At The Confluence Of The Kooskooskee
And The Snake River They Camped For The Night, Near The Present
Site Of Lewiston, Idaho.
This city, first settled in May, 1861,
and incorporated in 1863, was named for Captain Lewis of our expedition.
From this point the party crossed over into the present State
of Washington.
Of their experience at their camp here the journal says: -
"Our arrival soon attracted the attention of the Indians,
who flocked in all directions to see us. In the evening the Indian
from the falls, whom we had seen at Rugged rapid, joined us with his
son in a small canoe, and insisted on accompanying us to the falls.
Being again reduced to fish and roots, we made an experiment
to vary our food by purchasing a few dogs, and after having been
accustomed to horse-flesh, felt no disrelish for this new dish.
The Chopunnish have great numbers of dogs, which they employ
for domestic purposes, but never eat; and our using the flesh
of that animal soon brought us into ridicule as dog-eaters."
When Fremont and his men crossed the continent to California,
in 1842, they ate the flesh of that species of marmot which we
know as the prairie-dog. Long afterwards, when Fremont was
a candidate for the office of President of the United States,
this fact was recalled to the minds of men, and the famous
explorer was denounced as "a dog-eater."
The journal of the explorers gives this interesting account of the Indians
among whom they now found themselves:
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