They Had Killed Several Buffalo At The Bend Of
The Missouri Above The Falls, Dried About Eight Hundred Pounds Of Meat,
And Got One Hundred Pounds Of Tallow; They Had Also Killed Some Deer,
But Had Seen No Elk."
Under this date, too, Captain Lewis, who was with another branch
of the expedition, makes this note:
"Such as were able to shake
a foot amused themselves in dancing on the green to the music
of the violin which Cruzatte plays extremely well."
The journal continues: -
"We were now occupied [at White Bear camp] in fitting up a boat of skins,
the frame of which had been prepared for the purpose at Harper's Ferry
in Virginia. It was made of iron, thirty-six feet long, four and
one-half feet in the beam, and twenty-six inches wide in the bottom.
Two men had been sent this morning for timber to complete it,
but they could find scarcely any even tolerably straight sticks four
and one-half feet long; and as the cottonwood is too soft and brittle,
we were obliged to use willow and box-elder."
On the twenty-seventh, the main party, which was working on the upper
part of the portage, joined that of Captain Clark at the lower camp,
where a second cache, or place of deposit, had been formed,
and where the boat-swivel was now hidden under the rocks.
The journal says: -
"The party were employed in preparing timber for the boat, except two
who were sent to hunt. About one in the afternoon a cloud arose from
the southwest, and brought with it violent thunder, lightning, and hail.
Soon after it passed, the hunters came in, from about four miles above us.
They had killed nine elk and three bears. As they were hunting on
the river they saw a low ground covered with thick brushwood, where from
the tracks along shore they thought a bear had probably taken refuge.
They therefore landed, without making a noise, and climbed a tree
about twenty feet above the ground. Having fixed themselves securely,
they raised a loud shout, and a bear instantly rushed toward them.
These animals never climb, and therefore when he came to the tree and stopped
to look at them, Drewyer shot him in the head. He proved to be the largest
we had yet seen; his nose appeared to be like that of a common ox;
his fore feet measured nine inches across; the hind feet were seven
inches wide and eleven and three quarters long, exclusive of the talons.
One of these animals came within thirty yards of the camp last night,
and carried off some buffalo-meat which we had placed on a pole."
The party were very much annoyed here by the grizzlies
which infested their camp at night. Their faithful dog
always gave warning of the approach of one of these monsters;
but the men were obliged to sleep with their guns by their side,
ready to repel the enemy at a moment's notice.
Captain Clark finally broke up the camp on Portage Creek, June 28, having
deposited in his cache whatever could be left behind without inconvenience.
"On the following day," the journal says: -
"Finding it impossible to reach the upper end of the portage
with the present load, in consequence of the state of the road
after the rain, he sent back nearly all his party to bring
on the articles which had been left yesterday. Having lost
some notes and remarks which he had made on first ascending
the river, he determined to go up to the Whitebear Islands
along its banks, in order to supply the deficiency.
He there left one man to guard the baggage, and went on to the falls,
accompanied by his servant York, Chaboneau, and his wife
with her young child.
"On his arrival there he observed a very dark cloud rising in the west,
which threatened rain, and looked around for some shelter;
but could find no place where the party would be secure
from being blown into the river, if the wind should prove
as violent as it sometimes does in the plains. At length,
about a quarter of a mile above the falls, he found a deep ravine,
where there were some shelving rocks, under which he took refuge.
They were on the upper side of the ravine near the river,
perfectly safe from the rain, and therefore laid down their guns,
compass, and other articles which they carried with them.
The shower was at first moderate; it then increased
to a heavy rain, the effects of which they did not feel;
but soon after, a torrent of rain and hail descended.
The rain seemed to fall in a solid mass, and instantly,
collecting in the ravine, came rolling down in a dreadful current,
carrying the mud, rocks, and everything that opposed it.
Captain Clark fortunately saw it a moment before it reached them,
and springing up with his gun and shot-pouch in his left hand,
with his right clambered up the steep bluff, pushing on the Indian
woman with her child in her arms; her husband too had seized
her hand and was pulling her tip the hill, but he was so
terrified at the danger that he remained frequently motionless;
and but for Captain Clark, himself and his wife and child would
have been lost. So instantaneous was the rise of the water that,
before Captain Clark had reached his gun and begun to ascend the bank,
the water was up to his waist, and he could scarcely get up
faster than it rose, till it reached the height of fifteen feet,
with a furious current which, had they waited a moment longer,
would have swept them into the river just above the Great Falls,
down which they must inevitably have been precipitated.
They reached the plain in safety and found York, who had
separated from them just before the storm to hunt some buffalo,
and was now returning to find his master.
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