Jefferson's Hobby—Two Noblemen—An Indefinite Transaction—Expedition to the Wilderness—Fort Mandan—The Roche Jaune and the First View of the Great Range—The Long-Lost Sister—Depths of the Unknown—Starvation on the Trail—Music of the Breakers—Fort Clatsop—The Return—Medicine Men Again—Two Natives Shot—Premature Death of the Captain.

The mighty Wilderness, which like a tennis-ball had been tossed back and forth between the European kings, was of particular interest to one of the foremost statesmen of the new Republic, Thomas Jefferson, who pondered on its mysteries and on ways of fathoming their fascinating depths. As early as 1792 he had proposed to the American Philosophical Society the raising of a subscription to send a small party to the Pacific by way of the Missouri, across the "Stony Mountains" and by the nearest river to the sea. A very young man, Meriwether Lewis by name, eighteen at the time, asked for the commission, but it was given to a French botanist, Andre Michaux, who was also eager to see the Far West, and who volunteered his services. The execution of the plan was frustrated by the French Minister, who, as Michaux was in the employ of the French Government, directed his path another way.

When Jefferson was elected President of the United States, in 1801, his mind, prepared therefore, turned more intently toward the problematical region bordering the American domain on the west. He now had for private secretary the same Meriwether Lewis who had desired to search the Western wilds nine years earlier. Lewis had risen to captain[62] in the army and had not lost interest in the exploration he had been unable to undertake before, so when Jefferson in 1803 sent a confidential message to Congress dealing with the subject of trading-posts for the natives of the sparsely settled country and beyond, and suggested an exploring expedition across the Wilderness, Lewis knew all about it, and applied immediately for the leadership. He was not yet twenty-nine, but his character was well formed. Jefferson had learned it thoroughly in the two years he had filled the position of secretary and says he was

Congress approving the plan, Lewis was appointed chief, and no better man for the undertaking could have been found.[64]

Lewis selected as his first assistant, and to act as leader in case of his own disability or death, William Clark, four years his senior, and a brother of George Rogers Clark, who had captured Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and the Illinois country, and otherwise distinguished himself. Strangely enough, in his mental and moral qualities William Clark was almost a duplicate of Meriwether Lewis. Throughout the whole of the hazardous, difficult, toilsome journey that was now begun, the two men were most devoted friends, Lewis having not the slightest fear that Clark would receive too much credit, and neither having the least jealousy of the other; quite in contrast with some expeditions of later years, where the leader must be all in all. The result was that the world to-day exalts all the more this noble commander-in-chief because his broad generosity forever linked with his, almost as a single name, that of his subordinate officer, so that the great undertaking is not the Lewis, but the Lewis and Clark, expedition. Clark was to have a commission as captain, but when it came it proved to be merely lieutenant. He took it, never grumbled, and, when he returned, gave the commission back.

As far as the head of the Missouri apparently they would traverse no absolutely new ground, for as has been noted the Frenchmen had been from the Mandan villages to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, and from the French-Spanish settlement of St. Louis numbers of trappers and traders had gone to the Mandan country, while the chief road to that region had long been from the north-east by way of the lakes, and the Assiniboine where the British fur companies had established trading-posts. From these points their traders reached the natives of the upper Missouri and Mississippi, which territory the British claimed as their own. Charles Chaboillez, one of the chief factors of the North-west Company, was in charge of Montagne À la Basse, situated on the Assiniboine probably about where the Verendryes' Fort la Reine had been. From here he and other traders often went to the Mandan country to deal with various natives who made that region a rendezvous. He had proposed to Daniel Harmon that they should make a journey from the Mandan towns west to the Rocky Mountains,[65] over the course the Mandans "pursued every spring to meet and trade with another tribe ... which resides on the other side of the Rocky Mountain." This expedition was never undertaken, but it indicates the degree of familiarity possessed by the Mandans with the Western country, and shows how the earlier Frenchmen found their way out at least as far as the Yellowstone, already known as the Roche Jaune, a name which in itself is a suggestion of early French visitors to the great falls of that stream where the gorgeous yellow colouring is so remarkable. Peter Fidler, another of the British fur traders, had been down from the Saskatchewan through the area drained by the headwaters of the Missouri. A trader named Cruzatte had a post in 1802 at a point two miles above old Council Bluffs, so that all through this eastern portion of the Wilderness white men had scatteringly penetrated. The French had been on the Saskatchewan before the eighteenth century was half over, and ten years before the American purchase of Louisiana Mackenzie had crossed to the Pacific by way of Peace River Pass. But beyond the Rocky Mountains no one appears to have been away from the coast besides Escalante coming up from Santa FÉ to Utah Lake, and Mackenzie from Fort Chepewyan to the shore of the Pacific at King Island (lat. 52° N.), so that the region Lewis and Clark designed to enter beyond the mountains was absolutely unknown territory, outside of the Amerinds themselves.

Captain Lewis was ready to start on this traverse before the official transfer of the Louisiana region from France to the United States had been made. His plan was to go to La Charette, the farthest French settlement up the Missouri, a few miles above St. Louis, and there spend the winter of 1803-04, the season being so far advanced that it was not considered advisable to make the final start till spring opened again and they would have a chance to go as far as possible before another winter began. But the Spanish officers there objected to Lewis's entering the territory and a camp was made on the American side of the river, about opposite the mouth of the Missouri. The purpose of the expedition was communicated to the foreign ministers, and passports obtained from France and Great Britain. Spain was particularly jealous of this movement or any other which led to crossing the Mississippi, and had opposed the right of the United States by the Louisiana Purchase to anything more than the region around New Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi; they resented Napoleon's selling even that. Hence Spain looked upon the upper country as still hers. The situation, considering the indefinite character of the whole transaction, was full of disagreeable possibilities. Perhaps this was Napoleon's intention. Therefore Jefferson in his instructions to Captain Lewis particularly says: "If a superior force, authorised or unauthorised, by a nation, should be arrayed against your further passage, and inflexibly determined to arrest it, you must decline its further pursuit and return." The British fur companies, jealous of each other, were still more jealous of encroachments on their trading grounds and their attitude toward the expedition was uncertain.

On the 30th of April, 1803, the treaty with France ceding Louisiana was consummated, and on June 20th Lewis's instructions were signed and he departed for La Charette by way of Pittsburg and the Ohio.[66] Congress ratified the purchase on October 17th the same year. Travelling was mainly by water in those days, and that seems to be the reason why Lewis stuck to boat travelling when horses would have been so much easier across the western prairies. They were permitted to return by sea, if necessary and possible, and Lewis carried letters of credit which would have obtained money for him in any port, or on any ship, the world round. The object of the exploration as announced was to find a waterway across the continent, but Jefferson doubtless had more in view than such a diplomatic statement would imply. Intercourse with natives, he particularly directed, should be friendly and conciliatory.

With forty-two men and three boats Lewis and Clark left their winter quarters on May 14, 1804, and proceeded up the Missouri, passing the village of St. Charles, with a French Canadian population of 450, and a little above it a small group of American farmers. On the 25th they passed La Charette, the last settlement, and were then fairly under way. Two rafts were met June 12th, on one of which was a trapper named Dorion who had been for more than twenty years among the Sioux. They engaged him to go with the party and this increased the number to forty-five all told. There were nine young men from Kentucky, fourteen American soldiers who had volunteered, a French interpreter, a French hunter, and a negro belonging to Clark. All but the negro were enlisted as privates and drew pay from the Government. Besides these there were a corporal and six soldiers, who were to turn back at the Mandan towns, and nine voyageurs. One boat was fifty-five feet long, drawing three feet of water, with a square sail and twenty-two oars, and was armed with a swivel at the bow. There was a deck of ten feet at the bow and stern, while the middle was covered with lockers which could be raised to form a breastwork. The other boats were open, one having six and the other seven oars. Two horses were taken along the bank. Had they abandoned the boat idea and taken to horses they might have gone to the mouth of the Columbia while they were going to the Mandan towns, but they did not know how great a bend the Missouri makes. They pushed steadily up the river, meeting many natives and having friendly relations with them, and the last of October arrived at the Mandan towns, having consumed five and a half months in making the ascent.

As soon as a proper place was found they felled trees and built houses for the winter, calling the place Fort Mandan. The Mandans were perfectly familiar with white men, as has been noted, and were mainly peaceable. Lewis found here one of the British traders, McCracken, and by him sent a note to the chief of his home post, Chaboillez, also enclosing a copy of his British passport. This apparently was to avoid friction with the fur companies, and it indicates the uncertain condition of the claim of the United States to the territory he intended to traverse. Lewis evidently concluded a month later that he was quite within American territory, for he forbade Laroche,[67] another British trader, from presenting medals and flags to the natives. Up to this time the expedition had lost but one man. Sergeant Floyd, who died near where Sioux City now stands, and he was the only man who was lost on the whole expedition. Nor were any seriously injured but Captain Lewis, who was accidentally shot in the thigh by one of his men who had poor eyesight and took him for an elk. This occurred on the return not far above the mouth of the Musselshell, and Lewis was well before they reached St. Louis. The freedom from needless accident is strong proof of the judgment which Lewis and Clark used in the management of the party, for disasters are usually the result of wrong decisions.

The winter at Fort Mandan passed pleasantly. Corn and other supplies were bought from the natives, and there was plenty of game. About the middle of December, a trapper named Haney arrived from Montagne À la Basse with a note from Chaboillez, in reply to the one sent by Lewis to him. He offered to render any service in his power. Later the trader Laroche came again, desiring to go with the expedition, but Lewis declined his proposition. Laroche had previously planned a journey in that direction which he had not carried out. They had other visitors, among them McKenzie, one of the principal North-west men. The intercourse with the people of the North-west Company was entirely amicable, and there was no friction except for a brief time, when they tried to prevent the interpreter from continuing in Lewis and Clark's service, and took steps to prejudice the natives. This was not sanctioned, however, by Chaboillez or McKenzie.

On Sunday the 7th of April, 1805, all being ready, the party again took up its line of travel up the river. It now numbered thirty-two, the others having been sent back. The interpreters were Drewyer (Drouillard) and Chaboneau, both Frenchmen. Chaboneau took with him one of his three Amerind wives, one who had a small child. This woman Lewis and Clark hoped to utilise as an interpreter among the Snake tribe, to whom she belonged, having been taken captive by another tribe and finally sold to Chaboneau. Her name was Sacajawea, and she was of great assistance, notwithstanding the encumbrance of the child. After eight days they passed what they called Chaboneau Creek and Sunday Island. Chaboneau had once encamped on this creek. "Beyond this no white men had ever been but two Frenchmen," says the journal. One of these, Lapage, was with them, and he could not tell exactly how far he had gone, as they had lost their way. But Captain Lewis does not explain, if this were correct, how the Roche Jaune came to have its name before he reached it, a name which could have been applied only by some one who understood the conditions near its head. Yet farther on he states that this river "had been known to the French as the Roche Jaune, or as we have called it the Yellowstone." Proceeding up the Missouri they came to the "Musselshell," which is stated to have been so called by the Minitarees. The name then seems to have been a native word and has no connection with the shells of mussels! All through this region they saw large numbers of trees which had been cut down by beaver, and as they proceeded the beaver were thick everywhere. Buffalo were plentiful, and there was no dearth of fresh meat of all kinds. Sometimes they had to take sticks to drive the buffalo out of the way. There was one kind of game that was troublesome—the huge bears, both white (grizzly) and brown. If it be remembered that the guns of the party were muzzle-loaders, that the ammunition was loose powder and ball, that the firing apparatus was the old flint-lock, with priming-pan, it will be seen that it was no small hazard to face these ferocious bears. On one occasion six of the men, all good hunters, at the same moment attacked one of the huge brown bears, and though the bullets all took effect they were obliged to fly to the river, where two escaped in a canoe, while the others hid in bushes and fired repeatedly. The only effect of this was to enrage the animal still more till the four hunters were glad to leap down the steep bank twenty feet into the river, whither the bear pursued them and was within a few feet of one when a good shot from the shore hit him in the head and at last killed him. Eight balls had passed in different directions through him.

On May 26th, from the summit of a hill, Captain Lewis had the first sight of the Rocky Mountains, which seemed to be about fifty miles away. This was from a few miles below Judith River, and the mountains seen were probably the Belt range. They were not the first to see the Rocky Mountains. The French and the Spaniards had been to them farther south. They were surrounded by immense quantities of game from here on to the sources of the Missouri, and their larder was always full of dainties. The river was 150 to 250 yards wide, and they had no difficulty in ascending. There were many signs of the aboriginal owners of the soil, particularly old lodges. This was the country of the Minitarees, who had described it to the leaders. It seems singular that they did not secure two or three of these Amerinds as guides. Had they done so, they would have been spared a good deal of labour and considerable delay. As they toiled up the Missouri they came at length to a point where it was difficult to tell which of two branches to take—that is, which was the real Missouri,—but they finally made a correct decision, and, naming the northern branch Maria's River, continued up the left or southern stream, when they soon arrived at the Great Falls. Had Fidler come down as far as this it would seem that he would have discovered these falls and would have described them, hence as he seems not to have mentioned them it is probable that he did not come much below the branches of Maria's River, and that Lewis and Clark were now in the untrodden Wilderness, untrodden by whites with the possible exception of the Verendryes or some other Frenchman of that period.

A portage eighteen miles long was imperative to surmount the falls, and it was rendered more difficult by extremely hot summer weather. A large cottonwood, the only one of the proper diameter within miles, was felled for the purpose of sawing from its trunk wheels with which to make a carriage for transporting the canoes. Sacajawea had been seriously ill since leaving Maria's River and it was fortunate for the party that she recovered, a happy event largely assisted by draughts from some sulphur springs found here. Here too she, together with Captain Clark, his negro, and her husband, was nearly lost by the flood from a cloudburst, having encamped in a deep, dry ravine. Even to this day people have not learned to avoid camping in the Great West, in the bottoms of ravines and washes which in a few minutes may become filled by roaring torrents.

From the head of the falls they took a fresh start, with an additional canoe that was built there. Throughout this locality they heard the strange booming sounds which are a feature of the region and have not been explained. It was not long before they were confronted by three forks of almost equal dimensions, and they were puzzled as to which was the proper one to choose, the easiest to arrive at the head of some Pacific slope river. While considering the matter they bestowed the names of Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin upon them in the order named from west to east. At last they concluded to ascend the Jefferson, and in this they made no mistake. They pushed up towards its source, following Beaverhead branch, Horse Prairie Creek, and Trail Creek, and on August 12, 1805, Captain Lewis, who had gone somewhat in advance, came, in Lemhi Pass, to the final rill of the Missouri and soon stood beside another brook that swept westward to swell the flood of the Columbia, the first white man to surmount the Backbone of the Continent between Peace River, far to the north, and New Mexico, far to the south. He looked out upon an absolutely unknown portion of the Wilderness,—an area many times that of Spain, which still claimed it. Escalante had been from Santa FÉ to Salt Lake valley, but west and north of his route, to the head of Fraser River, no white man had ever penetrated.

Still advancing before the main body, he met with some stragglers from and then a band of Shoshones, some of whom he had been anxious to meet for the purpose of securing information, for while we speak of the country as unknown, it was, as before noted, only so to white men. The natives knew it perfectly. From these people he borrowed horses and prevailed on the chief to return to the main party with him, a proceeding the chief was doubtful about, for never before having seen white men (though the Lewis and Clark party were so tanned they might have passed for natives) he was fearful of some treachery. On meeting the party, the chief discovered that Sacajawea was his sister, who in childhood had been stolen by the Minitarees. The whole band were overjoyed at seeing this woman whom they had never expected to meet again. Proceeding to the camp of these people, a halt was made while Captain Clark explored in advance down this Lemhi branch and Salmon River into which it flowed. The Shoshones had told them that the country below in this direction was too rough to travel far in any manner, and Clark found out the exactness of this information and returned. With guides from the Shoshone band they then proceeded down the Lemhi branch and over to North Fork which they mounted, thence cutting their way across the range and descending to Ross's Hole on the head of Bitter Root River. This stream they followed down to the mouth of Lolo Creek, where they made a camp called Traveller's Rest. Once more starting on their westward way, they climbed the Bitter Root range again along Lolo Creek, through Lolo Pass, to the head of the Clearwater middle fork, which they called by its Amerind name, Kooskooskie. Passing westerly between this fork and the north fork of the Clearwater, they finally reached a place at the mouth of the north fork whence the natives said they could descend in canoes, therefore they stopped here from September 26 to October 7, 1805, to build some. They were now nearer sea level than at any time since passing Council Bluffs, for the Wilderness is generally above two thousand feet.

The natives were kind and obliging, and though provisions had been alarmingly scarce since leaving the Missouri, they managed to secure enough of one kind or another, roots, dried salmon, horse meat, dogs, and fish, to keep themselves alive. Descending in their canoes the Clearwater, they entered Snake River, or, as they called it, Lewis River, a junction marked to-day by a thriving town named Lewiston in honour of the captain. From this point they had a noble river all the way to the end, broken by rapids, some of which were so fierce they were forced to make portages. As one sails down on the bosom of the Snake to-day and looks up at its towering walls, close and precipitous, with each bend a hazy mystery to the new voyager, he sympathises with these first explorers who followed its torrent to the sea. They soon entered the Columbia, sweeping down on its tremendous reaches, sighting magnificent peaks, and finally reaching the mouth where Robert Gray had cleaved the long line of breakers, thirteen years before. At that time, too, Broughton, one of Vancouver's officers, Gray having broken the way, stemmed the current of the Columbia for about eighty miles, to Point Vancouver, near the mouth of the Willamet. It was on November 7th that they came in sight of the ocean and listened to the music of the breakers, that had deceived so many excellent navigators; a sound full of delight to these men, for it announced the triumph of the undertaking.

Winter quarters were established on the south side at a place not far above the mouth of the river and three miles up a small stream called the Netul. The camp was thirty-five feet above high tide, two hundred yards from the creek, and seven miles east of the sea. Houses were built in a tall pine grove and the village was named Fort Clatsop, after the neighbouring tribe. For some time they had been subjected to constant rain, for the coast hereabouts is a wet one, totally unlike the region they had passed through on the Missouri, which is very dry. The food question continued to be the chief one. Their diet consisted of pounded fish varied by wapatoo roots, and some elk-meat. No serious illness occurred. Every man was buoyed up by a desire to make the expedition a success, and with every undertaking of this kind success ultimately depends on the spirit of the men. The winter wore away and they managed to evade starvation.

One writer refers to the story that a Boston brig put in to the mouth of the river in November or December of this year, but it seems that this story has some error in it, for if the brig had come its captain would have been after furs, and the natives would have known of the visit, and surely would have mentioned it to the explorers. As they did not, it seems that there must be an error in date and that the visit of the brig was the following year, when her captain obtained papers from the natives telling of Lewis and Clark's stay.

On the 23d of March, 1806, they turned their backs on Fort Clatsop and the Western Ocean and retraced their course up the Columbia. Like Cabeza de Vaca they had acquired fame as healers and their services were in demand as medicine-men, a fortunate circumstance, for they now had hardly anything to trade. Even their clothes were made of skins. By means of eye-water and other simple remedies they were able to purchase an occasional horse, a few dogs, and roots and fish. The generosity of one chief was greater than any white man would have been likely to offer, for he told them to help themselves to his horses without remuneration. At length they surmounted the Lolo Pass again and dropped down on the eastern slope of the Bitter Root range to Traveller's Rest. Here Lewis turned up one of the eastern forks of Clark River and crossed to the Missouri by a more direct route, while Clark followed the Bitter Root again, and at its head crossed to the stream they had followed out, and descended to where the canoes had been left. With these, a party under Ordway was sent down the river, and Clark with the rest went from the three forks to the head of the Yellowstone. Building canoes at a point a day or two down this river, they descended it to the Missouri, waiting for Lewis to come to them, a little below the mouth.

Meanwhile the latter had gone up Maria's River and in that locality occurred the only fatal encounter with natives of the whole journey. With several men he was on a side trip when they met a small party of Blackfeet. All camped together. Before the whites were awake in the early morning, the Amerinds attempted to run off with the guns. This move was detected by the guard, who gave the alarm and pursued the one who had his gun. In the scuffle for the possession of this, Reuben Fields stabbed the Blackfoot through the heart and the man instantly dropped dead. With a pistol Lewis, who had been at once awakened, pursued others, who had his gun, but being unable to overtake them, he fired, striking one in the abdomen. Whether this man died or not is unknown, but he lived long enough to return the shot, the ball passing close to Lewis's head. The Blackfeet had also driven off the horses, but all but one were recovered, while for that one the enemy left four of their own. Thus the white men for the moment were victorious. It was an unfortunate episode, and evidently an unavoidable one. It served to enrage the Blackfeet, and turn them violently against the whites. It was not far from here that Cruzatte blindly mistook Lewis for the elk and put a bullet into his thigh.

They passed the camp of two white trappers, Dickson (or Dixon) and Hancock, the first white men they had seen since leaving Fort Mandan. These men had come out from Illinois to trap and trade, the forerunners of a host of others eager to make nature yield them a quick fortune. They had seen Clark the day before and this news was welcome to Lewis, for Ordway, with the boats, having also come safely down, the party was soon reunited. At Mandan they found their old quarters had been accidentally burned. White traders were frequently met below this, for the conditions had materially changed in the more than two years the explorers had been gone. Among these men was Auguste Choteau, a noted man in that region; and McClellan, a former army officer, who was planning a journey to Santa FÉ with some Pawnee and Otoe chiefs, to exchange merchandise for the barrels of gold and silver the Spaniards were thought to possess. The gold quest of the Conquistadores was to be renewed, though now it was the Spaniards who occupied the Seven Cities of Cibola. This trade, as we shall see, developed to considerable proportions.

Lewis and Clark reached St. Louis on September 23, 1806, and were in Washington the middle of February, 1807. Lewis was made governor of Louisiana, Clark was raised to general of militia of the same district as well as agent for the numerous tribes within its area. All were given grants of 320 acres of land and double pay. Lewis died September, 1809, on a journey from St. Louis to Washington. Thus he did not live to see even the beginning of the wonderful development that occurred in the Wilderness where he had so masterfully driven the entering wedge.