The Party In The Canoes Continued To Ascend The River,
Which Was So Crooked That They Advanced But Four Miles
In a direct
line from their starting-place in a distance of eleven miles.
In this manner, the party on
Foot leading those with the canoes,
they repeatedly explored the various forks of the streams,
which baffled them by their turnings and windings. Lewis was
in the advance, and Clark brought up the rear with the main body.
It was found necessary for the leading party to wade the streams,
and occasionally they were compelled by the roughness
of the way to leave the water-course and take to the hills,
where great vigilance was required to keep them in sight
of the general direction in which they must travel.
On the 11th of August, 1805, Captain Lewis came in sight of the first
Indian encountered since leaving the country of the Minnetarees,
far back on the Missouri. The journal of that date says:
"On examining him with the glass Captain Lewis saw that he was
of a different nation from any Indians we had hitherto met.
He was armed with a bow and a quiver of arrows, and mounted
on an elegant horse without a saddle; a small string attached
to the under jaw answered as a bridle.
"Convinced that he was a Shoshonee, and knowing how much
our success depended on the friendly offices of that nation,
Captain Lewis was full of anxiety to approach without alarming him,
and endeavor to convince him that he [Lewis] was a white man.
He therefore proceeded toward the Indian at his usual pace.
When they were within a mile of each other the Indian suddenly stopped.
Captain Lewis immediately followed his example, took his
blanket from his knapsack, and, holding it with both hands
at the two corners, threw it above his head, and unfolded it
as he brought it to the ground, as if in the act of spreading it.
This signal, which originates in the practice of spreading
a robe or skin as a seat for guests to whom they wish to show
a distinguished kindness, is the universal sign of friendship among
the Indians on the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains. As usual,
Captain Lewis repeated this signal three times: still the Indian
kept his position, and looked with an air of suspicion on
Drewyer and Shields, who were now advancing on each side.
Captain Lewis was afraid to make any signal for them to halt,
lest he should increase the distrust of the Indian, who began
to be uneasy, and they were too distant to hear his voice.
He therefore took from his pack some beads, a looking-glass,
and a few trinkets, which he bad brought for the purpose, and,
leaving his gun, advanced unarmed towards the Indian. He remained
in the same position till Captain Lewis came within two hundred yards
of him, when he turned his horse and began to move off slowly.
Captain Lewis then called out to him in as loud a voice as he could,
repeating the words tabba bone, which in the Shoshonee language
mean white man. But, looking over his shoulder, the Indian
kept his eyes on Drewyer and Shields, who were still advancing,
without recollecting the impropriety of doing so at such
a moment, till Captain Lewis made a signal to them to halt:
this Drewyer obeyed, but Shields did not observe it, and still
went forward. Seeing Drewyer halt, the Indian turned his horse
about as if to wait for Captain Lewis, who now reached within
one hundred and fifty paces, repeating the words tabba bone,
and holding up the trinkets in his hand, at the same time stripping
up the sleeve of his shirt to show the color of his skin.
The Indian suffered him to advance within one hundred paces,
then suddenly turned his horse, and, giving him the whip, leaped across
the creek, and disappeared in an instant among the willow bushes:
with him vanished all the hopes which the sight of him had inspired,
of a friendly introduction to his countrymen."
Sadly disappointed by the clumsy imprudence of his men, Captain Lewis
now endeavored to follow the track of the retreating Indian,
hoping that this might lead them to an encampment, or village,
of the Shoshonees. He also built a fire, the smoke of which
might attract the attention of the Indians. At the same time,
be placed on a pole near the fire a small assortment
of beads, trinkets, awls, and paints, in order that the Indians,
if they returned that way, might discover them and be
thereby assured the strangers were white men and friends.
Next morning, while trying to follow the trail of the lone Indian,
they found traces of freshly turned earth where people had been
digging for roots; and, later on, they came upon the fresh
track of eight or ten horses. But these were soon scattered,
and the explorers only found that the general direction of
the trails was up into the mountains which define the boundary
between Montana and Idaho. Skirting the base of these mountains
(the Bitter Root), the party endeavored to find a plain trail,
or Indian road, leading up to a practicable pass.
Travelling in a southwesterly direction along the main stream,
they entered a valley which led into the mountains.
Here they ate their last bit of fresh meat, the remainder of a deer
they had killed a day or two before; they reserved for their
final resort, in case of famine, a small piece of salt pork.
The journal says: -
"They then continued through the low bottom, along the
main stream, near the foot of the mountains on their right.
For the first five miles, the valley continues toward the southwest,
being from two to three miles in width; then the main stream,
which had received two small branches from the left in the valley,
turned abruptly to the west through a narrow bottom between the mountains.
The road was still plain, and, as it led them directly on toward
the mountain, the stream gradually became smaller, till, after going
two miles, it had so greatly diminished in width that one of the men,
in a fit of enthusiasm, with one foot on each side of the river,
thanked God that he had lived to bestride the Missouri.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 42 of 105
Words from 43072 to 44138
of 110166
