OCR Text |
Show •• 6 I have transmitted to the secretary at war, every information relative to the geography of the country which we possess, together ·with a view of the Indian nations, containing information. rela~i v.e to them, on those points with which I conceived It Important that the government should be informed. By reference to the I?uster rolls forwa:decl to the war department, you will see the state of the party ; in addition to which we have two interpreters, one negro man, servant to capt. Clarke; one Indian woman, wife to one of the interpreters, and a lVlandan man, whom we take with a view to restore peace between the Snake Indians, and those in this neighborhood, atnounting in total with ourselves to 33 persons. By 1neans of the interpreters and Indians, we shall be enabled to converse ' vith all the Indi~ms that we shall probably meet with on the Missouri. . I have forwarded to the secretary at war my public accounts, rendered up to the present day. They have been 1nuch longer delayed than I had any idea they would have l:reen, " ·hen \\"C departed frorn the Illinois; but this delay, under the circt!mstances which I was cmnpelled to act, has been unavoidable. The provision peroque and her cr~w, could not have been dismissed ia ti1ne to have returned to St. Louis last fall, without evidently, in my opinion, hazarding the fate of the enterprize in which I an1 engnged ; and I therefore did not hesitate to prefer the cen~ure that I may have incurred by the detention of these papers, to that of risking in any degree the success of the expedition. 1"'o me the detention of these papers has formed a serious source of disquiet and anxiety ; and the recollection of your particular charge to me on this subject, has made it still tnorc poignant. I atn fully aware of the inconvenience which must have arisen to the war department, frmn the \Vant of these vouchers, previous to the last session of congress, but how to avert it was out of my power to devise. From this place we shall send the barge and crew e.1rly to-morrow morning, with orders to proceed ~t., 7 expeditious~y as possibl~ to St. Louis; by her we setld our dispatches, ~h1ch I trust \vill get safe to hand. Her crew consists of ten able bodied men well armed and provided 'vith a suflicient stock of provision to last them to St. Louis. I have but little doubt but they will be fired on by the Siouxs ; but t~ey hav~ pledge~ the1nselves to us that they will not y~eld ~vh1le there 1s a }nan of the.m living. Our bag-gage IS all embarked on bmu·d s1x small canoes, and two peroques ; we shall set out at the same moment that we dispatch the barge. One, or perhaps both of these peroqt\es, we shall leave at the falls of the Missour~, frmn whence we intend continuing our voyage In the canoes, and a peroque of skins the frame of wh~ch was .prepa.red ~t Harper's ferry. ' rfhis peroque IS n<?w In a situatiOn which will enable us to prepare 1t In .the course of a few hours. As our vessels are now small, and the current of the river much 1nore moderate, we calculate upon travelling at the rate of 20 or 25 miles per day, as far as the falls of the Missouri. B.eyon? this point, or the first range of rocky moun tams, Situated about l 00 miles further any cal<;ulation with respect to. our daily progress: can be httle more than bare cOnJeCture. The circums~ ance of the Snake Indians possessing large quantities of horses, is n1uc.h in our favor, as by means of horses the transportatiOn of our baggage will be rendere? easy and expeditious over land, from the Missoun to t~e Columbia river. Should this river not prov: nav1~ab~e where we first meet with it, our present !ntent101~ I~, to continue our march by land down the nver, unt~ It becomes so, or to the Pacific ocean. The map,. wh.Ich has bee.n forwarded to the secretary of w.ar, Will giVe you the Idea we entertain of the con. nectiOn of these rivers, which has been formed from the corresp~n?ing testimony of a number of Indians, who have vislted that country, and who have been separately an~ . car~fullJ: examined on that subject, and \ve therefo!·e thmk It entitled to some degree of confidence. S1nce our arrival at this place, we have |