Up to this time, the expedition had passed through regions from
which vague reports had been brought by the few white men who,
as hunters and trappers in pursuit of fur-bearing game,
had dared to venture into these trackless wildernesses.
Now they were to launch out into the mysterious unknown,
from which absolutely no tidings had ever been brought by white men.
The dim reports of Indians who had hunted through some parts
of the region were unreliable, and, as they afterwards proved,
were often as absurdly false as if they had been fairy tales.
Here, too, they parted from some of their comrades who were to return
to "the United States," as the explorers fondly termed their native country,
although the strange lands through which they were voyaging were now a part
of the American Republic. The despatches sent to Washington by these men
contained the first official report from Lewis and Clark since their departure
from St. Louis, May 16, 1803; and they were the last word from the explorers
until their return in September, 1806. During all that long interval,
the adventurers were not heard of in the States. No wonder that croakers
declared that the little party had been cut off to perish miserably
in the pathless woods that cover the heart of the continent.
But they set out on the long journey with light hearts.
In his journal, whose spelling and punctuation are not always
models for the faithful imitation of school-boys, Captain Lewis
set down this observation: -
"Our vessels consisted of six small canoes, and two large perogues.
This little fleet altho' not quite so rispectable as those of Columbus
or Capt. Cook, were still viewed by us with as much pleasure as
those deservedly famed adventurers ever beheld theirs; and I dare
say with quite as much anxiety for their safety and preservation.
we were now about to penetrate a country at least two thousand miles
in width, on which the foot of civilized man had never trodden;
the good or evil it had in store for us was for experiment yet
to determine, and these little vessells contained every article
by which we were to expect to subsist or defend ourselves.
however as the state of mind in which we are, generally gives the colouring
to events, when the immagination is suffered to wander into futurity,
the picture which now presented itself to me was a most pleasing one.
entertaing as I do the most confident hope of succeeding in a voyage
which had formed a darling project of mine for the last ten years,
I could but esteem this moment of our departure as among the most happy
of my life."
The barge sent down the river to St. Louis was in command
of Corporal Wharfington; and with him were six private soldiers,
two French voyageurs, Joseph Gravelines (pilot and interpreter),
and Brave Raven, a Ricara (or Arikara) chief who was to be
escorted to Washington to visit the President.
