This Is The Itinerary That Was Exactly Carried Out.
The Very First Incident Set Forth In The Journal Is A Celebration
Of Independence Day, As Follows:
-
"Friday, July 4. Early in the morning three hunters were
sent out. The rest of the party having collected the horses
and breakfasted, we proceeded at seven o'clock up the valley,
which is now contracted to the width of from eight to ten miles,
with a good proportion of pitch-pine, though its low lands,
as well as the bottoms of the creeks, are strewn with large stones.
We crossed five creeks of different sizes, but of great depth,
and so rapid that in passing the last several of the horses
were driven down the stream, and some of our baggage was wet.
Near this river we saw the tracks of two Indians, whom we supposed
to be Shoshonees. Having made sixteen miles, we halted at an hour
for the purpose of doing honor to the birthday of our early
country's independence. The festival was not very splendid,
for it consisted of a mush made of cows and a saddle of venison;
nor had we anything to tempt us to prolong it. We therefore
went on till at the distance of a mile we came to a very
large creek, which, like all those in the valley, had an immense
rapidity of descent; we therefore proceeded up for some distance,
in order to select the most convenient spot for fording.
Even there, however, such was the violence of the current that,
though the water was not higher than the bellies of the horses,
the resistance made in passing caused the stream to rise over their
backs and loads. After passing the creek we inclined to the left,
and soon after struck the road which we had descended last year,
near the spot where we dined on the 7th of September [1805].
Along this road we continued on the west side of Clark's River,
till at the distance of thirteen miles, during which we passed
three more deep, large creeks, we reached its western branch,
where we camped; and having sent out two hunters, despatched some
men to examine the best ford across the west fork of the river.
The game to-day consisted of four deer; though we also saw a herd
of ibex, or bighorn."
Two days later they were high up among the mountains, although the
ascent was not very steep. At that height they found the weather
very cool, so much so that on the morning of the sixth of July,
after a cold night, they had a heavy white frost on the ground.
Setting out on that day, Captain Clark crossed a ridge which proved
to be the dividing line between the Pacific and the Atlantic watershed.
At the same time he passed from what is now Missoula County, Montana,
into the present county of Beaver Head, in that State. "Beaver Head,"
the reader will recollect, comes from a natural elevation in that
region resembling the head of a beaver.
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