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Show ' v - iHJtS fj tea,.; fe v ) : Li . ' - 1! -L- ' uEszmrRixpas Jiff (Paintnj iyPsah) III I . By ELMO SCOTT WATSON '' T WAS just 125 years ago that two young I "li Americans reachpd the goal of a 2,000-I 2,000-I mile trail-blazing expsditlon through a I vast wilderness and. came to the half- f"18 . way mark of what has been aptly called fta ) ". a "magnificent adventure." For It was on November 7, 1S5, that Meriwether Lewis and William Hark, captains of ' the "Long Knives" and the first white nien to ascend the Missouri river to its LmJ -. source and to descend the Columbia I . river- to the Pa :ffi ocean, first caught Jght of the "Big Water Toward the Setting Pun"' picb for so many months had beckoned them on. iThe story of the Lewis and Clark expedition is It only one of '-the great romances of American ktory, but It Is an exploring epic oi all time. In je early days of the American republic, the IssissippI river was not only the western boun-Iry boun-Iry of the new nation, but it was also the Imping-off place" Into an unknown almost as rsterious as that which confronted Columbus Jen he set. the. sails of his caravels to voyage boss the. Atlantic. True, a few French traders l venturesomet American trappers had gone up Mississippi to the country of the Sioux and Indans and there, had uo&rd vague tales of the lions beyond from other traders who had ven-led ven-led south or southwesterly from the Canadian pire where the British fur companies reigned, le, In 1792 Capt. Robert Gray of the ship lumbia out of Boston had "blundered Into the Ibor of a vast rive flowing Into the Pacific". I had called this river after aits' ship, lut what lay between the mouth of the MIs-jrl MIs-jrl and the mouth of the Columbia was practl-ly practl-ly unknown to the vhlte' man. They knew luely that there was n vast area of grassy Ins, but what lay beyond them was not even psed at. The Rocky mountains were not known exist, although under the name of ."Stonies," lr northern extensions In the part of America I by the British, appeared on some maps. But Ire was that .first thin trickle which grew ler and larger as II wound Its way south, jly to pour the waters of the "Big Muddy" I the "Father of Waters" above the old French r of St. Louis? No one knew ! lien Napoleon Bonaparte, planning another I with Great Britain, a war in which he would I a treat amount of money, and realizing that I'Mistress of the Seas" could readily seize and I the vast territory 01 Louisiana, France's I territory in America, decided upon a double-Id double-Id stroke at his hated enemy. He would sell Isiana to the Americans. President Thomas Irson, holding his ideal of a nation that should p broad as ihe continent, a republic under one I from ocean to ocean, was quick to see the Irtunlty. So the Louisiana Purchase, "the 1st real estate deal .In ' history" was made, lleon got his Slfi.OOO.ooo and the Infant repub-loubled repub-loubled its expanse O' ernight. Ion before the purchase treaty was signed, Irson was planning the audacious enterprise pploring tbe wilderness which lay between Mississippi and the PacMc. Lie had been dls-d dls-d by the reports that the lingllsh were plan-Ian plan-Ian expedition to study the geography of the I rn coast and possibly to colonize It. In Jan-I Jan-I 1803, lie hod secured from congress a secret ! llse t,o seni a party of ten men across what Istlll French territory to explore the Missouri I "and whatever river,, heading with -that. I Into the western sea.' Y the ' -.ler of tir --edition Jefferson had-In had-In his secretary, red-headed young Meriwether Is, a twenty-seven-year-old Virginian who had Idy made his mark as a soldier under "Mad pny" Wuyncv Lewis In turn selected another lnlan, his friend William Clark, brother of ke Rogers Clark, the conqueror of the old west during the Revolution, as his second mmand and substitute commander In case of I Both were commissioned captains In the lar army. Lewis had already begun his prepays prepa-ys for the Journey;wben Louisiana was but-I but-I red to the Amerlcar commissioner in April TA2ttF02?JAEZKAW&? (6y Alice Cboper) The departure from Fort Mandan was marked by another high spot in the history of the expedition. expedi-tion. For It was there that they engaged a half-breed, half-breed, Chaboneau, as gui le and Interpreter. With this man went his Indian wife, Sakakawea, .he "Bird Woman." a-captive from the Snake Indians -of the Rockies. American history might have been different In many respect' If the lives of this Indian girl and the two young Virginians had not been Joined on the plain of North Dakota 125 years ago It was Sakakawea who told them of the "shining mountains" which lay beyond and on May. 20. lS0f. Meriwether Lewis climbed fo the top of a high clIfT and for the first time a white man looked upon those mountains. 'The difficulties of the jnrty were constantly Increasing.. The river had become too deep for poles and too swift for pnddles, so they were forced to pull the boats upstream :lth tow lines. Despite all of the handicaps under which they were laboring ihe expedition pushed on. On July 19 they entered the "Gaier of the Rockies" and six days later Cartaln Clark discovered the three forks of the Missouri t which he gave the names of three American statesmen JefTerson. Madison and Gallatin. Continuing on their journey on August 12 they came to a fountain or spring from which Icy water wa-ter trickled. Thb ?as the headwater of the mighty Missouri, one cf the goal? of llu-lr adventuring adven-turing In the wlldreness. rhren quarters of a mile further on they found what ihe.v' described as a "bold creek" running io the west. It was the Lemhi river, a branch of the Columbia. From now on .t was essentially a "down hill". Journey, although al-though their further wayfaring was to be In some of the roughest country op the American continent- Then. too. new danger suddenly appeared. They came Into contact wllh the Shoshone Indians Indi-ans whose hostile ntl It tii was changed to friendliness friend-liness when Sakakawea recogniz.-d the chief. Cam-eawalt. Cam-eawalt. as her brother whom slv had not seen since she had been stolen from ihe Snakes (Sho-shones) (Sho-shones) several years before. Assured now of supplies, which had become a serious problem as the scarcity of game Increased, the Americans bought horses from the Shoshones and continued their vest ward way. Crossing the foothills they reached a village of Nez Perce Indians who gave them fist and camas root to eaL Finding the river here navigable, they hollowed hol-lowed logs with tire, and pun basing from the Indians as many dogs (for food) as they could carry, the explorers ret sail down the KoosLios-kee KoosLios-kee or Clearwater river On October 16 they reached the mouth of the Snake river and tloated out Into the Columbia. Their journey on these westward flowing water? hid beer a strenuous one. Repeatedly their canoes were upset In the whirlpools or crashed Into rocks. Much of their baggage was lost. With virtually nothing to eat except dog meat and ihe root. which Sakakawea taught them were edible, they were hungry and weary and lacking In .early everything but a strong resolution to go on. s. they sailed on down the Columbia and on November 7 their courage was rewarded. 'Sot on that date they first caught sight of the I'acltic "that ocean, the object of all our labors; the reward of all our anxieties. This cheecing view exhilarated the spirits of the party who were still more delighted on hearing the distant roar of breal ers." They had been gone from St. Louis more than 18 months, they had covered by land and by water, through perils of every description, more than 4,000 miles. After, spending the winter In a rude fortification fortifica-tion named Fort Clatsop Miey 6et out on March r, 1800, to retrace their steps eastward. The Journey Jour-ney tvhlch had taken then 18 months to complete took them six months to return. On September 23 they arrived at St. Louts fo receive the congratulations congratu-lations of their fellow Americans and to find their names permanently enrolled among the great adventurers ad-venturers of the world. ( by Weatorn Newspaper Union.) In the fall of 1803 Captain Lewis went to the "mouth of Wood river near St. Louis and there on the soil of Illinois established headquarters arid began raising his force of picked men. The p..rty was to number 4." men and duri. g all that winter the young commander "hardened the men to rigid v discipline, superintended the building of boats and the making of arms, accouterments, scientific apparatus and all equipments." On May 14, 1804, the expedition set out In three boats up the Missouri. At the prow of the main boat, a bateau 55 feet lor.g, manned by 22 oars, floated the American Hag. Th other boats were open pirogues with about six oars each. Horses .were led along the bank by members of the party for daily use of the iunterf and for emergencies If attacked by ndlans. On May 22 the explorers had their first contact with the Indians, a party of Klckapoos, who gave them four deer on Good Man's river." It was not nntll more than a month later June 20 that they reached the present site of Kansas City 43 dayp In crossing the state of Missouri, a Journey w'dch can no. he made overnight. over-night. Here the explorers held i council with the Kansas Indians and here for the first time they saw buffalo. On July 21 they rea bed the mouth of the Platte river and their dangers cegan. Heretofore the Indians whom they had. met were friendly, but the tribes wh . livedi beyond this point were an unknown quantity. As' a pari of their duty," as outlined by Jefferson. th-y next dispatched messengers mes-sengers with gifts to tl I'awnee and Otoe villages vil-lages to the west, inviting the chiefs to a council coun-cil on a bluff on the present site of Calhoun. Neb., called Council Bluff (not Council Bluffs, Iowh). The council was held on August 3 and after giving the chiefs gifts of various sorts received their assurance of a friendly -attiiude toward the whites. The only dea..i in the party during the entire expedition took place at this time that of Sergt. Charles Floyd, who wis buried on the lop of a bluff which still bears his name, a short distance below Sioux City. Iowa The explorers wen. how coining to the territory terri-tory of the Sioux, Indianp not ; for their ferocity and treachery. Howev - Lewis and Clark held successful councils with the Yaiton Sioux on August 30 and with the Teions on September 21. Within the next month Hvy had reached the country of the ArlkariiS. Mandans and Mlnne-tares. Mlnne-tares. Here they decided lo spend the winter, and near the present situ of Bismarck. N. )., ihey established a post which the called Fort Mandan. By this time they had come l.0(K) miles and during dur-ing their Journey they had kept records of all they had seen. During the winter they worked on their report 8, the first written records of this region re-gion that had ;ver been made, and when spring opened the next year a detu hment of 14 men as chosen to carry this report back to President Jefferson. On April 7 the paity left Fort Mandan, having built new canoes and laid up a large supply sup-ply of provisions, ma.nly pemmlcan. the dried meat of buffalo. The party now numbered 82. occupying six canoes and two pirogues. The canoes were made from green cottonwood, the only material available and although It was scarcely suitable for the purpose yet it Is a part of Lewis and Clarke's brilliant achievement that they traversed over 1,000 miles of the roughest water of the Missouri in such makeshift craft as these. |