"After Raging Among The Rocks, And Losing Itself In Foam, It Is
Compressed Immediately Into A Bed Of Ninety-Three
Yards in width:
it continues for three hundred and forty poles to the entrance of a run
or deep ravine,
Where there is a fall of three feet, which, added to
the decline during that distance, makes the descent six feet.
As it goes on, the descent within the next two hundred and forty poles
is only four feet; from this, passing a run or deep ravine, the descent
in four hundred poles is thirteen feet; within two hundred and forty poles,
another descent of eighteen feet; thence, in one hundred and sixty poles,
a descent of six feet; after which, to the mouth of Portage Creek,
a distance of two hundred and eighty poles, the descent is ten feet.
From this survey and estimate, it results that the river experiences
a descent of three hundred and fifty-two feet in the distance of two
and three quarter miles, from the commencement of the rapids to the mouth
of Portage Creek, exclusive of the almost impassable rapids which extend
for a mile below its entrance."
On the twenty-first of the month, all the needed preparations having
been finished, the arduous work of making the portage, or carry,
was begun. All the members of the expedition were now together,
and the two captains divided with their men the labor of hunting,
carrying luggage, boat-building, exploring, and so on.
They made three camps, the lower one on Portage Creek,
the next at Willow Run [see map], and a third at a point opposite
White Bear Islands. The portage was not completed until July second.
They were often delayed by the breaking down of their
rude carriages, and during the last stage of their journey
much of their luggage was carried on the backs of the men.
They were also very much annoyed with the spines of the prickly pear,
a species of cactus, which, growing low on the ground,
is certain to be trampled upon by the wayfarer. The spines ran
through the moccasins of the men and sorely wounded their feet.
Thus, under date of June twenty-fourth, the journal says
(It should be understood that the portage was worked from above
and below the rapids): -
"On going down yesterday Captain Clark cut off several angles
of the former route, so as to shorten the portage considerably,
and marked it with stakes. He arrived there in time to have two
of the canoes carried up in the high plain, about a mile in advance.
Here they all repaired their moccasins, and put on double soles to protect
them from the prickly pear, and from the sharp points of earth which have
been formed by the trampling of the buffalo during the late rains.
This of itself is sufficient to render the portage disagreeable
to one who has no burden; but as the men are loaded as heavily
as their strength will permit, the crossing is really painful.
Some are limping with the soreness of their feet; others are scarcely
able to stand for more than a few minutes, from the heat and fatigue.
They are all obliged to halt and rest frequently; at almost every
stopping-place they fall, and many of them are asleep in an instant;
yet no one complains, and they go on with great cheerfulness.
At the camp, midway in the portage, Drewyer and Fields joined them;
for, while Captain Lewis was looking for them at Medicine River,
they returned to report the absence of Shannon, about whom they had
been very uneasy.
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