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Show 4. -r Jp w-35fl H X . v l-r ' A ' -'V. , . I :nSor2!'aRT Clatsop, mm Astoria, or$Goir F i t 7 ; ' !; & 7 AT"0 ' mf"i .Li VT'f( ,?;- -c S Kansas VWsvf it d fr-UXH f?.---vVx-?-.--T-A---!.. x . V 7 J: Mjm XSe I y:V:;r? 4 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON T WAS Just 125 yours uyo that two young I "W I Allle,'k'"ns renchpd the gonl of a 2,000-I 2,000-I JA- I n'"e tr""-bl"!1,ni5 exp3(ition tliruugb a 1 I vast wilderness and came to the hnlf-I hnlf-I "' ) way tiiaik of what has been aptly called (3S a "maKiiillcent adventure." For It was on Novemlier 7, 1SU0, that Meriwether 1-ewls and WIHiain Clark, captains of lcv "'e "''"8 Knivcs" and the first white j men lo ascend the Missouri river to Its m& source and to descend the Columbia river to the I'a.:iflr ocean, first caught sight of the "Pig Water Toward the Selling Sun" which for so many months had beckoned them on. The story of t lie Lewis and Clark expedition is not only one of the 'reat romances of American history, but it Is an exploring epic o1 all time. In , . . - . the pry days of the American republic, the Mississippi river wns not only the western boundary boun-dary of the new nation, but it was also the "Jumping-off place" Into an unknown almost us mysterious as that which confronted Columbus when he set the sails of his caravels to voyage across the Atlantic. True, a few French traders and venturesome American trappers had gone ug the Mississippi to the co'ir.try of t lie Sioux and llandans and there had aenrd vague tales of the regions beyond from other traders who had ven- tured'soulh or southwesterly from the Canadian empire where the Hritish fur companies reigned. True, in 1702 Capt. Ilohert Gray of the ship Columbia out of Boston had "blundered into the harbor of a vast rive (lowing Into the Pacific" and had called this river after .ds ship. I!ut what lay between the mouth of the Missouri Mis-souri and the mouth of the Columbia was practically practi-cally unknown to the vliile man. They knew vaguely that there was a vast area of grassy plains, but what lay beyond them was not even guessed at. The liocky mountains were not known to exist, all hough under the name of "Stonies," their northern extensions In the part of America lipid by the Hritish, appeared on some maps. But where was that first thin trickle which grew larger and larger as it wound its way south, finally to pour the walers of the "Big Muddy" . into Hie "Father of Waters" above the old French town of St. Louis? No one knew I ' Then NnpUcon Bonapnric, planning another war Willi Giea' Britain, a war in which lie would need a i,roat amount of money, and realizing that the "Mistress of Ihe Seas" could readily seize and hold the vast territory ol Louisiana, France's only (errilory in America, decided upon a double- edged stroke at his hated enemy, lie would sell "i.ouisiana to the Americans. President Thomas Jefferson, holding his ideal of a nation that should lie as broad as ihe continent, a republic under one flag from ocean to ocea.", was quick to see the opportunity. So the Louisiana Purchase, "the biggest real estate deai in history" was made. Napoleon got his Slo.OW.OOO and the infant republic repub-lic doubled lis expanse o' ernight. lOven before the purchase treaty was signed, 'Jefferson was planning the audacious enterprise of exploring the wilder less which lay between the Mississippi and the PacLic. lie had been disturbed dis-turbed by the reports that the Fnglish were planning plan-ning an expedition to study the geography of the western coast and possibly to coloni.e it. In January, Jan-uary, 1S011, he had secured from congress a secret promise to sen.l a party of ten men across what was still French territory to explore the Missouri river "and whatever river, heading with that, runs into the western sea." For the ' "ler of th's -"edition Jefferson had chosen his secretary, red-headed young Meriwether Lewis, a twenty-seven-year-old Virginian who had already made his mark as a soldier under "Mad Anthony" Wayne. Lewis in turn selected another Virginian, his friend William Clark, brother of George ltogers Clark, the conqueror of the old Northwest during the Revolution, as his second in command and substitute commander In case of need. Both were commissioned captains in the regular army. Lewis had alreary begun his preparations prepa-rations for the journey when Louisiana was surrendered sur-rendered to the Americar- commissioner In April, 1SU3 (Pain'n hyPeas) 1$ J In the fall of 1S03 Captain Lewis went to the mouth of Wood river near St. Louis and there on the soil of Illinois established headquarters and began raising his force of picked men. The p..rty was to number 45 men and-duri.g all that winter the young commander "hardened the men to rigid discipline, superintended the building of boats and the making of arms, accouterments, scientific apparatus and all equipments." On May 14, 1S04, 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 flag. Th? other boats were open pirogues with about six oars each. Horses were led along the bank by members of the parly for daily use of the hunters and for emergencies If attacked by indians. On May 22 the explorers had their first contact with the Indians, a party of Kiekapoos, who gave them four deer on Good Man's river. It was not until more than a month later June 2(3 that they reached the present site of Kansas City 43 days in crossing the state of Missouri, a journey waich can nov, he made overnight. over-night. Here the explorers held a council with the Kansas Indians and here for the first time they saw buffalo. On July 21 they reached the mouth of the Platte river und their dangers began. Heretofore the Indians whom they had met were friendly, but t lie tribes wh , lived b"yond this point were an unknown quantity. Ai a part of their duty, as outlined by Jefferson, thy next dispatched messengers mes-sengers witli gifts to the Pawnee 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 Blurt's, Iowa). The council was held on August 3 and after giving the chiefs gifts of various sorts received their assurance of a friendly attitude toward the whites. The only deal.i in t lie party during the entire expedition took place at this time that .of Sergt. Charles Floyd, who w.is buried on the top of a bluff which still hears his name, a short distance below Sioux City, Iowa. The explorers wero now coming to the territory terri-tory of the Sioux, Indians not'. d for their ferocity and treachery. IlowevT. Lewis and Clark held successful councils with the Yankton Sioux on August SO and with the Tetons on September 24. Within the next month thjy had reached the country of the Arikaras, Mandans and Minne-tares. Minne-tares. Here they decided to spend the winter, and near the present site of Bismarck, N. D., they established a post which they called Fort Mandan. By this time they bad come 1,000 miles and during dur-ing their journey they had kept records of all they bad seen. I luring the w inter they worked on their reports, the first written records of this re- . gion that had ever been made, and when spring opened the next year a detachment 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, uia.nly pemmican, the dried meat of buffalo. The party now numbered 32, 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. ?rAm?OF JA&lKAWiA Qby Alice Cooper) 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 guide and interpreter. With this man went his Indian wife, Sakakawea, ,he "P.ird Woman," a captive from the Snake Indians of the Uockies. 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 plains of North Dakota 125 years ago It was Sakakawea who told them of the "shining mountains" wdiich lay beyond and on May, 2G, 1S05, Meriwether Lewis climbed to the top of a high cliff and for the first time a white man looked upon those mountains. The difficulties of the tarty were constantly increasing. The river had become too deep for poles and too swift for paddles, so they were forced to pull the boats upstream vith tow lines. Despite all of the handicaps under which they were laboring the expedition pushed on. On July 19 they entered the "Gaier of the Uockies" and six days 'later Captain Clark discovered the three forks of the Missouri t' which he gave the names of three American statesmen Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin. Continuing on their journey on August 12 they came to a fountain or spring from which icy water wa-ter trickled. This -?as the headwater of the mighty Missouri, one of the goals of their adventuring adven-turing in the wildreness. Three-quarters of a mile further on they found what they described as a "bold creek" running to trie west. It was the Lemhi river, a branch of the Columbia. From now on It was essentially a "down hill" journey, although al-though their further wayfaring was to be in some of the roughest country on" the American continent. conti-nent. Then, too, a new danger suddenly appeared. They came into contact with the Shoshone Indians Indi-ans whose hostile attitudf was changed to friendliness friend-liness when Sakakawea recognized the chief, Cam-eawait, Cam-eawait, as her brother whom she had not seen since she had been stolen from the Snakes (Sho-shoues) (Sho-shoues) 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 Shnshones and continued their .vestard way. Crossing the foothills they reached a village' of Nez Perce Indians who gave them fist and camas root to eat. Finding the river here navigable, they hollowed hol-lowed logs with tire, and purchasing from the Indians as many dogs (for food) as they could carry, the explorers set sail down the Kooskios-kee Kooskios-kee or Clearwater river. On October 10 they reached the mouth of the Snake river and filiated out into the Columbia. Their journey on these westward flowing waters h id beer a strenuous one. Repeatedly their canoes were upset In the whirlpools or crashed into rocks. Much of their baggage was lost. Wilh virtually nothing to eat1 except dog meat and Ihe rools which Sakakawea taught them were edible, they were hungry and weary and lacking in .early everything but a strong resolution to go on. So they sailed on down the Columbia and ou November 7 their courage was rewarded. For on that datr they first caught sight of the Pacific "that ocean, the object of all our labors; the reward of all our anxieties. This cheering view exhilarated the spirits of the party who were still more delighted on hearing the distant roar of breakers." They had been gone from St. Louis more than IS 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 'hey set out ou March n, 1S06, to retrace their steps eastward. The Journey Jour-ney Ahicb had taken ther" 18 months to complete took them six months to return. On September 23 they arrived at St. Louis "o 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 Western Newspaper Union.) |
