AS William pored over his big geography in the firelight of his Pennsylvania home, that great stretch of territory vaguely called the “Northwest” filled his mind with interesting visions of possible adventures. Another name given to it by his elders, and by the books, was the “Great American Desert,” and the boy could never hear enough of the tales that came out of it. He always wanted to learn more about the Indians, with their strange beliefs and customs, and about the great brown herds of buffalo that roamed over the plains, and that were being slaughtered wantonly by white man and red man alike. He day-dreamed of Indian camps, of the long wagon-trains of venturesome pioneers, of swift, pony express riders, and of the hardy hunters of wild animals in the mountains.

“When I am old enough, Iam going west,” said the boy to his friends. “Ishall come back to Pennsylvania to live, but Iam going to see the land of Lewis and Clark first.”

The adventures of these explorers had a great fascination for the schoolboys of that period even as they have at the present time. The great western land of which William dreamed became known to the world principally through the journeys of these daring men. William loved to hear about every one of their wonderful experiences. The story of the Louisiana Purchase, by which most of these territories had been acquired by the United States, was a favorite, too. He liked especially to read about the day when the Louisiana Purchase had the unique experience of flying three different flags in twenty-four hours. In 1803 Spain ceded all this unexplored land to France. France sold it to the United States. So in one day the Spanish flag came down and, for form’s sake, the French flag was put up; and in turn that was lowered for the flag that has floated over the Purchase ever since, the Stars and Stripes.

President Jefferson made plans at once for the exploration of the new domain, and chose as the leaders of the expedition two young Virginia college men of energy, ability, and high character. They were well fitted for the dangerous enterprise ahead. None but stout hearts could have completed the venture, of which William Wesley Van Orsdel and thousands of other boys were to hear and read many years later. Lewis was President Jefferson’s secretary and a man whom he loved much. Jefferson has left this fine appreciation of him: “Of courage undaunted, possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from its direction, careful as a father of those committed to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance of order and discipline, intimate with Indian character, customs and principles, honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding, and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves.”

The maps showed few cities on the Missouri River when Lewis and Clark started on their expedition. St.Louis was then forty years old; it contained less than two hundred houses and about two thousand people, nearly all of whom were French. These men who started up the Missouri in the fleet bearing the expedition, little dreamed that from the territory which they were to explore there would be carved the great states of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon—fertile and prosperous states from which would come the necessities to strengthen nations in need in the great war more than a hundred years later. Not only wheat, sugar, and cattle, but timber, and metals to renew the world’s shipping, were to come from those western fields, forests, and mines.

The fleet consisted of three craft; the largest was a keel-boat, fifty-five feet long, drawing three feet of water, carrying a sail, and propelled by twenty-two oars, eleven on each side. It had a forecastle and a cabin guarded by breastworks to protect against Indian attacks. The other two were piroques. These were boats bound together side by side and floored over; one with seven oars, another with six oars, and both carried sails.

Besides Lewis and Clark, the party consisted of three sergeants—Ordney, Pryor, and Lloyd—twenty-three privates, two interpreters, and a Negro servant. The interpreters were Charbonneau and his Indian wife, Sacajawea. The Negro, whose name was York, was Clark’s slave and body servant. Many heroes were discovered in that company before it had reached the waters of the Pacific. There is just one heroine, Charbonneau’s wife, Sacajawea, or the Bird Woman. By birth she belonged to the Shoshone tribe. When a little girl she had been taken prisoner in a war between the Minnetarees and Shoshones and sold to a traveling Frenchman, who was a roving hunter and guide. He brought her up as a slave and afterward married her. Sacajawea guided the expedition and acted as interpreter, all the while giving her baby tender and watchful care. She received no gift when the party disbanded, but to-day she lives in the grateful memory of the West as one of its real explorers and a true benefactress. In the city park in Portland there stands a statue in honor of this brave Indian matron.

The romantic episode of the return of this woman guide to her own tribe was one of the strange incidents of the expedition. Over unknown trails the daring scouts went in the untracked wilderness. It is hard to realize the suffering they endured from hunger, sickness, and other dangers. Their advance along the upper Missouri is of particular interest here. One day Captain Lewis, who was traveling on foot in order to lighten the canoes, climbed a high cliff and there before his glad eyes lay the “Land of the Shining Mountains,” for such was the Indian name for the region which was afterward known as Montana. As they pressed on, the roaring of water sounded in the distance, and soon the great falls of the Missouri came into view. Here the river drops over four hundred feet in a ten-mile stretch. The map that Lewis and Clark made of this section is so accurate that in 1892, when William Van Orsdel resided temporarily in the town of Great Falls, it was reproduced in facsimile with the modern improvements added. It was near the falls that Sacajawea recognized the spot where she had been taken prisoner by the Minnetarees.

Just at that point in their progress the expedition was in need of horses for the journey across the mountains, and taking Sacajawea, Captain Clark set out to find her people and to buy horses from them. Captain Lewis went with another detachment on a different course. After much journeying he found Chief Cameahwait and gave him an American flag as an emblem of peace. The chief took them to a leathern lodge, smoky and ancient, and seated them on green pine boughs covered with antelope and buffalo skins. Awarrior in splendid attire kindled a fire in the center of the lodge; the chief produced a pipe and tobacco; the warriors took off their moccasins, showing the white men that they were expected to remove their shoes.

When all was in readiness and the circle completed, the chief lit his pipe. He then made a speech, and at its close he indicated the four cardinal points with the stem of his pipe, beginning with the east and ending with the north. He handed the pipe to Lewis, who supposed that he was to smoke, but the chief drew the pipe back three times, then pointed to the heavens and to the center of the group. This concluded the ceremony and Lewis was allowed to smoke.

After the foregoing reception Lewis was permitted to tell how he and Captain Clark had separated as they started to find Sacajawea’s people, and how they had agreed to meet at Three Forks but had missed one another. He explained his anxiety concerning the safety of his friend and his party and asked for help. Suddenly some Indians came in crying, “White man! White man!” Eagerly the group seated around the fire left the lodge, as from its entrance they saw that Captain Clark’s party was drawing near. Sacajawea approached the watching Indians sucking her fingers, signifying that they were of her native tribe. As she advanced, a woman darted to meet her and weeping and laughing alternately embraced her. It was then found that they had been childhood friends and now were meeting for the first time since the day on which the Minnetarees had taken Sacajawea captive.

Captain Lewis and Captain Clark embraced also in their joy at meeting, and the chief called for the ceremony of smoking. The warriors and the white men arranged themselves in a circle, and the pipe was about to be smoked when Sacajawea was sent for to act as interpreter. She entered modestly and shyly, but when her eyes sought the chief, she suddenly ran to him weeping once more, for the big chief was her own brother, from whose side she had been snatched on the day of the tribal war.

After this meeting Charbonneau and Sacajawea were taken to the camp of the Shoshones. Anything that the white men wanted was easily secured now. Fifty horses were bartered for and delivered to them, so the expedition was able to proceed. Sacajawea was eager to go to the coast to see the “big water” and the “monster fish,” but the time of parting had come. Charbonneau was paid five hundred dollars and thirty-three cents for two years’ service, and the little Bird Woman, Sacajawea, was given nothing but the gratitude and respect of the white man.

The party proceeded with other guides and finished the hard journey through the mountains to the Columbia River and to the Pacific. They brought back to the American public a romantic story of strange animals, of prairies, of rivers, of waterfalls, of mountains, and, above all, of Indians with their weird, barbaric customs, their strength, and their eagerness to learn.

As a result of the travels of Lewis and Clark, and of other explorers and early settlers who followed them, a strong interest in the West sprang up among the people of the East. Many adventure-seeking boys left homes of comfort in the older states during the next fifty years in search of larger opportunities in the opening West. But these glowing tales of Indian tribes, and of wealth easily gained, had another effect besides that of luring high-spirited boys to seek new fortunes beyond the Mississippi; there was also kindled a flame of missionary endeavor in the churches of the East. Some of the great chapters of American history are written about the men who gave their lives to the task of carrying the gospel to the Indians, and to establishing churches in the new settlements scattered over almost half a continent.

Growing up as he did in a Christian home, William Van Orsdel heard the stories of the brave pioneers of the Cross as well as those of explorers and hunters. It is not strange that as a young man he should respond with enthusiasm to the calls that were being made throughout the churches of the East for strong, energetic, and devoted men to enlist for Christian service in these new and difficult fields.

William had already proved the depth and earnestness of his Christian faith. When a boy on the farm he had given his life fully into God’s guidance and keeping. That he had caught the spirit of his Master he showed to all about him by his many acts of neighborly service to those who were in need. Although he had to work very hard on the farm even while attending school, he found time on Saturdays and Sundays to visit the sick and the unfortunate and to help and encourage them. Thus the boy who had carried the news of the battle of Gettysburg to the village people now became the bearer of news of another battle—of the battle against all that is mean and unworthy in life—and of the Great Captain of our salvation who gives the victory to those who in loyalty of heart place themselves under his leadership. The people came to love his simple telling of the old message and crowded the little churches and schoolhouses whenever he would speak to them. Soon they began to call him the “boy evangelist” which was only the first of many honors that his friends and neighbors were to pay him in the long years of useful service that lay ahead.

Thus young manhood brought to William the firm conviction that in the missionary service of his church in those distant regions of the Northwest, where there was such need for young men who could be at once both pioneers and Christian leaders, he would find the life-work which would allow him to be of the largest service to his country and to his God. Each year brought him a stronger sense of beckoning Indian hands. To these people of the western plains and forests, he must go and preach; his decision was clear and firm. His small savings were far from sufficient to cover the cost of the long and expensive journey, for he found that the money which he could scrape together would carry him only as far as Champaign, Illinois. He had faith, however, that if he made the start, the way would be opened for him to reach his final destination in Montana. He knew how to do hard work; he could earn his fare for the remainder of the journey.

So William started on his eagerly anticipated travels. No mother was there to give a farewell blessing, but he carried with him an abundance of good wishes from the people in the neighborhood of Gettysburg, for they had known him since childhood and loved him for his helpful, friendly ways, and for his sincere character. Tucked away in a safe pocket was his most highly prized possession, an exhorter’s license granted him in recognition of his work as an evangelist, a high honor for a boy of seventeen. Alone and unafraid he pressed on toward the western land of his dreams.