First Across the Continent, by Noah Brooks
by
Noah Brooks
Part 6 out of 6
he [this Indian] had in his possession a knife which he had stolen.
Captain Clark therefore told the chief of this theft, and ordered
the knife to be given up. This was done with a poor apology for having
it in his possession, and Captain Clark then reproached the chiefs
for wishing to send such a fellow to see and hear so distinguished
a person as their Great Father. They all hung down their heads
for some time, till Black Cat apologized by saying that the danger
was such that they were afraid of sending any one of their chiefs,
as they considered his loss almost inevitable."
Although there was so much reluctance on the part of the Indians
to leave their roving life, even for a few months, there were
some white men among the explorers who were willing to give up
their home in "the States." The journal says:--
"In the evening Colter applied to us for permission to join the two
trappers who had accompanied us, and who now proposed an expedition
up the river, in which they were to find traps and to give him
a share of the profits. The offer was a very advantageous one;
and as he had always performed his duty, and his services could
be dispensed with, we consented to his going upon condition
that none of the rest were to ask or expect a similar indulgence.
To this they all cheerfully assented, saying that they wished
Colter every success, and would not apply for liberty to separate
before we reached St. Louis. We therefore supplied him, as did
his comrades also, with powder and lead, and a variety of articles
which might be useful to him, and he left us the next day.
The example of this man shows how easily men may be weaned
from the habits of civilized life to the ruder, though scarcely
less fascinating, manners of the woods. This hunter had now been
absent for many years from the frontiers, and might naturally
be presumed to have some anxiety, or at least curiosity,
to return to his friends and his country; yet, just at the moment
when he was approaching the frontiers, he was tempted by a hunting
scheme to give up all those delightful prospects, and to go back
without the least reluctance to the solitude of the wilds."
The two captains learned here that the Minnetarees had sent out
a war-party against the Shoshonees, very soon after the white men's
expedition had left for the Rocky Mountains, notwithstanding their
promise to keep peace with the surrounding tribes. They had also
sent a war-party against the Ricaras, two of whom they killed.
Accordingly, the white chiefs had a powwow with the Indian chiefs,
at which the journal says these incidents occurred:--
"We took this opportunity of endeavoring to engage Le Borgne
in our interests by a present of the swivel, which is no longer
serviceable, as it cannot be discharged from our largest pirogue.
It was loaded; and the chiefs being formed into a circle
round it, Captain Clark addressed them with great ceremony.
He said that he had listened with much attention to what had
yesterday been declared by Le Borgne, whom he believed to be sincere,
and then reproached them with their disregard of our counsels,
and their wars on the Shoshonees and Ricaras. Little Cherry,
the old Minnetaree chief, answered that they had long stayed at home
and listened to our advice, but at last went to war against the Sioux
because their horses had been stolen and their companions killed;
and that in an expedition against those people they met the Ricaras,
who were on their way to strike them, and a battle ensued.
But in future he said they would attend to our words and live
at peace. Le Borgne added that his ears would always be open
to the words of his Good Father, and shut against bad counsel.
Captain Clark then presented to Le Borgne the swivel, which he told
him had announced the words of his Great Father to all the nations
we had seen, and which, whenever it was fired, should recall
those which we had delivered to him. The gun was discharged,
and Le Borgne had it conveyed in great pomp to his village.
The council then adjourned."
After much diplomacy and underhand scheming, one of the Mandan chiefs,
Big White, agreed to go to Washington with the expedition.
But none of the Minnetarees could be prevailed upon to leave
their tribe, even for a journey to the Great Father,
of whose power and might so much had been told them.
The journal, narrating this fact, says further:--
"The principal chiefs of the Minnetarees now came down to bid
us farewell, as none of them could be prevailed on to go with us.
This circumstance induced our interpreter, Chaboneau, to remain
here with his wife and child, as he could no longer be of use to us,
and, although we offered to take him with us to the United States,
he declined, saying that there he had no acquaintance,
and no chance of making a livelihood, and preferred remaining
among the Indians. This man had been very serviceable to us,
and his wife was particularly useful among the Shoshonees:
indeed, she had borne with a patience truly admirable the fatigues
of so long a route, encumbered with the charge of an infant,
who was then only nineteen months old. We therefore paid him
his wages, amounting to five hundred dollars and thirty-three cents,
including the price of a horse and a lodge purchased of him,
and soon afterward dropped down to the village of Big White,
attended on shore by all the Indian chiefs, who had come to take
leave of him.
"We found him surrounded by his friends, who sat in a circle smoking,
while the women were crying. He immediately sent his wife and son,
with their baggage, on board, accompanied by the interpreter
and his wife, and two children; and then, after distributing
among his friends some powder and ball which we had given him,
and smoking a pipe, he went with us to the river side.
The whole village crowded about us, and many of the people wept
aloud at the departure of their chief."
Once more embarked, the party soon reached Fort Mandan,
where they had wintered in 1804. They found very little of their
old stronghold left except a few pickets and one of the houses.
The rest had been destroyed by an accidental fire.
Eighteen miles below, they camped near an old Ricara village,
and next day, as they were about to resume their voyage,
a brother of Big White, whose camp was farther inland,
came running down to the beach to bid Big White farewell.
The parting of the two brothers was very affectionate, and the elder
gave the younger a pair of leggings as a farewell present.
The Indian chief was satisfied with his treatment by the whites,
and interested himself to tell them traditions of localities
which they passed. August 20 they were below the mouth
of Cannon-ball River, and were in the country occupied
and claimed by the Sioux. Here, if anywhere, they must be
prepared for attacks from hostile Indians. At this point,
the journal sets forth this interesting observation:--
"Since we passed in 1804, a very obvious change has taken place
in the current and appearance of the Missouri. In places where at
that time there were sandbars, the current of the river now passes,
and the former channel of the river is in turn a bank of sand.
Sandbars then naked are now covered with willows several feet high;
the entrance of some of the creeks and rivers has changed in consequence
of the quantity of mud thrown into them; and in some of the bottoms
are layers of mud eight inches in depth."
The streams that flow into the Missouri and Mississippi from the westward
are notoriously fickle and changeable. Within a very few years,
some of them have changed their course so that farms are divided
into two parts, or are nearly wiped out by the wandering streams.
In at least one instance, artful men have tried to steal part of a State
by changing the boundary line along the bed of the river, making the stream
flow many miles across a tract around which it formerly meandered.
On this boundary line between the Sioux and their upper neighbors, the party
met a band of Cheyennes and another of Ricaras, or Arikaras. They held
a palaver with these Indians and reproached the Ricara chief, who was
called Gray-eyes, with having engaged in hostilities with the Sioux,
notwithstanding the promises made when the white men were here before.
To this Gray-eyes made an animated reply:--
"He declared that the Ricaras were willing to follow the counsels
we had given them, but a few of their bad young men would not live
in peace, but had joined the Sioux and thus embroiled them with
the Mandans. These young men had, however, been driven out of the villages,
and as the Ricaras were now separated from the Sioux, who were a bad people
and the cause of all their misfortunes, they now desired to be at peace
with the Mandans, and would receive them with kindness and friendship.
Several of the chiefs, he said, were desirous of visiting their Great Father;
but as the chief who went to the United States last summer had not returned,
and they had some fears for his safety, on account of the Sioux, they did
not wish to leave home until they heard of him. With regard to himself,
he would continue with his nation, to see that they followed our advice.
. . . . . . . . .
"After smoking for some time, Captain Clark gave a small medal to
the Chayenne chief, and explained at the same time the meaning of it.
He seemed alarmed at this present, and sent for a robe and a quantity
of buffalo-meat, which he gave to Captain Clark, and requested him to take
back the medal; for he knew that all white people were `medicine,'
and was afraid of the medal, or of anything else which the white
people gave to the Indians. Captain Clark then repeated his intention
in giving the medal, which was the medicine his great father had
directed him to deliver to all chiefs who listened to his word and.
followed his counsels; and that as he [the chief] had done so,
the medal was given as a proof that we believed him sincere.
He now appeared satisfied and received the medal, in return for which
he gave double the quantity of buffalo-meat he had offered before.
He seemed now quite reconciled to the whites, and requested that some
traders might be sent among the Chayennes, who lived, he said, in a
country full of beaver, but did not understand well how to catch them,
and were discouraged from it by having no sale for them when caught.
Captain Clark promised that they should be soon supplied with goods
and taught the best mode of catching beaver.
"Big White, the chief of the Mandans, now addressed them at some length,
explaining the pacific intentions of his nation; the Chayennes
observed that both the Ricaras and Mandans seemed to be in fault;
but at the end of the council the Mandan chief was treated with
great civility, and the greatest harmony prevailed among them.
The great chief, however, informed us that none of the Ricaras could
be prevailed on to go with us till the return of the other chief;
and that the Chayennes were a wild people, afraid to go.
He invited Captain Clark to his house, and gave him two carrots
of tobacco, two beaver-skins, and a trencher of boiled corn and beans.
It is the custom of all the nations on the Missouri to offer to every
white man food and refreshment when he first enters their tents."
Resuming their voyage, the party reached Tyler's River, where they camped,
on the twenty-seventh of August. This stream is now known as Medicine River,
from Medicine Hill, a conspicuous landmark rising at a little distance
from the Missouri. The voyagers were now near the lower portion of what
is now known as South Dakota, and they camped in territory embraced
in the county of Presho. Here they were forced to send out their hunters;
their stock of meat was nearly exhausted. The hunters returned empty-handed.
"After a hunt of three hours they reported that no game was to be found
in the bottoms, the grass having been laid flat by the immense number
of buffaloes which recently passed over it; and, that they saw only a few
buffalo bulls, which they did not kill, as they were quite unfit for use.
Near this place we observed, however, the first signs of the wild turkey;
not long afterward we landed in the Big Bend, and killed a fine fat elk,
on which we feasted. Toward night we heard the bellowing of buffalo bulls
on the lower island of the Big Bend. We pursued this agreeable sound,
and after killing some of the cows, camped on the island, forty-five miles
from the camp of last night." . . . . . . . . .
"Setting out at ten o'clock the next morning, at a short distance they passed
the mouth of White River, the water of which was nearly of the color of milk.
As they were much occupied with hunting, they made but twenty miles.
The buffalo," says the journal, "were now so numerous, that from an
eminence we discovered more than we had ever seen before at one time;
and though it was impossible accurately to calculate their number,
they darkened the whole plain, and could not have been, we were convinced,
less than twenty thousand. With regard to game in general, we have observed
that wild animals are usually found in the greatest numbers in the country
lying between two nations at war."
They were now well into the Sioux territory, and on the thirtieth
of August they had an encounter with a party of Indians. About twenty
persons were seen on the west side of the river, proceeding along a height
opposite the voyagers. Just as these were observed, another band,
numbering eighty or ninety, came out of the woods nearer the shore.
As they had a hostile appearance, the party in the canoes made preparations
to receive them; they were suspected to be Teton-Sioux, although they
might be Yanktons, Pawnees, or Omahas. The journal adds:--
"In order, however, to ascertain who they were, without risk
to the party, Captain Clark crossed, with three persons
who could speak different Indian languages, to a sand-bar
near the opposite side, in hopes of conversing with them.
Eight young men soon met him on the sand-bar, but none of them could
understand either the Pawnee or Maha interpreter. They were then
addressed in the Sioux language, and answered that they were Tetons,
of the band headed by Black Buffaloe, Tahtackasabah. This was
the same who had attempted to stop us in 1804; and being
now less anxious about offending so mischievous a tribe,
Captain Clark told them that they had been deaf to our councils,
had ill-treated us two years ago, and had abused all the whites
who had since visited them. He believed them, he added, to be
bad people, and they must therefore return to their companions;
for if they crossed over to our camp we would put them to death.
They asked for some corn, which Captain Clark refused;
they then requested permission to come and visit our camp,
but he ordered them back to their own people. He then returned,
and all our arms were prepared, in case of an attack; but when
the Indians reached their comrades, and informed their chiefs
of our intention, they all set out on their way to their own camp;
though some of them halted on a rising ground and abused us
very copiously, threatening to kill us if we came across.
We took no notice of this for some time, till the return of three
of our hunters, whom we were afraid the Indians might have met.
But as soon as they joined us we embarked; and to see what
the Indians would attempt, steered near their side of the river.
At this the party on the hill seemed agitated; some set out
for their camp, others walked about, and one man walked toward
the boats and invited us to land. As he came near, we recognized
him to be the same who had accompanied us for two days in 1804,
and was considered a friend of the whites.
"Unwilling, however, to have any intercourse with these people,
we declined his invitation, upon which he returned to the hill,
and struck the earth three times with his gun, a great oath among
the Indians, who consider swearing by the earth as one of the most
solemn forms of imprecation. At the distance of six miles we
stopped on a bleak sand-bar, where we thought ourselves secure from
any attack during the night, and also safe from the mosquitoes.
We had made but twenty-two miles, but in the course of the day
had killed a mule-deer, an animal we were very anxious to obtain.
About eleven in the evening the wind shifted to the northwest,
and it began to rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning,
after which the wind changed to the southwest, and blew with such
violence that we were obliged to hold fast the canoes, for fear
of their being driven from the sand-bar: still, the cables of two
of them broke, and two others were blown quite across the river;
nor was it till two o'clock that the whole party were reassembled,
waiting in the rain for daylight."
The party now began to meet white men in small detachments
coming up the river. On the third of September, for example,
they met the first men who were able to give them news of home.
This party was commanded by a Mr. James Airs (or Ayres), from Mackinaw,
by the way of Prairie du Chien and St. Louis. He had two canoes
loaded with merchandise which he was taking up the river to trade
with the Indians. Among the items of news gathered from him,
according to the private journal of one of the Lewis and Clark party,
was that General James Wilkinson was now Governor of Louisiana Territory,
and was stationed at St. Louis. This is the Wilkinson who fought
in the American Revolution, and was subsequently to this time accused
of accepting bribes from Spain and of complicity with Aaron Burr
in his treasonable schemes. Another item was to this effect:
"Mr. Burr & Genl. Hambleton fought a Duel, the latter was killed."
This brief statement refers to the unhappy duel between Aaron Burr
and Alexander Hamilton, at Weehawken, New Jersey, July 11, 1804.
This interesting entry shows with what feelings the long-absent
explorers met Mr. Airs:--
"After so long an interval, the sight of anyone who could give us
information of our country was peculiarly delightful, and much of
the night was spent in making inquiries into what had occurred during
our absence. We found Mr. Airs a very friendly and liberal gentleman;
when we proposed to him to purchase a small quantity of tobacco,
to be paid for in St. Louis, he very readily furnished every
man of the party with as much as he could use during the rest
of the voyage, and insisted on our accepting a barrel of flour.
This last we found very agreeable, although we have still a little
flour which we had deposited at the mouth of Maria's River. We could
give in return only about six bushels of corn, which was all that
we could spare."
Three days later, the voyagers met a trading-boat belonging
to Mr. Augustus Chouteau, the founder of a famous trading-house in
St. Louis. From this party the captains procured a gallon of whiskey,
and with this they served out a dram to each of their men.
"This," says the journal, "is the first spirituous liquor any of them
have tasted since the Fourth of July, 1805." From this time forward,
the returning explorers met trading parties nearly every day;
and this showed that trade was following the flag far up into
the hitherto unexplored regions of the American continent.
The explorers, hungry for news from home, would have tarried and
talked longer with their new-found friends, but they were anxious
to get down to civilization once more. Their journal also says:
"The Indians, particularly the squaws and children, are weary of the
long journey, and we are desirous of seeing our country and friends."
This quotation from the journal gives us our first intimation that any
Indians accompanied Big White to the United States. He appears to have
had a small retinue of followers men, women, and children--with him.
Below the mouth of the Platte, September 12, Lewis and Clark
met Gravelines, the interpreter who was sent to Washington from
Fort Mandan, in 1805, with despatches, natural history specimens,
and a Ricara chief. The chief had unfortunately died in Washington,
and Gravelines was now on his way to the Ricaras with a speech from
President Jefferson and the presents that had been given to the chief.
He also had instructions to teach the Ricaras in agriculture.
It is interesting to note how that the explorers, now tolerably
well acquainted with the Indian character since their long
experience with the red men, had adopted a very different bearing
from that which they had when coming up the river, in 1805.
Here is an extract from their journal, September 14:--
"We resumed our journey. This being a part of the river to
which the Kansas resort, in order to rob the boats of traders,
we held ourselves in readiness to fire upon any Indians who
should offer us the slightest indignity; as we no longer needed
their friendship, and found that a tone of firmness and decision
is the best possible method of making proper impressions on
these freebooters. However, we did not encounter any of them;
but just below the old Kansas village met three trading-boats
from St. Louis, on their way to the Yanktons and Mahas."
Thirty miles below the island of Little Osage village, the party
met Captain McClellan, formerly of the United States army.
He informed Captain Lewis that the party had been given up
for lost, people generally believing that they would never again
be heard from; but, according to the journal of one of the party,
"The President of the U. States yet had hopes of us."
The last news received in "the U. States" from the explorers
was that sent from Fort Mandan, by Gravelines, in 1805.
Scarcity of provisions once more disturbed the party, so that,
on the eighteenth of September, the journal sets forth the fact
that game was very scarce and nothing was seen by the hunters
but a bear and three turkeys, which they were unable to reach.
The men, however, were perfectly satisfied, although they
were allowed only one biscuit per day. An abundance of
pawpaws growing along the banks sufficed as nutritious food.
The pawpaw is native to many of the Western States of
the Republic. It is a fruit three or four inches long,
growing on a small tree, or bush. The fruit is sweet and juicy
and has several bean-shaped seeds embedded in the pulp.
The voyagers now began to see signs of civilization on the banks
of the river. Near the mouth of the Gasconade, above St. Louis,
they beheld cows grazing in the meadows. The journal says:
"The whole party almost involuntarily raised a shout of joy
at seeing this image of civilization and domestic life."
Men who have been wandering in pathless wildernesses,
remote from man, for more than two years, might well be
moved by the sights of a homelike farm and a settled life.
Soon after this the party reached the little French village
of La Charette which they saluted with four guns and three
hearty cheers. Then, according to the journal, they landed and
were warmly received by the people, who had long since abandoned
all hope of ever seeing these far-voyaging adventurers return.
Here are the last entries in the journal that has been our guide
so long across the continent and back again to the haunts of men:--
"Sunday, September 21st, we proceeded; and as several
settlements have been made during our absence, we were
refreshed with the sight of men and cattle along the banks.
We also passed twelve canoes of Kickapoo Indians, going on
a hunting-excursion. At length, after coming forty-eight miles,
we saluted, with heartfelt satisfaction, the village of
St. Charles, and on landing were treated with the greatest
hospitality and kindness by all the inhabitants of that place.
Their civility detained us till ten o'clock the next morning,
"September 22d, when the rain having ceased, we set out for Coldwater Creek,
about three miles from the mouth of the Missouri, where we found a cantonment
of troops of the United States, with whom we passed the day; and then,
"September 23d, descended to the Mississippi, and round to St. Louis,
where we arrived at twelve o'clock; and having fired a salute,
went on shore and received the heartiest and most hospitable welcome
from the whole village."
The two captains were very busily employed, as soon as they arrived
in St. Louis, with writing letters to their friends and to the officers
of the government who were concerned to know of their safe return
to civilization. Captain Lewis' letter to the President of the
United States, announcing his arrival, was dated Sept. 23, 1806.
President Jefferson's reply was dated October 20 of that year.
In his letter the President expressed his "unspeakable joy"
at the safe return of the expedition. He said that the unknown scenes
in which they had been engaged and the length of time during which no
tidings had been received from them "had begun to be felt awfully."
It may seem strange to modern readers familiar with the means
for rapid travel and communication that no news from the explorers,
later than that which they sent from the Mandan country, was received
in the United States until their return, two years and four months later.
But mail facilities were very scanty in those far-off days,
even in the settled portions of the Mississippi Valley, and few
traders had then penetrated to those portions of the Lower Missouri
that had just been travelled by Lewis and Clark. As we have seen,
white men were regarded with awe and curiosity by the natives
of the regions which the explorers traversed in their long absence.
The first post-office in what is now the great city of St. Louis
was not established until 1808; mails between the Atlantic seaboard
and that "village" required six weeks to pass either way.
The two captains went to Washington early in the year following their
arrival in St. Louis. There is extant a letter from Captain Lewis,
dated at Washington, Feb. 11, 1807. Congress was then in session, and,
agreeably to the promises that had been held out to the explorers,
the Secretary of War (General Henry Dearborn), secured from that body
the passage of an act granting to each member of the expedition
a considerable tract of land from the public domain. To each
private and non-commissioned officer was given three hundred acres;
to Captain Clark, one thousand acres, and to Captain Lewis fifteen
hundred acres. In addition to this, the two officers were given
double pay for their services during the time of their absence.
Captain Lewis magnanimously objected to receiving more land for his
services than that given to Captain Clark.
Captain Lewis resigned from the army, March 2, 1807, having been
nominated to be Governor of Louisiana Territory a few days before.
His commission as Governor was dated March 3 of that year.
He was thus made the Governor of all the territory of the United States
west of the Mississippi River. About the same time, Captain Clark
was appointed a general of the territorial militia and Indian agent
for that department.
Originally, the territory acquired from France was divided into the District
of New Orleans and the District of Louisiana, the first-named being
the lower portion of the territory and bounded on the north by a line
which now represents the northern boundary of the State of Louisiana;
and all above that line was known as the District of Louisiana. In 1812,
the upper part, or Louisiana, was named the Territory of Missouri,
and Captain Clark (otherwise General), was appointed Governor of
the Territory, July 1, 1813, his old friend and comrade having died
a few years earlier.
The end of Captain (otherwise Governor) Lewis was tragical and was
shadowed by a cloud. Official business calling him to Washington,
he left St. Louis early in September, 1809, and prosecuted his
journey eastward through Tennessee, by the way of Chickasaw Bluffs,
now Memphis, of that State. There is a mystery around his last days.
On the eleventh of October, he stopped at a wayside log-inn,
and that night he died a violent death, whether by his
own hand or by that of a murderer, no living man knows.
There were many contradictory stories about the sad affair,
some persons holding to the one theory and some to the other.
He was buried where he died, in the centre of what is now
Lewis County, Tennessee. In 1848, the State of Tennessee erected
over the last resting-place of Lewis a handsome monument,
the inscriptions on which duly set forth his many virtues
and his distinguished services to his country.
The story of the expedition of Lewis and Clark is the foundation of
the history of the great Northwest and the Missouri Valley. These men
and their devoted band of followers were the first to break into
the world-old solitudes of the heart of the continent and to explore
the mountain fastnesses in which the mighty Columbia has its birth.
Following in their footsteps, the hardy American emigrant,
trader, adventurer, and home-seeker penetrated the wilderness, and,
building better than they knew, laid the foundations of populous and
thriving States. Peaceful farms and noble cities, towns and villages,
thrilling with the hum of modern industry and activity,
are spread over the vast spaces through which the explorers threaded
their toilsome trail, amid incredible privations and hardships,
showing the way westward across the boundless continent which is ours.
Let the names of those two men long be held in grateful honor
by the American people!
Index {RAW OCR OUTPUT BELOW:}
A
Alkali, natural deposits of, 60. Antelope, first seen, 29;
how hunted, 69. Assiniboins, at war with Sioux, 49,
B
Beaver, hunted as game, 70, Beaver Head, 143. Big Dry River, 75.
Bismarck, N. D., 44. Bitter Root Mountains, 147. Black Cat,
a Mandan chief, 342. Boone, Daniel, 14. Buffalo, first signs of,
16; hunt, 51; curious adventure with, 87; extermination of, 338.
C
Caches, how built, 98. Calumet bird, 43. Camas, edible root, 179.
Cameahwait, a Shoshonee chief, 157, Camp, first winter, 48;
departure from, 57. Candle-fish, 252. Cannonball River, N. D-, 43.
Captain Cook, 3. Captain Gray, 3. Captain Vancouver, 3.
Carroll, Mont., 83. Carver, Jonathan, 5. Cascades of
the Columbia, 262. Cathedral Rocks, 90-92. Cheyenne River, 40.
Chinook Indians, 208; some account of, 246. Chouteau, a St. Louis
trader, 355. Christmas (1804), 52; (1805), 240-
Clark, Captain, biographical notice Of, 7; general of militia, 359.
Clark's Fort, 48; river, 180-63; party overtaken by disaster, 142.
Clatsop Indians, some account Of, 248. Clearwater River, 183.
Cloudburst, 116. Columbia River, discovery Of, 4; portage to, 108;
at the headwaters of, 148; at the entrance to, 194; great falls of, 202;
the great chute Of, 215 et seq. Comowol, a Columbia River Indian
chief, 239. Condor, a California variety, 256. Council Bluffs, 19.
Cowas, an edible root, 278. Coyote, described, 72. Crow Indians, 24.
D Dalles, the, 266. Dearborn River, 130. Divide, on the great, 148;
across the, 179. Dog's flesh as an article of food, 24, 185-
E
Echeloot Indians, 210. Elk, hunting of, 251. Ermine, first seen, 49.
Expedition, Lewis and Clark's, 7; Organization of, 8; route of, 10;
sets sail, 14. "Experiment," failure of the boat, 124
F
Falls of the Missouri, 101; description of, 111 et seq.
Flathead Indians, 211. Floyd's River, why so named, 23, Forks of
the Missouri, 135. Fort Clark, 48; Clatsop, 255.
G
Gallatin's fork of the Missouri, 135. Gates of the Rocky Mountains, 132.
Goose-nests in trees, 61. gray, Capt., discoverer of the Columbia, 3.
Grizzly bear, first seen, 40; thrilling encounters with, 72, 76,
77, 105) 115, 315-
H
Horse-flesh eaten by the expedition, 77. Hungry Creek, 178, 303-
1
Independence Day, celebration of (1805), 123; (180(i), 327.
Iowa Indians, 16. Islands, White Bear, 110.
J
Jefferson, President Thomas, 2-4; his letters to Capt. Lewis, 12; presents to,
from Lewis and Clark, 55; welcome to Capt. Lewis on return, 358; name given
to fork of the Missouri, 135. John Day's River, 203-
K
Klikitat River, 214, Kooskooskee River, 180.
L
Lewis, Capt., biographical notice of, 6, 7; accidentally wounded, 341;
announces his return, 358; Governor of Louisiana Territory, 359;
his tragical death, 360. Lewis and Clark, pursue separate routes across
the Divide, 140; also on their return, 310, Lewis's River, 165.
Lewiston, Idaho, 185. Ledyard, John, 4. Lemhi River, 152.
Little Devils, hill Of, 23. Louisiana Purchase, the, 1-2;
divided into two territories, 360.
M
Madison, fork of the Missouri, 135. Mandan Indians, 46 et seq.;
religion of, 50. Maria's River, 97. Medicine River, 106.
Meriwether's Bay, 234. Milk River, 74. Minnetarees, at war
with Sioux, 49; expedition has an encounter with, 318 et seq,
Missouri River, Little, 60. Missouri, the Upper, So; great falls of, 101;
forks of, 135; at the headwaters Of, 147. Mosquitoes, the great
plague of, 126, 339. Mount St. Helen's, 198; Hood, 203.
Mouse River, source of, 60. Multnomah (Willamette) River, 221, 259.
Musselshell River, 81.
N
Nez Perce Indians (Chopunnish), 180; some account of the, 186.
Noises, mysterious, 122.
0
Osage Indians, traditions of, 15. Ottoes, council with, 20.
P
Pacific Ocean, first sight of the, 225. Pawpaw fruit, 357. Pemmican, 33.
Platte River as a boundary, 17, Porcupine River, 70. Prairie dog, 29.
Q Quamash flats, 302. Quicksand River, 220.
R
Rat, peculiar variety of, 121. Rickarees, in the country
of the, 40. River, Little Missouri, to; Mouse, source of, 60;
Yellowstone, 65; Porcupine, 70; Saskatchewan, 74; Milk, 74;
Big Dry, 75; Upper Missouri, 80; Musselshell, 81; Slaughter, 88;
Maria's, 97; Madison, 106; Columbia, portage to, 108; Smith's, 129;
Dearborn, 130; Salmon, 152; Lemhi, 152; Lewis's, 165; Kooskooskee, 180;
Clark's, 180; Clearwater, 183; Snake, 188; Yakima, 196; John Day'S, 203;
Klikitat, 214 Quicksand, 220; Multnomah. 220. Rocky Mountains,
first sight of, 85; sheep, 85; gates of the, 132; farewell to
the mountains, 335. Rocks, Cathedral, 90-92.
S
St. Louis, village of, 11; first post-office in, 359.
Sacajawea, joins the expedition, 48 stream named for her, 82;
story of her capture, 138; finds her own people, 160; a tribute to
her memory, 332. Sage-brush, first seen, 62. Saline County, Mo., 16.
Salmon River, 152; City, Idaho, 165; abundance of fish, 194.
Salt, made from sea-water, 235 et seq. Saskatchewan River, 74.
Shannon, the lost hunter, 143. Shoshonees, first meeting with,
145 among the, 150 et seq.; some account of the, 171 et seq.
Sioux Indians, 27, Slaughter River, 88. Smith's River, 128.
Snake River, 188; junction of the with Columbia, 190.
Sokulk Indians, some account of, 191 et seq. Spirit Mound, 24.
Spring River, S. D-; 42. Stone-Idol Creek, legend Of, 42.
Sweat baths, Indian, 187, 298.
T
Tetons, in the country of, 33-38. Three-thousand-mile Island, 331.
Tillamook Indians, 244. Traveller's-rest Creek, 309.
Twisted-hair, an Indian chief, adventures with, 282 et seq.
U Umatilla, 271-
V
Vancouver, Capt-y 3-
W
Wahkiacum Indians, 224, Walla Walla, 271. Wappatoo, edible root,
230 description of, 260. Weocksockwillacums, 265.
Wharfington, commands return party to the U. S., 58.
White Bear Islands, 110; camp at, 114. Whisky, Indian rejection
of, 42. Winter camp, first, 48; departure from, 57-
Y
Yakima River, 196. Yankton, S. D., 24. Yellowstone River, 65;
Capt. Clark's descent of the, 327. York, a negro servant, 41, 159.
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