child. On his arrival
there, he observed a very dark cloud rising in the west which threatened
rain, an_d looked aroun[...]wind
should prove as violent as it sometimes does in the plains. At length,
about a quarter of a mile above the falls, he found a deep ravine where
there were some shelving rocks under which he took refuge. They were
on the upper side of the ravine near the river, perfectly safe from th[...]e shower was at first moderate, it
then increased to a heavy rain, the effects of which they did not feel;
soon after a torrent of rain and hail descended; the rain seemed to fall
in a solid mass, and instantly collecting in the ravine came rolling down
in a dreadful current, carrying the mud and rocks and[...]that opposed it. Captain Clark fortunately saw it a moment before
it reached them, and springing up w[...]bluff, pushing on the
Indian woman with her child in her arms; her husband, too had seized
her hand. a[...]ave been lost.
"So instantaneous was the rise of the water that before Captain[...]

Clark had reached his gun and begain 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 riv[...]have been pre-
cipitated. They reached the plain in safety and found York, who had
been separated from them just before the storm to hunt some buffalo,
and was now returning to find his master. They had been obliged to
escape so rapidly that Captain Clark lost his co[...]and tomahawk, and the Indian
woman had just time to grasp her child before the net in which it lay at
her feet was carried down the cu[...]ntil July 15, 18o5, that the expedition was ready to proceed
up the l\1issouri. l\1uch time was spent in attempting to complete a
large boat of skins, which had been prepared for the purpose at Harper's
Ferry. Its frame was of iron, thirty-six feet long, four feet and a half
beam and twenty-six inches wide at the bottom. The design was to
complete its construction with timber, but the native supply of cotton-
wood. willow and box-alder was found ill adapted for the purpose.
Neither were the builders able to obtain the necessary tar Jo properly
close the seams. As a substitute they formed a comp(!sition of pounded
charcoal, beeswax and buffalo tallow, and sewed the skins together with
sharp-edged, instead of pointed needle. On the 9th of July, the boat
was launched, but a heavy wind prevemed its departure and on the
following · morning it was[...]and the boat and the venture
along this line had to be abandoned. To make a long, trying experience
short in the telling, the boat was taken to •pieces al_ld its various parts
worked into canoes, and at ten o'clock in the morning of July 15th they
were loaded with the expeditionary[...]comes into the ~lissouri from the south, rising
in the Little Belt Mountains and /lowing through the west-central por-
tions of Cascade County, was named after Robert Smith, who was then ·
secretary of the navy. "At six miles" ( from camp), the journal notes,
'!we came to an island opposite to a bend toward the north side, and
reached, at seven and a half miles. the lower point of a woodland at fhc
entrance of a beautiful river, which, in -honour of the Secretary of
the Navy; we called Smith's river. This stream falls into a bend on the
south side of the ll1issouri and is eighty yards wide. As far as we could
discern its course wound through a charming valley towards the
southeast, in which many herds of buffalo were feeding, till at the distance
· of twenty-five miles, it entered the Rocky il[...]

THE GATES OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

For a dozen miles, or more, the flotilla of ca11oes had been following
the numerous bends of the Missouri, through a hot and confined valley,

AT THE GATES OF THE ROCKY ::v!OI/NTAINS
. '
with the mountains in the near distance covered with patches of pine,
cedar and fir and capped with snow, when th[...]ther side
suddenly approached the river, "forming a most sublime and extraor-
dinary spectacle. For f[...]rocks rise
perpendicularly from the water's edge to the height of nearly twelve
hundred feet. :They are composed of a black granite near its base, but
from its lighter colour above, and from the fragments, we suppose· the
upper part to be flint of a yellowish brown and cream colour. Nothing
can be imagined more tremendous than the frowning darkness of these
rocks, which project over the river and menace us with destruction. The
river, of one hundred and fifty yards, in width, seems to have forced its
channel down this solid mass, but so reluctantly[...]edges, and
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 mountain. The convulsion of the passage must[...]

have been terrible, since at its outlet there are vast columns of rock
torn from the mountain which arc strewed on both sides of the ri~er,
the trophies, as it were, of the victory. Several fine springs burst out
from the chasms of the rock, and contribute to increase the water, which
has now a strong current, but very fortunately we are. able to overcome
it with our oars, since it would be impossible to use either the cord or the
pole. \/1/c were obliged to go on some time after dark, not being able to
find a spot large enough to encamp on; but at length, about two miles
above a small island in the middle of the riyer, we met with as~ on the
left side where we procured plenty of lightwood and pitch pine. This
extraordinary range of rocks we called the Gates of the Rocky Moun-
tains."
A short distance from the Gates, the perpendicular rocks ceased
and the hills retired from the valley of the ~lissouri which again broad-
ened, bounded by parallel chains of mountains. Captain Clark lead a
party along the valley lands, hunting. and· 1nve[...]_d collected during' the• day's. hunt, and Capt~in[...],,

Lewis received from his coworker an account of his investigations by
land. The bed of the river was now diversified by many islands. wh[...]yor, Joseph \Vhitehousc and Patrick
Gass, members of the expedition.

CLARK REACHES THE THREE FORKS

In the meantime, Captain Clark had continued his lan[...]and on July 25, 18o5, "arrived at the three forks of the
·l\1issouri. Here he found that the plains h[...]ently burnt on
the north side, and saw the track of a horse which seemed to have passed
about four or five days since. After[...]more water than the middle branch, and bore more to the
westward, he determined to ascend it. He therefore left a note inforn1ing
Captain Lewis of his intention, and then went up that stream on th[...]t twenty-five miles. Here Charbonneau was unable
to proceed any further, and the party therefore encamped, all of them
much fatigued, their feet blistered and wou[...]uri, while his
companion, who had been taken sick in the midst of his explorations,
was endeavoring to join him. The former reached the three forks on
the 27th. He says: "A range of high mountains partially covered with
snow is seen at a considerable distance, running from south to west,
and nearly all around us are broken ridges of country like that below
through which those united streams appear to have forced their passage·.[...]

After observing the country (from a high limestone cliff, which he had
ascended), Captain Lewis descended to breakfast. \Ve then le ft the
mouth of the southeast fork, which, in honour of the secretary oi the
treasury we called Gallatin's Ri"er. and at the distance oi hall a mile
reached the confluence of the southwest and middle branches o f the
'.\liss[...]Clark, and as agreed
with him that the direction of the southwest fork (the Jefferson) gave
it a decided preference o,•er the others, we ascended that branch of the
river for a mile, and encamped in a lcvc] handsome plain on the left, h:tv-
ing advanced only sc,·cn. miles. Herc we rcsoh-cd to wait the return of

TnRf.~ FoRKS O>' T111, M,s:;ou,u

Captain Clark, and in the meantime make the neces.~ary celestial observa•
tions, as this seemed an essential point in the geography oi 1he western
world, and also to recruit men and air the b.1ggage. It was accordin[...]we saw many collections or the mud-nests of
the small marlin a11achcd to the smoo1h faces of the limestone rock,
where they were sheltered by projec1ions of the rock abo"e it; and in
the meadows were numbers of the duck or mallard, with their young.
who arc no[...]d towa rds evening
wi1h six deer, three otter and a muskrat, and had seen great numbers of
antelopes, and much sign of 1he beaver and elk.
"During all last night Captain Clark had a high fe,·er and chills,
accompanied with g reat pain. He, however, pursued his route eight
miles to the middle branch. where not finding any f[...]

with. fatigue a'nd the violence of his f~ver. Believing himself bilious
he took a dose of Rush's pills, which we have always found sovereign
in such cases, and bathing the lower extremities in warm water.
"We arc now very anxious to see the Snake Indians. After advanc·
ing fo[...]he game will abandon us. With no information
of the route, we qiay be unable to find a passage across the mountains
when we reacli the head of the river, at least· such a one as will lead
us to the Columbia, and even were we so fortunate as to find a branch
of that river, the timber which we have hitherto seen in these mountains
does not promise us any fit to make canoes, so that our chief dependence
is[...]r river than the Columbia, and that if any nation of Indians can
live in the mountains we arc able to endure.as much as they, and have
even,.better means of procuring subsistence."

JEFFERSON AN[...]•

The entries in the journal under date of July 28, I8o5, are even
of greater interest-historical, geographical and per[...]amining the two streams, it became
difficult to decide which was the larger or the real Missouri;[...]each ninety yards wide, and so perfectly similar in character and ap-
pearance th.at they seem to have been formed in the same mould. We
were therefore induced to discontinue the name of ?.1issouri and gave
to the southwest branch the name of Jefferson, in honor of the president
of the United States and the projector of the enterprise, and called the
middle branch }.1adison, after James Madison, secretary of state. These
(wo, as well as Gallatin River, run with great velocity and throw out
large bodies of water. Gallatin River is, however, the most rapid of the
three and, though not quite as deep, yet navigable for a considerable
distance. Madison River, though[...]somewhat more rapid than the Jefferson; the beds of all of them are
formed of smooth pebble and gravel, and the waters are perf[...]* • •

TnE BIRO 'vVOMAN IN HER HOME LAND[...]ir
huts five years ago, when the Minnetarees of Knife River first came in
sight of them, and fro.:, which they hastily retreated three miles up the
Jefferson and concealed themselves in the woods. The :t-1innetarees,
however, purs[...]ed them, killed four men, as many women,
and a number of boys, and made prisoners of four other boys and all the
females, of whom Sacajawea was one; she does not, however, sh[...]hese recollections. nor any joy at ~eing restored to her

SEARCH FOR THE SN.,KE INDIANS

Captain Lewis, with three of his men, therefore set out to search for
the Snake Indians, or any other nation which could supply horses with
which to transport the baggage of the expedition across the mountains
opposite the source of the Missouri. Some twenty or twenty-five miles[...]day (August 10th) he had traced
the Jefferson to a high_cliff, which he christened Rattlesnake, from the
number of that reptile which he saw there. Beyond the strea[...]long the one which showed the freshest tracks
of horses, he fixed a dry willow pole at that point bearing a note to
Captain Clark, recommending him to await his return at that place. On
the[...]

Unfortunately a rain obliterated all traces of the Indian or his
red companions, Captain Lewis and his men making every endeavor
to run them down. \1/hile thus engaged, they passed a large island
which they called Three-thousand-mile Island, "on account of its being
that distance from the mouth of the ~lissouri."
P~,ssAGE OF TU£ CoNTINJ.::NTAt. D1v10£

The lost tr[...]ited, on the following
, day (August 12, 18o5), in one of the great events of history and
geography-the discovery and passage of the great continental watershed
of the United States of America. In view of the significance of the
event, its details, as recorded in the Lewis-Clark journal are of absorbing
interest. The morning of the day mentioned saw Captain Lewis and
his two comrades still endeavoring to trace the tracks of the horse
which they had lost in the mountains, on the previous day. The waters
of the Jefferson were now shallow and rapid and flowed from a cove in
the mountains, winding across a low p1ain which was further inter-
sected by bayous.
The story is thus told in the journal: "Captain Lewis now decided
on making the circuit along the foot of the mountains which formed the
cove, expecting by that means to find a road across them, and accordingly
sent Drewyer on one side and Shields on the other. In this way they
crossed four small rivulets nea[...], on which were some bowers
or conical lodges of willow brush, which seemed to have been made
recently. From the manner in which the ground in the neighborhood
was torn up, the Indians appeared to have been gathering roots, but
Captain Lewis[...]uld he find any fresh track, till at the distance of four miles
from his camp he met a large plain Indian road which came into the
cove from the northwest, and wound along the foot of the mountains
to the southwest, approaching obliquely the main str[...]ow went toward the southwest; at the
distance of five miles it crossed a large run or creek, which is a principal
branch of the main stream into which it falls, just above t[...]Here
they halted and breakfasted on the last of the deer, keeping a small piece
of pork in reserve against accident. They then continued thr[...]low bottom along the main stream, near the foot of the mountains on
the right.
"For the fi[...]lley continues towards the southwest
from two to three miles in width; then the main st re.am, which had
received two small branches from the left in the valley, turns abruptly
to the west through a narrow bottom between the mountains. The road[...]going two miles it had so
greatly diminished in width that one of the men in a fit of enthusiasm.
,i'ith one foot on each side of the river, thanked God that he had lived
to bestride the Missouri!

IN Toucu w1Ta FRIENDLY S11osuoN>:S[...]which had led them through the mountains and to the headwaters of
the Salmon River, or the commencement of the Columbia River Valley.
They soon met a number of female Shoshones, whom they propitiated
w[...]nducted Captain Lewis and his men toward the camp of their nation
down the river, and after going about two miles "met a troop of nearly
sixty warriors, mounted on excelle[...]and went with
the ffag about fifty paces in advance. The chief, who, with two men,
was riding in front of the main body, spoke to the women, who now
explained that the party was composed of white men, and showed
exultingly the pres[...]diately
leaped from their horses, came up to Captain Lewis and embraced him
wit[...]

and clasping his back; applying, at the same time, their left cheek to
his, and frequently vociferating ah hi e ! ah hi e I 'I am much pleased,
I am much rejoiced!' The whole body of warriors now came forward,
and our men received the caresse.s, and no small share of the grease and
paint, of their new friends. After this fraternal embrace of which the
motive was much more agreeable than the manne_r, Captain Lewis lighted
a pipe and offered it to the Indians, who had now seated themselves
in a circle around the party. But before they would receive this mark
of friendship they pulled off their moccasins, a custom, as we afterwards
learned, which indicates the sacred sincerity of their professions when
they smoke with a stranger, and which imprecates upon themselves the
,nisery of going barefoot forever if they are faithless to their words,
a penalty by no means light to those who rove over the thorny plains
of their country."
l\iore presents were distribu[...]distant Captain Lewis and his men were introduced
to their quarters in the Indian camp, which was on a level meadow on
the bank of the river. After formally smoking a pipe of peace with the
chief a!ld his warriors, Captain Lewis explained the purposes of his
visit and distributed the remainder of the small articles he had brought
with him. The c[...]hat the stream discharged itself,
at the distance of half a day's march into another of twice its size coming
from the southwest. There ~vere a great number of horses feeding
in every direction around the camp, which encouraged the captain to
believe that the expeditionary stores and goods c[...]ntains, if necessary. On his way ft'om t)le river to his
lodge, Captain Lewis met an Indian who "invited him into his bower
and gave him a small morsel of boiled antelope and a piece of fresh
salmon . This was the first salmon he had s[...]ectly satisfied
him that he was now on the waters of the Pacific."

LEWIS ANO SHOSHONES JOIN CLARK

After some persuasion, the chief of the Shoshones, Cameahwait,
with eight of his warriors, was induced to accompany Captain Lewis
and his men on the return trip to the forks of the Jefferson, where
Captain Oark and the remainder of the expedition were to meet them.
Captain Lewis was obliged to resort to all sorts of stratagems in order
to allay the suspicions of the Indians that they were being led into
some kind of a trap, various articles of clothing being exchanged so
that it would be difficult for an enemy to distinguish a white from a
red man.
The 17th of August, 18o5, marked the day when final preparations
were · made to enter the second stage of the journey to the Pacific;
therefore, the interesting e,,ents of that day are quoted at length from
the official journal, and thereafter the main events of the expedition
n1ust be condensed. Under date of Saturday, August 17th, the story runs:
"Ca[...]

SAcA.JAWEA Reux1Tr.o -ro G1RL11000 o :»1PAN•oN

"We soon drew near to the camp, and just as we approached it, a
woman made her way through the crowd towards Saca[...]raced with the most tender effection. The
meeting of these two young women had in it something peculiarly touching,
not only in the ardent manner in which their feelings were expressed but
from the real interest of their situation. They had been companions
in childhood; in the war with the :l.1innetarees they had both been taken
prisoners in the same battle, they had shared and softened the rigours
o f their captivity, till one of them had escaped from the Minnetarees,
with scarce a hope of ever seeing her friend relieved , from the hands of
her enemies.

BROTHER AND SISTER[...]awea wa~ renewing among the women the friendships of
former days, Captain Clark went on and was receiv[...]embraces and salutations were over,
conducted him to a sort of circular tent or shade of willow. ·Here he
was seated on a white robe, and the chief immediately tied in his hair
six small shells resembling pearls, an ornament highly valued by these
people, who procured them in the course of trade from the seacoast. The
moccasins of the whole party were then taken off, and after mu[...]the smoking began. After this, the conference was to be
opened, and glad. of an opportunity of being ·able to converse more in-
.

man, the final entrance into the Snake( Lewis) River, the joyful arrival
at the mouth of the Snake, where it joins t_h e Columbia, and their cheering
sight of the Pacific Ocean, on November 16, 18o5. A winter camp was
built close to the oceaQ, on the south bank of the Columbia.

THE RETURN T[...]23, 18o6, camp was broken and the loaded flotilla of
canoes started up the Colwnbia on the long return trip eastward. If re-
membered, the toils and hardships of the western trip were ignored.
On June 30th, the[...]Flathead) River. There,
the leaders decided upon a separation, the party under Captain Lewis
to pursue a northerly route through Montana and that under Captain
Clark, a southerly. Specifically, as recorded in the journal entry of
July 1, 18o6, the plan agreed upon was as follows: "Captain Lewis, with
nine men, was to pursue the most direct rout~ to the falls of the ~lis-
souri, where three of his' party were to be left to prepare carriages for
transporting baggage and canoes across the portage of eighteen miles
from Portage Creek to \.Vhitebear Island. With the remaining six
he was to ascend Maria's River, to explore the country and ascertain
whether any branch of it reaches as far north as the latitude of fifty
degrees, after (vhich he was to descend that river to its mouth.
"The rest of the men were to accompany Captain Clark to the head of
Jefferson river, which Sergeant Ordway and a party of nine men would
descend with the canoes and other[...]ain
Clark's party, which would thereby be reduced to ten, would then pro-
ceed to the Yellowstone at its nearest approach to the three focks of
the Missouri. There, he was to build canoes and descend that river
with seven of his party and wait at its mouth till the rest of the
party should join him. Sergeant Pryor, with two other, was then to
take the horses by land to the i\1andans. From that nation he was to go
to the British posts on the Assiniboine with a letter to Mr. Henry, to
procure his endeavors to prevail on some of the Sioux chiefs to accom-
pany him to the city of Washington."

CAPTAIN Lewis'[...]ng companions now separated, with an anxious hope of soon meeting
after each had accomplished the purpose of its destination." The plan
as arranged by Lewis and Clark was carried out in all its essentials.
Captain Lewis, directed by the Indians, followed the eastern branch of
Clark's River. They also told him of a river (Cokalahishkit), "the river
of the road to buffalo," which would guide him to the dividing ground
between the headwaters of the Columbia and th.e i\iissouri along the
northern route. Pursuing this route, in about three days a rather flat
country was reached, on the western side of the mountains, which Cap-

tain Lewis called "Prairie of the Knobs." Along this he traveled for a
few miles and reached a ridge, passed over the divide, and after thirty
or forty miles reached the headwaters of i\Iedicine ·River, which flows
into the Missouri near the great falls. The captain then cut across
country to Whitebear Island, while his: hunters were sent out for
game. On opening the cache, it was found that a number of bearskins
there deposited had been destroyed by the river flood as well as valuable
specimens of plants; ·"but the chart of the Missouri River still remained
unhurt." Prepar[...]e preserved
articles, as the carriage wheels were in good order and the iron fram('.[...]•
of the boat had not materially suffered. On the 16th of July, 18o6,
started with Drewyer and the two Fields, with six horses, to seek the
sources of Maria's River. He again slept under the Great Fal[...]ut, the party reached the river, and traveled
up its northern side, _ascending its northern branch until it entered the
mountains.[...]joun1al makes the record: "And as we
have ceased to hope that any branches of Maria's river extend as far
north as the fiftieth degree of north latitude, we deem it useless to pro-
ceed farther, and rely chiefly on Milk and[...]·
\1/hile preparing to return down the river, Captain Lewis and his
party fell in with a band of thieving Gros Ventres, or Minnetarces, who,
after smoking a peace pipe and accepting the warmth of the white men's
camp fire, attempted to steal the rifles of Captain Lewis and the Field
brothers. One of the Fields, in attempting to regain them, fatally stabbed
one of the Indian thieves. The Indians afterward attempted to run off
the horses of the party, and, in the pursuit, one of the ungrateful savages
was fatally shot by Capt[...]using his pistol. The white
leader himself had a narrow e.scape from death as the wounded Indian
returned his fire just before expiring. In the melee, the whites captured
four of the Indians' horses and lost only one of their own. "Besides
which," continues the captain's account of the affair, "we found in the
camp four shields, two bows with quivers, and also the flag which we had
presented to them, but left the medal around the neck of the dead man, in
order that they might be informed who we were."
Captain Lewis and his men now made a dash for the mouth of
l'vlaria's River, fearful not only for their ow[...]Sergeant Ordway's party, which had spent six days in descending
the river from the mouth of the Madison to White Bear Island, and
spending another week there at the falls, in collecting the baggage, trans-
porting it over the portage and starting it down the river in the periogue
of five canoes. Gass and \Villard had set out from the falls at the same
time with the horses of the main expedition.
It was more than two[...]aders re-
joined their forces below the mouth of the Yellowstone. on the Mis-
souri. On the 7th of August Captain Lewis made a run of eighty-three

miles down the iMissouri, in order to reach the mouth of the Yellowstone.
"At four o'clock," it was noted in the journal of that date, "we reached
the mouth of the Yellowstone, where we found a note from Captain Clark
informing us of his intention of waiting for us a few miles below. We
therefore left a memorandum for our two huntsmen, whom we now sup-[...]Cla"rk, we encamped."
Captain Lewis and most of his men were now over what is now the
North Dakota boundary, and it was not until the 12th of August, 1806,
at I :oo o'clock in the afternoon, at a point in the Missouri River, be-
yond the mouth of the \'lhite Earth River, in the region of the Burnt
Hills, that Lewis especially desired to "make the observation of the lati-
tude of the Burnt Hills, which is chieRy desirable," he notes, "as
being the most northern parts of the Missouri." As he did not reach
the locality until twenty m.inutes after noon it was too late to take
the meridian altitude, and while waiting over until the following day
to do so he was severely wounded in the thigh by one of his huntsmen
who had mistaken his bidden movements on the bank of the river for
those of elk which had been sighted. The wound was very painful and
brought on a high fever, but the journey was continued and on[...]NINE DAYS' JOURNEY

During the nine days of their separation, the journey of the Cap-
tain Clark contingent had been of interest, although not so stirring as
that of Captain Lewis. On taking leave of Lewis, July 3, 18o6, with
fifteen men and fifty horses, Clark had set out through the valley of
Cl_a rk's River, along the western side of which they rode in a south-
erly direction. "Having made sixteen miles (in the morning of July
4th"), we halted at an early hour for the purpose of doing honor to the
birthday of our country's independence. The festival was not very splen-
.did, for it.COJl~isted.of a mush made of cows and a saddle of venison, nor
'-'had ·,ve' anything to tempt"us to prolong it."
On the 6th of July the watershed was reached which separates the
middle fork of Clark's River from the waters of Wisdom and Lewis
rivers. Reaching the other side of the mountain, they came to Glade
Creek. They found "appearances of old buffalo paths, and some old
heads of buffaloes; and as these animals have wonderful sagacity in the
choice of their routes, the coincidence of a buffalo with an Indian road
was the strongest assurance that it was the best. In the afternoon we
passed along the hillside north of the creek till in the course of six miles
we entered an extensive level plain. Here the tracks of the Jndians •
scattered so much t[...]ood, and informed us that it was the great resort of the Shoshones,
who came for the purpose of gathering quamash and cows, and of taking
beaver, with which the plain abounded; and that Glade Creek was a

posted Bird \Voman, the prompt performance of his part of the pre-
arranged plan is problematical."
Late in the afternoon of the 13th, the land party set out from the
forks of the l\'1issouri, but because of the sore feet of the horses were
obliged to .travel slowly and halted for the night, after going only
four miles, on the b.1nk of Gallatin's River. The plain beyond led to a
gap in the mountains, twenty miles distant, which the ca[...]had not the Indian woman recommended one farther to the
south. Under her guidance, the main channel of the _llfedicine River
was reached, and finally, on t11e 14th, the gap in the mountains was