There
Was No Covering Over This Fabric, In The Centre Of Which Were The Remains
Of A Large Fire, And
Around it the marks of about eighty leathern lodges.
He also saw a number of turtle-doves, and some pigeons,
Of which he shot one,
differing in no respect from the wild pigeon of the United States.
. . . . . . . . .
The buffalo have not yet quite gone, for the hunters brought in three,
in very good order. It requires some diligence to supply us plentifully,
for as we reserve our parched meal for the Rocky Mountains,
where we do not expect to find much game, our principal article
of food is meat, and the consumption of the whole thirty-two persons
belonging to the party amounts to four deer, an elk and a deer,
or one buffalo, every twenty-four hours. The mosquitoes and gnats
persecute us as violently as below, so that we can get no sleep
unless defended by biers [nets], with which we are all provided.
We here found several plants hitherto unknown to us, of which
we preserved specimens."
On the fourteenth of July, the boats were finally launched,
and next day the journal records this important event:
"We rose early, embarked all our baggage on board the canoes, which,
though eight in number, are heavily loaded, and at ten o'clock
set out on our journey. . . . At the distance of seven and a half
miles we came to the lower point of a woodland, at the entrance
of a beautiful river, which, in honor of the Secretary of the Navy,
we called Smith's River. This stream falls into a bend on
the south side of the Missouri, and is eighty yards wide.
As far as we could discern its course, it wound through a charming
valley towards the southeast, in which many herds of buffalo
were feeding, till, at the distance of twenty-five miles,
it entered the Rocky Mountains and was lost from our view. . . .
"We find the prickly pear, one of the greatest beauties as well
as greatest inconveniences of the plains, now in full bloom.
The sunflower, too, a plant common on every part of the Missouri
from its entrance to this place, is here very abundant, and in bloom.
The lamb's-quarter, wild cucumber, sand-rush, and narrow dock,
are also common."
The journal here records the fact that the great river had now become
so crooked that it was expedient to note only its general course,
leaving out all description of its turns and windings.
The Missouri was now flowing due north, leaving its bends out of account,
and the explorers, ascending the river, were therefore travelling south;
and although the journal sets forth "the north bank" and "the
south bank," it should be understood that west is meant by the one,
and east by the other. Buffalo were observed in great numbers.
Many obstacles to navigating the river were encountered.
Under date of July 17, the journal says:
"The navigation is now very laborious. The river is deep,
but with little current, and from seventy to one hundred yards wide;
the low grounds are very narrow, with but little timber, and that chiefly
the aspen tree. The cliffs are steep, and hang over the river so much
that often we could not cross them, but were obliged to pass and repass
from one side of the river to the other, in order to make our way.
In some places the banks are formed of dark or black granite rising
perpendicularly to a great height, through which the river seems,
in the progress of time, to have worn its channel. On these mountains
we see more pine than usual, but it is still in small quantities.
Along the bottoms, which have a covering of high grass, we observed
the sunflower blooming in great abundance. The Indians of the Missouri,
more especially those who do not cultivate maize, make great use of the seed
of this plant for bread, or in thickening their soup. They first parch
and then pound it between two stones, until it is reduced to a fine meal.
Sometimes they add a portion of water, and drink it thus diluted;
at other times they add a sufficient proportion of marrow-grease to reduce
it to the consistency of common dough, and eat it in that manner.
This last composition we preferred to all the rest, and thought it
at that time a very palatable dish."
They also feasted on a great variety of wild berries, purple, yellow,
and black currants, which were delicious and more pleasant to the palate than
those grown in their Virginia home-gardens; also service-berries, popularly
known to later emigrants as "sarvice-berries." These grow on small bushes,
two or three feet high; and the fruit is purple-skinned, with a white pulp,
resembling a ripe gooseberry.
The journal, next day, has the following entry: -
"This morning early, before our departure, we saw a large
herd of the big-horned animals, which were bounding among
the rocks on the opposite cliff with great agility.
These inaccessible spots secure them from all their enemies,
and their only danger is in wandering among these precipices,
where we would suppose it scarcely possible for any animal to stand;
a single false step would precipitate them at least five hundred
feet into the water.
"At one and one fourth miles we passed another single cliff on the left;
at the same distance beyond which is the mouth of a large river
emptying from the north. It is a handsome, bold, and clear stream,
eighty yards wide - that is, nearly as broad as the Missouri - with a
rapid current, over a bed of small smooth stones of various figures.
The water is extremely transparent; the low grounds are narrow,
but possess as much wood as those of the Missouri. The river has
every appearance of being navigable, though to what distance we
cannot ascertain, as the country which it waters is broken and mountainous.
In honor of the Secretary of War we called it Dearborn's River."
General Henry Dearborn, who was then Secretary of War,
in Jefferson's administration, gave his name, a few years later,
to a collection of camps and log-cabins on Lake Michigan;
and in due time Fort Dearborn became the great city
of Chicago.
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