The Indians Would Naturally Expect
To Share In The Hunt And To Be Provided For By The White Men.
The
Party halted there only until the sixth of June, and then,
collecting their horses, set out through what proved to
Be
a very difficult trail up the creek on which they were camped,
in a northeasterly direction. There was still a quantity of snow
on the ground, although this was in shady places and hollows.
Vegetation was rank, and the dogtooth violet, honeysuckle,
blue-bell, and columbine were in blossom. The pale blue flowers of
the quamash gave to the level country the appearance of a blue lake.
Striking Hungry Creek, which Captain Clark had very appropriately
named when he passed that way, the previous September,
they followed it up to a mountain for about three miles,
when they found themselves enveloped in snow; their limbs
were benumbed, and the snow, from twelve to fifteen feet deep,
so paralyzed their feet that further progress was impossible.
Here the journal should be quoted: -
"We halted at the sight of this new difficulty. We already knew
that to wait till the snows of the mountains had dissolved,
so as to enable us to distinguish the road, would defeat
our design of returning to the United States this season.
We now found also that as the snow bore our horses very well,
travelling was infinitely easier than it was last fall,
when the rocks and fallen timber had so much obstructed our march.
But it would require five days to reach the fish-weirs at the mouth
of Colt [-killed] Creek, even if we were able to follow the proper
ridges of the mountains; and the danger of missing our direction
is exceedingly great while every track is covered with snow.
During these five days, too, we have no chance of finding either
grass or underwood for our horses, the snow being so deep.
To proceed, therefore, under such circumstances, would be to hazard our
being bewildered in the mountains, and to insure the loss of our horses;
even should we be so fortunate as to escape with our lives,
we might be obliged to abandon all our papers and collections.
It was therefore decided not to venture any further; to deposit here
all the baggage and provisions for which we had no immediate use;
and, reserving only subsistence for a few days, to return while our
horses were yet strong to some spot where we might live by hunting,
till a guide could be procured to conduct us across the mountains.
Our baggage was placed on scaffolds and carefully covered,
as were also the instruments and papers, which we thought it safer
to leave than to risk over the roads and creeks by which we came."
There was nothing left to do but to return to Hungry Creek. Finding a
scanty supply of grass, they camped under most depressing circumstances;
their outlook now was the passing of four or five days in the midst of snows
from ten to fifteen feet deep, with no guide, no road, and no forage.
In this emergency, two men were sent back to the Chopunnish country
to hurry up the Indians who had promised to accompany them over
the mountains; and, to insure a guide, these men were authorized
to offer a rifle as a reward for any one who would undertake the task.
For the present, it was thought best to return to Quamash flats.
Chapter XXIII
Crossing the Bitter Root Mountains
Disasters many kept pace with the unhappy explorers on their
way back to Quamash flats after their rebuff at the base
of the Bitter Root Mountains. One of the horses fell
down a rough and rocky place, carrying his rider with him;
but fortunately neither horse nor man was killed. Next, a man,
sent ahead to cut down the brush that blocked the path,
cut himself badly on the inside of his thigh and bled copiously.
The hunters sent out for game returned empty-handed. The fishermen
caught no fish, but broke the two Indian gigs, or contrivances
for catching fish, with which they had been provided.
The stock of salt had given out, the bulk of their supply having
been left on the mountain. Several large mushrooms were brought
in by Cruzatte, but these were eaten without pepper, salt, or any kind
of grease, - "a very tasteless, insipid food," as the journal says.
To crown all, the mosquitoes were pestilential in their
numbers and venom.
Nevertheless, the leaders of the expedition were determined to press on
and pass the Bitter Root Mountains as soon as a slight rest at Quamash flats
should be had. If they should tarry until the snows melted from the trail,
they would be too late to reach the United States that winter and would
be compelled to pass the next winter at some camp high up on the Missouri,
as they had passed one winter at Fort Mandan, on their way out.
This is the course of argument which Captain Lewis and Clark took to persuade
each other as to the best way out of their difficulties: -
"The snows have formed a hard, coarse bed without crust, on which the horses
walk safely without slipping; the chief difficulty, therefore, is to
find the road. In this we may be assisted by the circumstance that,
though generally ten feet in depth, the snow has been thrown off by
the thick and spreading branches of the trees, and from round the trunk;
while the warmth of the trunk itself, acquired by the reflection of the sun,
or communicated by natural heat of the earth, which is never frozen under
these masses, has dissolved the snow so much that immediately at the roots
its depth is not more than one or two feet. We therefore hope that
the marks of the baggage rubbing against the trees may still be perceived;
and we have decided, in case the guide cannot be procured, that one of us will
take three or four of our most expert woodsmen, several of our best horses,
and an ample supply of provisions, go on two days' journey in advance,
and endeavor to trace the route by the marks of the Indian baggage on
the trees, which we would then mark more distinctly with a tomahawk.
When they should have reached two days' journey beyond Hungry Creek,
two of the men were to be sent back to apprise the rest of their success,
and if necessary to cause them to delay there; lest, by advancing too soon,
they should be forced to halt where no food could be obtained for the horses.
If the traces of the baggage be too indistinct, the whole party is to return
to Hungry Creek, and we will then attempt the passage by ascending the main
southwest branch of Lewis' River through the country of the Shoshonees,
over to Madison or Gallatin River.
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