After Passing The Creek We Inclined To The Left,
And Soon After Struck The Road Which We Had Descended Last
Year,
near the spot where we dined on the 7th of September [1805].
Along this road we continued on the
West side of Clark's River,
till at the distance of thirteen miles, during which we passed
three more deep, large creeks, we reached its western branch,
where we camped; and having sent out two hunters, despatched some
men to examine the best ford across the west fork of the river.
The game to-day consisted of four deer; though we also saw a herd
of ibex, or bighorn."
Two days later they were high up among the mountains, although the
ascent was not very steep. At that height they found the weather
very cool, so much so that on the morning of the sixth of July,
after a cold night, they had a heavy white frost on the ground.
Setting out on that day, Captain Clark crossed a ridge which proved
to be the dividing line between the Pacific and the Atlantic watershed.
At the same time he passed from what is now Missoula County, Montana,
into the present county of Beaver Head, in that State. "Beaver Head,"
the reader will recollect, comes from a natural elevation in that
region resembling the head of a beaver. These points will serve
to fix in one's mind the route of the first exploring party that ever
ventured into those wilds; descending the ridge on its eastern slope,
the explorers struck Glade Creek, one of the sources of the stream
then named Wisdom River, a branch of the Jefferson; and the Jefferson
is one of the tributaries of the mighty Missouri. Next day the journal
has this entry: -
"In the morning our horses were so much scattered that, although we
sent out hunters in every direction to range the country for six or
eight miles, nine of them could not be recovered. They were the most
valuable of all our horses, and so much attached to some of their
companions that it was difficult to separate them in the daytime.
We therefore presumed that they must have been stolen by some roving Indians;
and accordingly left a party of five men to continue the pursuit,
while the rest went on to the spot where the canoes had been deposited.
We set out at ten o'clock and pursued a course S. 56'0 E. across the valley,
which we found to be watered by four large creeks, with extensive
low and miry bottoms; and then reached [and crossed] Wisdom River,
along the northeast side of which we continued, till at the distance
of sixteen miles we came to its three branches. Near that place
we stopped for dinner at a hot spring situated in the open plain.
The bed of the spring is about fifteen yards in circumference,
and composed of loose, hard, gritty stones, through which the water
boils in great quantities. It is slightly impregnated with sulphur,
and so hot that a piece of meat about the size of three fingers was
completely done in twenty-five minutes."
Next day, July 8, the party reached the forks of the Jefferson River,
where they had cached their goods in August, 1805; they had now travelled
one hundred and sixty-four miles from Traveller's-rest Creek to that point.
The men were out of tobacco, and as there was some among the goods
deposited in the cache they made haste to open the cache.
They found everything safe, although some of the articles were damp,
and a hole had been made in the bottom of one of the canoes.
Here they were overtaken by Sergeant Ordway and his party with the nine
horses that had escaped during the night of the seventh.
That night the weather was so cold that water froze in a basin to a
thickness of three-quarters of an inch, and the grass around the camp
was stiff with frost, although the month of July was nearly a week old.
The boats taken from the cache were now loaded, and the explorers
were divided into two bands, one to descend the river by boat and
the other to take the same general route on horseback, the objective
point being the Yellowstone. The story is taken tip here by the journal
in these lines: -
"After breakfast [July 10] the two parties set out, those on shore
skirting the eastern side of Jefferson River, through Service [-berry]
Valley and over Rattlesnake Mountain, into a beautiful and extensive
country, known among the Indians by the name of Hahnahappapchah,
or Beaverhead Valley, from the number of those animals to be found in it,
and also from the point of land resembling the head of a beaver.
It [the valley] extends from Rattlesnake Mountain as low as
Frazier's Creek, and is about fifty miles in length in direct line;
while its width varies from ten to fifteen miles, being watered
in its whole course by Jefferson River and six different creeks.
The valley is open and fertile; besides the innumerable quantities
of beaver and otter with which its creeks are supplied, the bushes
of the low grounds are a favorite resort for deer; while on the higher
parts of the valley are seen scattered groups of antelopes,
and still further, on the steep sides of the mountains, are observed
many bighorns, which take refuge there from the wolves and bears.
At the distance of fifteen miles the two parties stopped to dine;
when Captain Clark, finding that the river became wider and deeper,
and that the canoes could advance more rapidly than the horses,
determined to go himself by water, leaving Sergeant Pryor with six men
to bring on the horses. In this way they resumed their journey after dinner,
and camped on the eastern side of the river, opposite the head of
Three-thousand-mile Island. The beaver were basking in great numbers
along the shore; there were also some young wild geese and ducks.
The mosquitoes were very troublesome during the day, but after sunset
the weather became cool and they disappeared."
Three-thousand-mile Island was so named by the explorers, when they
ascended these streams, because it was at a point exactly three thousand
miles from the mouth of the Missouri.
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