We Therefore Took All The Iron Work Out
Of Her, And, Proceeding Down The River Fifteen Miles, Encamped Near
Some Cottonwood Trees, One Of Which Was Of The Narrow-Leafed Species,
And The First Of That Kind We Had Remarked In Ascending The River.
"Sergeant Ordway's party, which had left the mouth of Madison River
on the thirteenth, had descended in safety to
White Bear Island,
where he arrived on the nineteenth, and, after collecting the baggage,
had left the falls on the twenty-seventh in the white pirogue and
five canoes, while Sergeant Gass and Willard set out at the same time
by land with the horses, and thus fortunately met together."
Sergeant Ordway's party, it will be recollected, had left
Captain Clark at the three forks of the Missouri, to which they
had come down the Jefferson, and thence had passed down
the Missouri to White Bear Islands, and, making the portage,
had joined the rest of the party just in time to reinforce them.
Game was now abundant the buffalo being in enormous herds;
and the bighorn were also numerous; the flesh of these animals
was in fine condition, resembling the best of mutton in flavor.
The reunited party now descended the river, the intention being
to reach the mouth of the Yellowstone as soon as possible,
and there wait for Captain Clark, who, it will be recalled,
was to explore that stream and meet them at the point of its
junction with the Missouri. The voyage of Captain Lewis and his men
was without startling incident, except that Cruzatte accidentally
shot the captain, one day, while they were out hunting.
The wound was through the fleshy part of the left thigh,
and for a time was very painful. As Cruzatte was not in sight
when the captain was hit, the latter naturally thought he had been
shot by Indians hiding in the thicket. He reached camp as best
he could, and, telling his men to arm themselves, he explained
that he had been shot by Indians. But when Cruzatte came into camp,
mutual explanations satisfied all hands that a misunderstanding
had arisen and that Cruzatte's unlucky shot was accidental.
As an example of the experience of the party about this time,
while they were on their way down the Missouri, we take this
extract from their journal: -
"We again saw great numbers of buffalo, elk, antelope, deer,
and wolves; also eagles and other birds, among which were geese
and a solitary pelican, neither of which can fly at present,
as they are now shedding the feathers of their wings.
We also saw several bears, one of them the largest, except one,
we had ever seen; for he measured nine feet from the nose
to the extremity of the tail. During the night a violent storm
came on from the northeast with such torrents of rain that we had
scarcely time to unload the canoes before they filled with water.
Having no shelter we ourselves were completely wet to the skin,
and the wind and cold air made our situation very unpleasant."
On the twelfth of August, the Lewis party met with two traders
from Illinois. These men were camped on the northeast side
of the river; they had left Illinois the previous summer,
and had been coming up the Missouri hunting and trapping.
Captain Lewis learned from them that Captain Clark was below;
and later in that day the entire expedition was again united,
Captain Clark's party being found at a point near where
Little Knife Creek enters the Missouri River. We must now
take up the narrative of Captain Clark and his adventures
on the Yellowstone.
Chapter XXV
Adventures on the Yellowstone
The route of Captain Clark from the point where he and Captain Lewis
divided their party, was rather more difficult than that pursued
by the Lewis detachment. But the Clark party was larger,
being composed of twenty men and Sacajawea and her baby.
They were to travel up the main fork of Clark's River
(sometimes called the Bitter Root), to Ross's Hole, and then
strike over the great continental divide at that point by way
of the pass which he discovered and which was named for him;
thence he was to strike the headwaters of Wisdom River, a stream
which this generation of men knows by the vulgar name of Big Hole River;
from this point he was to go by the way of Willard's Creek to
Shoshonee Cove and the Two Forks of the Jefferson, and thence down
that stream to the Three Forks of the Missouri, up the Gallatin,
and over the divide to the Yellowstone and down that river to its
junction with the Missouri, where he was to join the party of
Captain Lewis. This is the itinerary that was exactly carried out.
The very first incident set forth in the journal is a celebration
of Independence Day, as follows: -
"Friday, July 4. Early in the morning three hunters were
sent out. The rest of the party having collected the horses
and breakfasted, we proceeded at seven o'clock up the valley,
which is now contracted to the width of from eight to ten miles,
with a good proportion of pitch-pine, though its low lands,
as well as the bottoms of the creeks, are strewn with large stones.
We crossed five creeks of different sizes, but of great depth,
and so rapid that in passing the last several of the horses
were driven down the stream, and some of our baggage was wet.
Near this river we saw the tracks of two Indians, whom we supposed
to be Shoshonees. Having made sixteen miles, we halted at an hour
for the purpose of doing honor to the birthday of our early
country's independence. The festival was not very splendid,
for it consisted of a mush made of cows and a saddle of venison;
nor had we anything to tempt us to prolong it. We therefore
went on till at the distance of a mile we came to a very
large creek, which, like all those in the valley, had an immense
rapidity of descent; we therefore proceeded up for some distance,
in order to select the most convenient spot for fording.
Even there, however, such was the violence of the current that,
though the water was not higher than the bellies of the horses,
the resistance made in passing caused the stream to rise over their
backs and loads.
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