Читать книгу Highways and Highway Transportation - George R. Chatburn - Страница 37

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—Another exploring expedition sought a path to extend the commerce of the United States in the far Oregon country. The great Rocky Mountain ranges precluded direct approach. The idea had evidently fastened itself upon Thomas Jefferson, even before he became president, that the Missouri River might be made the highway across the continent, and that trade and commerce thus engendered would inure to the benefit of the country. Also being a highly educated man, he was deeply interested in extending the geographical and biological knowledge of this vast region even though no remuneration to the nation might come therefrom. Furthermore, it is possible, he desired to secure the territories beyond the Rockies as a part of the country, but he was too shrewd to make plain statements to that effect. His shrewdness and the business sagacity of Livingston, minister to France, coupled with the financial straits of Napoleon resulted in obtaining an extensive portion of the country without which the United States could not have developed into a strong well-bound nation reaching from coast to coast. Whether Mr. Jefferson would have attempted to take this country by force matters not now. The fact that the Lewis and Clark military expedition was ready to start almost as soon as the purchase was made, lends suspicion to that idea. The nomination of Monroe to be Minister to France, the man whom Jefferson expected to conduct the Louisiana negotiations, and who arrived in France just in time to see them completed by Livingston, was made January 11, 1803; while the message proposing the expedition was submitted January 18; the treaty of cession for the purchase was signed May 2; and during that same month the expedition which had previously organized left its winter quarters about a day’s journey from St. Louis, and proceeded up the Missouri River. The expedition consisted of forty-five persons in three boats, one a flat boat decked over at the ends and two pirogues[29] together with a number of horses which were to be driven along the bank for the use of the hunters. The personnel consisted of the two officers, Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant (by courtesy Captain) William Clark, both of whom were from families already distinguished in border service; twenty-seven men who expected to make the entire journey; seven soldiers and nine voyageurs who were to go only to the Mandan villages of the Missouri, where the party would winter. Of the twenty-seven permanent members one was a half-breed hunter who would also act as interpreter, two were French voyageurs, and one a negro servant of Clark. All, except the black slave, were enlisted in the army that discipline might be secured. Their progress was necessarily slow and a full account of it reads like a romance. They of course had to live off the country as they proceeded. There was no roadway along the river, often the brush was thick and the grass high; the river with its turbulent waters, snags, and sand bars made navigation difficult; flies and mosquitoes, those pests of bottom and marshy land, were abundant. They had some trouble with the Sioux Indians, but Captains Lewis and Clark were evidently able to cope with them successfully. They reached a point near the present site of Bismarck, N.D., that summer. This region was occupied by the Mandan Indians, who lived in villages of rather permanent character. Among these they found some who had traveled far toward the headwaters of the Missouri. One woman, known as the Bird Woman, was especially helpful to them. She had been captured some time previously from a mountain tribe and according to Indian custom married to one of their own number, a half breed. During the stay at winter quarters, in addition to writing up their journals and records very carefully, they cultivated the acquaintance of this woman. She, with her half breed husband and small child, accompanied the expedition when it began its onward journey in the spring of 1805. There was real need for them not only to act as guides and interpreters, but to replace those who had been sent back down the river with reports of the progress and observations of the expedition up to this time. Part of the duties of the expedition, as heretofore intimated, was to note the character and productivity of the land, as well as the nature and number of Indians found and general information concerning them and their mode of living.

When the falls of the Missouri were reached there seemed to be an impasse. But from logs and other timbers found there they constructed a crude wagon on which their supplies and equipment were transported to the river above. They had brought with them the iron framework of a smaller boat than those used heretofore with the idea of covering it with stretched skins. They found difficulty, however, in getting it watertight. They attempted to get pitch by heating pine tree trunks but were again unsuccessful. They resorted finally to a combination of powdered charcoal, beeswax, and buffalo tallow—practically natural products of the land. The boat floated nicely and they were greatly encouraged but when it was taken from the water the mixture dropped off and the seams opened up. Lewis finally gave up the attempt and buried the framework and built canoes according to the Indian fashion. In passing up they came to forks in the river and were often at a loss which to take. By conference with the Indian woman and reports of scouts sent ahead they were usually fortunate in choosing the right course. Being explorers of a new country they assigned names to the rivers as they discovered them. At three forks, they called the rivers, Gallatin, Madison, and Jefferson, names which they still retain. Three branches of the Jefferson were Philosophy, Philanthropy, and Wisdom; these names have not remained—probably they were too fanciful—the Philanthropy is now the odoriferous Stinking Water.

They followed up the Jefferson until it became too shallow and precipitous to navigate longer. Lewis started out overland into the interior hoping to find an Indian habitation and someone who would guide him to waters flowing Pacificward. Game, which had been very abundant practically all the way, was here scarce and the company were often hungry, and very likely despondent. After arduous and weary wandering Lewis came across an old Indian woman and some girls. They were afraid of him and bowed their heads for execution. Instead he gave them trinkets and face paint. The men of the tribe having come up he with difficulty persuaded them to go with him to the river where the “Bird Woman” who had come with them from the Mandan village was recognized as the sister of the chief of the band with which Lewis had fortunately come in contact.

Their food up to this time, which was mostly meat, was easily supplied from the numerous herds of buffalo, elk, deer, and antelope; from flocks of wild fowl, and prairie chickens; and from several varieties of fish found in the waters. “On the return voyage, when Clark was descending the Yellowstone River, a vast herd of buffalo, swimming and wading, plowed its way across the stream where it was a mile wide, in a column so thick that explorers had to draw up on shore and wait for an hour, until it passed by, before continuing their journey.”[30] They frequently found hungry wolves, grizzly bears, and rattlesnakes which gave them more or less trouble, but they complained mostly of the mosquitoes.

But now having left the open country they found game very scarce. The Indians occasionally brought them a Rocky Mountain sheep but they themselves claim never to have seen one alive. After a short exploration in the region of the headwaters of the Jefferson they decided to continue toward the west. So purchasing ponies from the Indians and cacheing most of their goods went on until the rivers were again passable for boats, where making new canoes they again took to the waters and voyaged to the mouth of the Columbia. Hunger harassed them, while rapids and whirlpools made their downward travel very disagreeable. The Indians on the lower reaches were generally friendly but their food consisted largely of dog meat, which at first was nauseating; however, after awhile they became reconciled to the Indians’ favorite dish.

The party wintered on the coast at a post they named Fort Clatsch. The damp winds here were cold and raw and to persons used to active outdoor life the winter’s enforced idleness cloyed, and they were glad when spring came and they could turn back. The streams toward the mountains are very swift so much of the return journey to the place where they had left their horses with the Nez Percé Indians had to be made on foot. Upon again securing their horses they separated at the top of the divide, Lewis returning by way of the Missouri and Clark going by way of the Yellowstone. Clark for a portion of the way subdivided his party in order that the maximum territory might be explored. They met again at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone and concluded their expedition at St. Louis, September 23, 1806. Thus ended a marvelous journey of three and a third years through a wilderness beset with many dangers, inhabited by savage tribes, venomous reptiles, and ferocious beasts; but a wilderness on the whole extremely friendly, abounding in succulent vegetation and edible game, and endowed with a healthful and invigorating climate. During all this time, notwithstanding hardships and exposures, one man only had died, one had deserted and not more than two Indians had been killed.[31] To Lewis and Clark for their ability to handle men, for their courage, and fidelity should be given much praise.

Upon the report of this expedition being made public very many hunters, trappers and fur traders came to the lands beyond the Missouri. These in turn were followed by bona-fide settlers. Soon this country was furnishing supplies for those farther east, the great rivers Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio being busy routes of internal commerce. As a result of Lewis and Clark’s labors the United States was able to lay claim to the Oregon country some years later. The door was opened for the development of a vast empire with versatile resources far beyond the fabled riches of the far east.