Lewis and Clark / Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

such meat as they could get, so as to be able to vary the fish diet of the Columbia. In February Captain Clark completed a map of the country between Fort Mandan

o be perfectly practicable, cutting off 580 miles from the most difficult part of t

stock of merchandise intended for trade. On March 16th, when preparations f

made out of our large United States flag, a few old clothes trimmed with ribbons, and one artillerist's uniform coat and hat, which probably Captain Clark will never wear again. We have to

boat and a woman were, by common consent, placed upon an equality of value,-certainly not an overestimate of the worth of the canoe, if one laid aside chivalry and regarded the squaws dispassionately. When Captain Lewis

ut the middle of March, however, we had become seriously alarmed for the want of food; the elk, our chief dependence, had at length deserted their usual haunts in our neighborhood and retreated to the mountains. We were too poor to purchase other food from the Indians, so that we were sometimes reduced, notwithstanding all the exertions of our hunters, to a single day's provisions in advance. The men, too, whom the co

aded, and in the afternoon the

ses were absolutely necessary; and to get a few of these from the Indians, who saw their chance for gain, brought the expedition to a state verging upon downright bankruptcy. Enough horses were secured, however, to enable them to pass step by step over the

sures, in dealing with cases of theft. In striking contrast to these experiences was the meeting with the Walla-Wallas, a short distance above the Falls. These people freely gave to the travelers from their own scant supply of firewood and food; and the chief presented to Captain Cl

fire. Nor was this mere quackery. All of the Indians of the Western slope were more or less afflicted with rheumatism, inflammation of the eyes, and other ills incident to an outdoor life in a humid climate; and the two officers, in the course of preparing themselves for their errand across the continent, had learned to use some of the simple remedies of the day. In some cases they gave relie

hief dependence was on the horse which we received yesterday for medicine; but to our great disappoint

hey had been turned out to graze; but the chief promised to have them collected at once. He said further that his people had been made aware of the approach of the travelers, and of their be

in poor flesh for one that was fatter and more fit to be eaten, the chief was deeply offended by this conception of his hospitality, remarking that his tribe had an abundance of

language; she then put it into Shoshone, and a young Shoshone prisoner explained it to the Chopunnish in their own dialect." But the common impulses of humanity found expression in more direct ways, without need for int

nd waiting for the melting of the mountain snows, which now rendered further progress impossible. In this camp th

ce of vermilion, two needles, and about a yard of ribbon-a slender means of bartering for our subsistence; but the men have been so m

rge upon the surrounding plain belonged to the people of his village, insisting that if the party stood in want of meat, they would use these animals as their own. Surely the no

he journal, "we created a new fund, by cutting off the buttons from our clothes and preparing some eye-water and basilicon, to which were added some phials and small tin boxes in which we had once kept

expert, and one of them was as fleet as our swiftest runners. After the races were over, the men divided themselves into two parties and played prison base

for food. They could only push forward. On the 15th they came to the foothills of the Bitter Root Range; and on the 17th they were well into its heart, ascending the main ridges. But here they soon discovered the impossibility of proceeding in their situation. The snow lay everywhere to a depth of twelve or fifteen feet, completely hi

ute, the chances against getting through at all were tenfold. "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

villages, to endeavor to procure a guide, while the main party moved down toward the plains, supporting life me

ch service they were to be recompensed by two guns. Under their care a fresh start was made, and by nightfall of the 26th, passing over a perilous trail,

g September], we almost despair of ever escaping from them without the assistance of the Indians.... Our guides traverse this trackless region with a kind of instinctive sagacit

y of a deer that had been left for them by the hunters, who were working in advance,-"a very seasonable addition to

in trails converged. It was from this place that Captain Clark's plan for a shorter route to the

titude 50°, after which he will descend that river to its mouth. The rest of the men will accompany Captain Clark to the head of Jefferson River, which Sergeant Ordway and a party of nine men will descend, with the canoes and other articles deposited there. Captain Clark's party, which will then be reduced to ten, will proceed to the Yellowstone, at its nearest approach to the Three Forks of the Missour

imminent disaster, worn, half-starved, beggared, yet bobbing up like corks from t