History of the expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean : performed during the years 1804-5-6 by order of the government of the United States; Volume 1

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858 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition were obliged to be in the water during a great part of tlJe day, d1·agging the canoes over the shoals and ripples. lis course too was so c1·ookcd, that notwithstanding we bad made fou1·teen miles by water, we were only five miles ft·om our encampment of last night. The country consists of a low ground on the river about five miles wide, and succeeded ou both sides hy plains of the same ~xtent wbieh reach to the base of the mountains. _ Tliese low grounds are very much intersected by bayous, and ia those on the left side is a la•·ge propot·tion of bog covered with tall grass, "hich would yield a fine turr: There are -very few trees, and those small nat·row~Ieafed cotton­wood: the principal gL·owth being the narrow~lcafed wil­low, aud cunaut bushes, among which were some bunch­es of privy near the river. 'Vc saw a numhrr of geese, ducks, beaver, otter, deer and antelopes, of all which one beaver was killed with a pole from the boat, three otters whh a tomahawk, and the hunters brought in three deer and an antelope. ~1.onday, 12. This morning as soon as it was light cap­tain Lewis sent Drewyer to reconnoitre if possible the route of the Indians: in about an hour and a half he returned, after following the tracks of the horse which we had lost yesterday to the mountains. wl•ere they ascended and were no longet• visible. Captain Lewis now deciued on ma­king the cir·cuit along the foot of the mountains whic.U fot·med the cove, expecting by that meaus to fino a road across them, and accordingly sent Dt·ewycr on one side, and Shields on the other·. In thh w<Jy they erossctl fom· small rivulets near each other, on which wet·e some Lo,vers or conical lodges of willow br·ush, which seemed to have been made t•eeentJy. From the manner in which the gt·ound in the neighboul'l10od was to&·n up the Indians a})pra•·cd to have been gathe1·ing roots; but captain Lewis could not dis­cover what particular plant they were searching for, nor could he find any fresh track, till at the distance of four , Up the .lJlissouri. 859 miles ft·om his camp l1e mrt a 1arg~ plain Indian road wl1ic1t came into the cove from 1he nor·tht>ast, and wound alon~ the foot of the mountains to thr southwest, app1·oaching obliquely the main st•·~am he had l(>ft yestrr•(lay. Down thh road he now went towar·ds the southwPst.: at the distance of five miles it crossed a large run or Cl'eek, which is a pl'in­cipal branch of the main st1·eam into which it falls, ju ~t above the high clilfs or gates ohscrvrd yeste1·day, and which they naw saw below them: here they halted ami brmd\.fast. t!d on the last of the deer. keeping a small piece of p01·k in reserve against accident: they then contiuued throu:.;h the low bottom along the main str·cam near the foot of thr moun­tains on their right. For the fi1·st five miles the vaJJcy con­tinues towa•·ds the southwest f1•om two to three miles in width; then the main str•eam, which had t·eccived two sma.H brar.1Ches fr·om the left in the valley, tut•ns abruptly to the west tlu·ough a nat•row bottom between the mountain~. The road was still plain, and as it led them t1it·ectly on to­wards the mountain the stream gl'adually became smaller, till after going two miles it had so gt·catly diminished in width that one of the men in a fit or enthusiasm. with one foot on each side of the river, thanked God that he had lived to hestride the Missou1·i. As they went along thei1· hopes of soon seeing the waters of the Columbia a&·ose almost to painful anxiety, when after four miles fl·om the last abru11t turn of the river, they reached a. small gap formed by the high mountains which recede on each side, h'aving room for the Indian road. From the toot of one or the lowest of these mountains, which rises with a gentle ascent of about haifa mile, issues the remotrst water of the ~lb::~ouri. They had now reached the hidden sources of' that river, which had never yet been seen by civilized man; and as thC'y quenched their thi•·st at the chaste and icy fountain-as they sat down by the brink of that little rivulet, which yielded its distant ~nd modest trihute to the parent ocean, they f .. lt themscJve~ rcwardttd for all their labours and all their ditlicu[ties. TJ1ey