Captain Lewis Halted To Skin Them,
While Two Of The Men Took The Pack-Horses Forward To Seek
For A Camp.
It was nine o'clock before he overtook them,
at the distance of seven miles, in the first grove of
Cottonwood.
They had been pursued as they came along by a very large bear,
on which they were afraid to fire, lest their horses,
being unaccustomed to the gun, might take fright and throw them.
This circumstance reminds us of the ferocity of these animals,
when we were last near this place, and admonishes us to be
very cautious. We saw vast numbers of buffalo below us,
which kept up a dreadful bellowing during the night.
With all our exertions we were unable to advance more than
twenty-four miles, owing to the mire through which we are obliged
to travel, in consequence of the rain."
The Sun, or Medicine, River empties into the Missouri just above the great
falls of that stream; and near here, opposite White Bear Islands,
the expedition had deposited some of their property in a cache
dug near the river bank, when they passed that way, a year before.
On the thirteenth of the month, having reached their old
camping-ground here, the party set to work making boat-gear and
preparing to leave their comrades in camp well fixed for their stay.
The journal adds: -
"On opening the cache, we found the bearskins entirely destroyed
by the water, which in a flood of the river had penetrated to them.
All the specimens of plants, too, were unfortunately lost:
the chart of the Missouri, however, still remained unhurt, and several
articles contained in trunks and boxes had suffered but little injury;
but a vial of laudanum had lost its stopper, and the liquid had run
into a drawer of medicines, which it spoiled beyond recovery.
The mosquitoes were so troublesome that it was impossible even to
write without a mosquito bier. The buffalo were leaving us fast,
on their way to the southeast."
One of the party met with an amusing adventure here, which is thus described: -
"At night M'Neal, who had been sent in the morning to examine
the cache at the lower end of the portage, returned; but had
been prevented from reaching that place by a singular adventure.
Just as he arrived near Willow run, he approached a thicket
of brush in which was a white bear, which he did not discover till
he was within ten feet of him. His horse started, and wheeling
suddenly round, threw M'Neal almost immediately under the bear,
which started up instantly. Finding the bear raising himself
on his hind feet to attack him, he struck him on the head with
the butt end of his musket; the blow was so violent that it broke
the breech of the musket and knocked the bear to the ground.
Before he recovered M'Neal, seeing a willow-tree close by,
sprang up, and there remained while the bear closely guarded
the foot of the tree until late in the afternoon. He then went off;
M'Neal being released came down, and having found his horse,
which had strayed off to the distance of two miles, returned to camp.
These animals are, indeed, of a most extraordinary ferocity,
and it is matter of wonder that in all our encounters we have had
the good fortune to escape. We are now troubled with another enemy,
not quite so dangerous, though even more disagreeable-these
are the mosquitoes, who now infest us in such myriads that we
frequently get them into our throats when breathing, and the dog
even howls with the torture they occasion."
The intention of Captain Lewis was to reach the river sometimes
known as Maria's, and sometimes as Marais, or swamp. This stream
rises near the boundary between Montana and the British possessions,
and flows into the Missouri, where the modern town of Ophir is built.
The men left at the great falls were to dig up the canoes and baggage
that had been cached there the previous year, and be ready to carry around
the portage of the falls the stuff that would be brought from the two
forks of the Jefferson, later on, by Sergeant Ordway and his party.
It will be recollected that this stuff had also been cached at the forks
of the Jefferson, the year before. The two parties, thus united,
were to go down to the entrance of Maria's River into the Missouri,
and Captain Lewis expected to join them there by the fifth of August;
if he failed to meet them by that time, they were to go on down the river
and meet Captain Clark at the mouth of the Yellowstone. This explanation
is needed to the proper understanding of the narrative that follows;
for we now have to keep track of three parties of the explorers.
Captain Lewis and his men, having travelled northwest about twenty
miles from the great falls of the Missouri, struck the trail of a
wounded buffalo. They were dismayed by the sight, for that assured
them that there were Indians in the vicinity; and the most natural
thing to expect was that these were Blackfeet, or Minnetarees;
both of these tribes are vicious and rascally people, and they would
not hesitate to attack a small party and rob them of their guns,
if they thought themselves able to get away with them.
They were now in the midst of vast herds of buffalo, so numerous that the
whole number seemed one immense herd. Hanging on the flanks were many wolves;
hares and antelope were also abundant. On the fourth day out, Captain Lewis
struck the north fork of Maria's River, now known as Cut-bank River,
in the northwest corner of Montana. He was desirous of following up
the stream, to ascertain, if possible, whether its fountain-head was below,
or above, the boundary between the United States and the British possessions.
Bad weather and an accident to his chronometer prevented his accomplishing
his purpose, and, on the twenty-sixth of July, he turned reluctantly back,
giving the name of Cape Disappointment to his last camping-place.
Later in that day, as they were travelling down the main stream
(Maria's River), they encountered the Indians whom they had hoped to avoid.
Let us read the story as it is told in the journal of the party:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 91 of 105
Words from 94767 to 95837
of 110166
