On The Twenty-First, Clark Passed The Junction Of Two Streams, The Salmon
And The Lemhi, Which Is Now The Site Of Salmon City, Idaho.
As Captain Lewis
was the first white man who had seen these waters, Clark gave to the combined
water-course the name of Lewis' River.
The mountains here assumed
a formidable aspect, and the stream was too narrow, rapid, and rock-bound
to admit of navigation. The journal says of Captain Clark: -
He soon began to perceive that the Indian accounts had not
been exaggerated. At the distance of a mile he passed a small creek
[on the right], and the points of four mountains, which were rocky,
and so high that it seemed almost impossible to cross them with horses.
The road lay over the sharp fragments of rocks which had fallen
from the mountains, and were strewed in heaps for miles together;
yet the horses, altogether unshod, travelled across them as fast
as the men, without detaining them a moment. They passed two
bold running streams, and reached the entrance of a small river,
where a few Indian families resided, who had not been previously
acquainted with the arrival of the whites; the guide was behind,
and the woods were so thick that we came upon them unobserved,
till at a very short distance. As soon as they saw us the women
and children fled in great consternation; the men offered us
everything they had - the fish on the scaffolds, the dried berries,
and the collars of elks' tushes worn by the children.
We took only a small quantity of the food, and gave them in return
some small articles which conduced very much to pacify them.
The guide now coming up, explained to them who we were and
the object of our visit, which seemed to relieve their fears;
still a number of the women and children did not recover from
their fright, but cried during our stay, which lasted about an hour.
The guide, whom we found a very intelligent, friendly old man,
informed us that up this river there was a road which led over
the mountains to the Missouri."
To add to their difficulties, game had almost entirely disappeared,
and the abundant fish in the river could not be caught for lack
of proper fishing-tackle.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 163 of 362
Words from 49329 to 49715
of 110166
