"The Indian woman, to whom I ascribe equal fortitude and resolution
with any person on board at the time of the accident, caught and preserved
most of the light articles which were washed overboard."
Chapter IX
In the Solitudes of the Upper Missouri
Under date of May 17, the journal of the party has the
following interesting entries: -
"We set out early and proceeded on very well; the banks being firm and the
shore bold, we were enabled to use the towline, which, whenever the banks will
permit it, is the safest and most expeditious mode of ascending the river,
except under sail with a steady breeze. At the distance of ten and one-half
miles we came to the mouth of a small creek on the south, below which
the hills approach the river, and continue near it during the day.
Three miles further is a large creek on the north; and again, six and
three-quarters miles beyond this, is another large creek, to the south;
both containing a small quantity of running water, of a brackish taste.
The last we called Rattlesnake Creek, from our seeing that animal near it.
Although no timber can be observed on it from the Missouri, it throws out
large quantities of driftwood, among which were some pieces of coal brought
down by the stream. . . . . . . . . .
The game is in great quantities, but the buffalo are not so numerous
as they were some days ago; two rattlesnakes were seen to-day, and one
of them was killed. It resembles those of the Middle Atlantic States,
being about thirty inches long, of a yellowish brown on the back and sides,
variegated with a row of oval dark brown spots lying transversely
on the back from the neck to the tail, and two other rows of circular
spots of the same color on the sides along the edge of the scuta;
there are one hundred and seventy-six scuta on the belly, and seventeen
on the tail."
Two days later, the journal records that one of the party
killed a grizzly bear, "which, though shot through the heart,
ran at his usual pace nearly a quarter of a mile before he fell."
The mouth of the Musselshell River, which was one of the notable
points that marked another stage in the journey, was reached
on the twentieth of May. This stream empties into the Missouri
two thousand two hundred and seventy miles above its mouth,
and is still known by the name given it by its discoverers.
The journal says:
"It is one hundred and ten yards wide, and contains more water
than streams of that size usually do in this country; its current
is by no means rapid, and there is every appearance of its being
susceptible of navigation by canoes for a considerable distance.
Its bed is chiefly formed of coarse sand and gravel, with an
occasional mixture of black mud; the banks are abrupt and nearly
twelve feet high, so that they are secure from being overflowed;
the water is of a greenish-yellow cast, and much more transparent
than that of the Missouri, which itself, though clearer than below,
still retains its whitish hue and a portion of its sediment.
Opposite the point of junction the current of the Missouri is gentle,
and two hundred and twenty-two yards in width; the bed is principally
of mud, the little sand remaining being wholly confined to the points,
and the water is still too deep to use the setting-pole.
"If this be, as we suppose, the Musselshell, our Indian information
is that it rises in the first chain of the Rocky mountains not far
from the sources of the Yellowstone, whence in its course to this
place it waters a high broken country, well timbered, particularly on
its borders, and interspersed with handsome fertile plains and meadows.
We have reason, however, to believe, from their giving a similar
account of the timber where we now are, that the timber of which they
speak is similar to that which we have seen for a few days past,
which consists of nothing more than a few straggling small pines and dwarf
cedars on the summits of the hills, nine-tenths of the ground being
totally destitute of wood, and covered with short grass, aromatic herbs,
and an immense quantity of prickly-pear; though the party who explored
it for eight miles represented the low grounds on the river to be well
supplied with cottonwood of a tolerable size, and of an excellent soil.
They also report that the country is broken and irregular, like that
near our camp; and that about five miles up, a handsome river,
about fifty yards wide, which we named after Chaboneau's wife,
Sacajawea's or the Bird-woman's River, discharges into the Musselshell
on the north or upper side."
Later explorations have shown that the Musselshell rises
in the Little Belt Mountains, considerably to the north of
the sources of the Yellowstone. Modern geography has also taken
from the good Sacajawea the honor of having her name bestowed
on one of the branches of the Musselshell. The stream once
named for her is now known as Crooked Creek: it joins the river
near its mouth, in the central portion of Montana. The journal,
under date of May 22, has this entry: -
"The river [the Missouri] continues about two hundred and fifty
yards wide, with fewer sand-bars, and the current more gentle
and regular. Game is no longer in such abundance since leaving
the Musselshell. We have caught very few fish on this side of
the Mandans, and these were the white catfish, of two to five pounds.
We killed a deer and a bear. We have not seen in this quarter
the black bear, common in the United States and on the lower parts
of the Missouri, nor have we discerned any of their tracks.
They may easily be distinguished by the shortness of the talons
from the brown, grizzly, or white bear, all of which seem to be
of the same species, which assumes those colors at different seasons
of the year.
