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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