THE LEWIS AND CLARK TRAIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION, INC. In this issue- Incorporated 1969 under Missouri General Not-For-Profit Corporation Act IRS Exemption Certificate No. 501 (C)(3)-ldentification No. 51-0187715 - Page 4- OFFICERS ACTIVE PA.ST PRESIDENTS Luck. or Providence: Narrow Escapes President Irving w. Anderson on the Lewis and Clark. Expedition David Borlaug Portland, Oregon Robert R. Hunt Box 492 Robert K. Doerk. Jr. Washburn. ND 58577 Cheyenne, Wyoming Page 13- President Elect James R. Fazio Cindy Orlando Moscow. Idaho The Chimneys of Fort Mandan Box 604-FC Robert E. Ganen. Jr. Dayton Duncan Astoria, OR 97 103 Greensboro. North Carolina Vice President H. john Montague Page 19- Barbara Kubik Portland. Oregon Burning Daylight with the Captains 10808 N.E. 27rh Court Clyde G "Sid" Huggins Vancouver. WA 98686 Mandeville. Louisiana Stephanie Ambrose Tubbs Secretary Donald F. Nell Ludd Trozpek Bozeman. Montana Page 24- 4 14 1 Via Padova Clark's Fort Osage journal Claremont, CA 91 71 I James M. Peterson Treasurer Vermillion. Souch Dakota Ann Rogers jerry Garren William P. Sherman 1O1 7 4 Sakura Drive Portland. Oregon Page 29- St. Louis, MO 63128 L. Edwin Wang Desoto Bend National Wildlife Rejuge­ Immediate Past President Minneap-0/is. Minnesota What Happens Wh en We Stop a James M. Peterson Wilbur P. Werner Vermillion, SD 57069 Mesa. tlrizona River's Meandering Executive Director Stuart E. Knapp Dan Botkins Sammye Meadows Bozeman. Montana Page 32- DIRECTORS A.T LARGE News Update Jane Henley Robert Weir Beverly Hinds Larry Epstein Chartouesville. Virgini'a Scranton. Pennsylva nia Sioux City. Iowa Cut Bank. Monrana Page 33- Robert Shactuck Frank Muhly James Holmberg Dark Rain Thom Crass Va/fey. Galifornia Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Louisville. Kentucky Bloomington. lndlana Book Reviews Jane Schmoyer-Weber Page 37- Creal Falls. Montana Chapter News Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. Inc. P.O. Box 3434 • Great Falls. MT 59403 (406) 454·1234 • 1·888-701-3434 • Fax (406) 771-9237 • Website: www.lewisandclark.org

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

Membership in the Lewis and Clark Trail /lWftilll tVui8"b,/§,u/ IP 2JU r;/de..i"etl/&i ~~..%u~.1t, $u: &i Heritage Foundation, Inc. is open to the general .t~~ 'fP-1-eaaltil/t r;/de ..i"cw&i tl/ld' fff'tfri ii\Y~ll. .I CtJll.b-ddtiJ/l.f public. Information and an application are avail­ IP ..$t.erti:a .I k:t~~ uml..tfftt1rt-~ll., rueard, &ttebjV/Ztf/tf tVtdJVtYt'r" able by sending a request to: Membership Coor­ vatlil1t r;/de ..i"et//&i r;.m/ fff'iui ~bzce. dinator; Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Founda­ tion, Inc.; P.O. Box 3434; Great Falls, MT 59403. We Proceeded On, the quarterly magazine of the Foundation, is mailed to current members during the months of February, May, August, and November. ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES* Regular $ 30.00 We Proceeded On 1s the official publication of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. Inc. Family 40.00 The publication's name is derived from the phrase which appears repeatedly in rh e collective International 40.00 journals of rhe famous expedition. Heritage Club 50.00 Regular-3 Yr. 80.00 E.G. CHUINARD, M.D., FOUNDER ISSN 0275-6706 Explorer Club 100.00 Martin L. Erickson. Ediror Jefferson Club 150.00 1203 28th Street South #82 Great Falls, MT 59405 Discovery Club 500.00 (406) 761-4 706 Expedition Club 1,000.00 [email protected] Leadership Club 5,000.00

EDITORIAL BOARD Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc. is a tax exempt Robert C. Carriker. Spokane, WA Editorial Consultant: nonprofit corporation: 501 (c)(3), IRS identification no. 5 1- Robert K. Doerk. Jr .• Cheyenne. WY Vivian A. Paladin 0187715. Individual membership dues are not tax deductible. Robert R. Hunt, Seaule, WA Helena, MT The portion of premium dues over $30 is tax deductible'.

2 WE PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 by David Borlaug This past year has proven to be one that anyone ingly to place a statue of Sacagawea in the Capitol's would feel privileged to be president of the Lewis Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. For never having and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. been paid for her valuable services, Sacagawea is fi­ Who could ever imagine a more crowning glory nally getting her due, and by extension, all Native for our cause than to have our own Sacagawea grac­ Americans. ing a gold dollar coin .. . the first new coin of the mil­ While the year was filled with challenges, many of lennium! The warmth of her gaze, with j ean Baptiste which we met, here are some accomplishments I'd nuzzled against her back, makes this the most dra­ like to highlight for you: matic, most beautiful coin in our nation's history. • Completion of the curriculum guide and its in­ Add to her honors that the State of North Dakota, stant acceptance from educators across the country. in its recent legislative sess ion, voted overwhelm- (President's Message continued on page 4)

by Michelle Bussard Lewiston, Idaho; Great Falls, Montana; New Town, Executive Director North Dakota, and Wichita, Kansas. Collectively, well The council's fourth annual national planning over 20 tribes have been represented at the four workshop, "Rivers of Exchange," held in Vancouver, summits to which the sovereign nations encountered Washington- the council's headquarters-was at­ by the Lewis and Clark Expedition were invited to tended by over 300 delegates represetiting 14 fed­ share with the council and many federal agencies eral agencies, 16 tribes, l 2 states, representatives of how they wished to be present, represented and par­ six congressional offices, and countless special inter­ ticipate in the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark est and individual city representatives. An event re- ' Expedition. From this experience, much was markable in and of itself, it was also preceded an d learned. lt is clear that many of the tribes wish to followed by four remarkable tribal gatherings: in (Bicentennial Council column continued on page 4)

It is beginning to look a lot li~e Christmas out scending on the White Cliffs area in the coming there for anything and everything related to Lewis years leading up to and through the bicentennial and Clark. Manna is falling from heaven. Lewis and years. They see a major threat to their way of life Clark is a buzz phrase. We are going to have to get and their economic welfare. bigger and more band wagons for all the enthusiasts And, there are the Native Am ericans who want to to get on. It seems like everybody wants a piece of make sure their voices are heard, their side of the the cake. story is told. They are not at all sure this will happen. Well, almost everybody. We also need to be aware that there are more There are some mightily upset ranchers along the people in this country who are unaware of or don't Missouri River in Montana who are less than enthusi­ care about Lewis and Clark and the upcoming bicen- astic about all the people and boats who w ill be de- (Editor's Desk continued on page 4)

ON THE COVER-Old Main, on the campus of Western Montana College in Dillon, Montana. WMC will be the site of the 2000 Annual Meeting of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation.

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 3 --

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE First and foremost, my ever-pa­ BICENTENNIAL COUNCIL Cont. from p. 3 tient wife Ruth and daughters Cont. from p. 3 Nicolette and Cassandra, who toler­ This remarkable work will prove to ated my regular absences from participate in the bicentennial ex­ be one of our foundation's most en­ home life .. .ei ther off to another perience, but equally strongly w ish during contributions. Our challenge meeting, or at one end of the coun­ to enhance preservation of their now is to partner with enough state try or the other. There are few who cultures and languages, preserve and federal agencies to ensure that would be allowed the freedom I had and protect sacred sites along and near the Lewis and Clark Historical thousands of classrooms across the this past year to serve you, and it is Trail, pursue heritage tourism on country make use of this incredible due to their indulgence. reservations and Indian lands, and resource. Congratulations to Barb Kristie Frieze and Dana Bischke be fully engaged in interpreting the Kubick for heading this effort, and of the North Dakota Lewis and Clark Lewis and Clark story from the Na­ to the National Park Service, for pro­ Foundation shouldered many extra tive American perspective. The dia­ viding funding. burdens this past year, while I logue has just begun and as it • Reprinting of the Gary Moulton tended to national affairs more of­ grows will be increasingly inclu­ Volume One atlas. Your foundation ten than our own statewide con­ sive, challenging and compelling. provided the financial support to en­ cerns. And it was they who readily "Rivers of Exchange" was gener­ courage the University of Nebraska accepted the challenge of hosting_ ously supported by the Association Press to bring back this jewel of car­ our annual meeting, on short notice. of the U.S. Arm y, the City of tography. And, while it is available These two professionals have given Vancouver, State of Washington to the general public, a very limited me more hard work and dedication and National Park Service. These, number of signed, numbered edi­ than anyone should be allowed. and countless "in kind" partners, tions created especially for the foun­ Our long-time friend Dick Will­ including the Oregon Tourism dation are still available. But hurry, iams of the National Park Service Commission, Oregon Historical So­ they won't last long (and may al­ continued to be our true partner this ciety and the Washington State . ready be gone at this printing). past year, and a good friend to me. Historical Society, gave the council • Development of the "feature While the Lewis and Clark Trail pres­ the opportunity to open the event article project," which will result in ence within the NPS is increasing with the Nez Perce Memorial to the "best" of WPO features being with additional funding, I want to Chief Red Heart's Band on the reprinted in book form. This project personally acknowledge Dick's grounds of the Vancouver _National has been Don Nell's child for years, many years of tireless service to our Historic Reserve and provide and J promised him at the begin­ cause. He has been there for us, nearly three days of intensive ning of my term that we would get long before the prospects of the bi­ workshops and plenary sessions moving. Much work has been done centennial brightened our glow. including a full day on education, a by former WPO editor Bob Saindon, And, back to Sammye Meadows. marvelous 'sounds of Lewis and and it is now in the hands of our Our foundation was blessed to find Clark' performance from the Trail able publications committee, her. She has the remarkable combi­ chaired by Jim Holmberg. Stay Band, and keynote addresses from nation of vision and grit to get any­ General Hemphill and Daniel tuned! thing accomplished. She will be our Botkin, author of What Are the Les­ • Most significantly, l am thrilled pilot as we continue to steer sons of Lewis and Clark? (provided that our executive director, Sammye through stormy weather. I am grate­ Meadows, has helped craft the plans as gifts to workshop delegates. ful for her wise counsel , and incred­ Senator Slade Gorton from for what will ultimately be our ible dedication. foundation's greatest contribution to Washington was the closing Finally, allow me to end with a speaker for the workshop. He is preserving our heritage-:-The '.r~il challenge to all of us .. . our country Stewardship Project. This ambitious looking to the council to help pro­ has taken note of our foundation. vide leadership for funding national plan, which awaits funding, will call We are in a leadership position. We upon our foundation's members to Lewis and Clark proj ects. Prepara­ must not fail. Our nation is counting tions are under way and you are step forward and make certain that on us. We must step forward and the Lewis and Clark Trail is not only encouraged to check our web page, accept the respons.ibilities that were www.lewisandclark200.org, for de­ prepared for the impact o~ the bi- . ours from the day we were char­ centennial years, but that indeed, 1t tails on dates and workshop head­ tered. This will be our legacy for quarters. survives! generations to come. I want to thank the Confeder­ I must thank some individuals who Thank you for the privilege of made this year such a joy for me: ated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian serving. Reservation fo r the horse crest

4 WE PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 blanket, as well as Chief Red is, in truth, the council's column The Foundation Needs Heart's descendants for the Nez and I remain honored and Perce horse blankets. They pre­ humbled to represent this incred­ Your Historical Expertise sented these gifts to me during the ible organization and enj oy the op­ As bicentennial momentum Nez Perce memorial. portunity to invest in this picks up, the foundation is being Next year the council's millen­ remarkable bicentennial. As our asked more and m ore frequently nium workshop w ill be held in tag line says: " 1803- 1806 Join us to rev iew projects for historical April in Kansas City, Missouri. for the Journey 2003-2006. And as accuracy. Since accuracy is som e­ Finally, work is nearl y complete Nike says : "just do it!" thing we feel deep pride in, we do on the council's new "mark" which not tak~ these requests lightly. A w ill be unveiled in Bismarck at our EDITOR'S DESK few devoted historians among us annual business meeting. This, Cont.from p.3 have generously contributed their along w ith our newly initiated tri­ time and knowledge for this kind annual newsletter fully underwrit­ tennial than people w ho do. of task in the past, however, now ten by Battelle, Inc., and the Vo ice of doom? Prophet of fail­ the requests are beginning to council's web site designed and ure? outnumber the reviewers by a managed by the estimable j ay Not by a long shot. wide margin. We need m ore Rasmussen, w ill provide the foun­ We just need to be alert to the people in our resource pool. dation of a strong national identity needs and co ncern (or lack of) of The foundation is establishing a and communications package that all our audiences as we proceed on w ill underpin and help launch the to and through the bicentennial. fee schedule, w hich w ill vary national commemoration of the bi­ We need to know that opportu­ according to the magnitude of the centennial of the Lewis and Clark nities abound to make those w ho proj ect to be reviewed. Most of the Expedition. In all of th is, it is the are unaware of the Lewis and Clark fee w ill be paid to the reviewer, council's remarkable board of direc­ Expedition and all its ram ifications and a small portion of it will be contributed to the foundation. The tors that ultimately deserves the ku­ • more aware of the expedition with dos fo r guiding and supporting the tools such as the curriculum guide project can then list the foundation early years of this organization and and educational v ideos developed as an historical resource, and the foundation can be satisfied that its accomplishments. Credit is by the found·ati.on and others. The shared with the foundation's board federal C1epartment of Educati on is one more proj ect tells the story that had the foresight to create the taking note of our curriculum guide with as much historical accuracy as council. Though it is said this is the and it appears to have a bright fu­ possible. "executive director's column," this Becom e a trustee of the adven­ ture. Interest in Lewis and Clark and ture! If you are an expert on any WPO CLASSIFIED ADS the bicentennial is growing in aspect of the Lewis and Clark Expedition-its members, mission, Classified rates in WPO are 50 small ways as well as large ways. flora, fauna, food, medicine, Native cents per word for foundation Over 3 70 were registered for the Am ericans, archeology, navigation, members; 75 cents per word fqr annual meeting in Bismarck by non-members; $10.00 minimum . June I . This com pares favorably to clothing, equipment, Jefferson, The address, city, state and zip the average of 220 to 250 who at­ genealogy, etc.-and would like to count as one word. Payment tended our annual meeting for be part of this very im portant must accompany all ads. m any years. foundation service, please send Deadline for ads is six weeks More than 2,200 people partici­ your nam e, address, phone, fax, e­ before the publication month of pated in Lewis and Clark Festival mail, and area(s) of expertise to the scheduled quarterly issue, activities in Great Falls. I am sure executive director Sammye Mead­ e.g. March 15 for the May issue. other Lewis and Clark fes tivals and ows at P.O. Box 3434, Great Falls, Please send ads to: Editor, We activiti es around the country are MT 59403. Or, if you yourself are Proceeded On , 12 03 28th Street seeing similar increases. not an expert, but can recommend someone who is, pl ease send that South, #82, Great Falls, MT The voice of the Boy Scouts 59405. looms large as we look fo rward to person's name, address, etc. Ads will be limited to offering the bicentennial-be prepared. Your names will be placed in a sales of services or material resource directory that we will related to the Lewis and Clark prov ide to people w ho want their Expedition. projects reviewed. Thanks for your help!

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 5 Narrow Esuapes on the Lewis and Clark Expedition

by Robert R. Hunt ought to be assigned "to a singular guns, lost footing, and the like. Fi­ "Over them triumphant Death his interposition of Providence, and not nally, less than 10 percent resulted Dart Shook; the wisdom of those who com­ from unexpected hostile confronta­ 5 But delaid to strike." manded the expedition. " Chuinard tions with native groups. Each per­ - Milton, Paradise Lost, xi. 490 concluded at length that the safe son of the party was in peril at one conduct of the mission, from a time or another, either individually hen Dr. "Frenchy" medical point of view, was "a mi­ or collectively with the group. In Chuinard wrote his raculous feat," simply "incredible." individual accidents, the two cap­ W masterful book on the · No less incredible, besides the tains were by far the ones most of­ medical aspects of the Lewis and medical aspects, is the record of ten at risk: Lewis at least 1 2 times, Clark Expedition, he was in con­ survival from many accidents or Clark at least nine times. Others stant awe that only one man died.' chance happenings which often with multiple exposure included "How was it possible," he asked, were nearly fatal. Beyond every Drouillard, Joseph Field, "that these men could undertake turn in the river, or j ust over the Charbonneau and Shannon. I find and return safely from such an ex­ next ridge, life-threatening danger only six men who were not men­ pedition so gloriously7"- surviving constantly lurked. The wonder is tioned specifically by name as in­ an ordeal of 8,000 miles through that after repeated narrow escapes, volved in an accident, but an unknown wilderness, enduring none of the party was ever fatally obviously, all were in danger when 28 months of "extreme conditions tagged in an accident. collectively threatened.8 We pro­ of work, cold, hunger and disease," In the journals, however, any cu­ ceed, then, to a round-up, in sum­ all without the attention of a mulative impression of these hair­ mary form, of these perilous trained physician. raising situations is too easily moments, grouped together under "Incredibly ... only one man died!"2 blunted-submerged in day-to-day the headings suggested above. Indeed, how was it possible? travel data, weather reports, natu­ Chuinard cast about for an answer. ral history minutia-all the "scien­ Watery Depths~Old Man With all due respect for Captains tific" aspects of the expedition.6 River, 1804 Lewis and Clark, their leadership For a fresh perspective on the "sur­ • May 15- The keel-boat, carrying skills alone could not account for vivability" of the explorers, one most of the Corps-"run foul three the party's success. Chuinard cited must lift out, from the massive de­ times .. . on logs ... was several min­ Olin D. Wheeler, who ascribed the tail of the multi-volume journals, utes in eminent danger." result to "rare good luck. "3 Yet, the records where life was at • May 24- At the "Devils race even the rarest good luck will run stake-the times when Death was grounds" the barge struck the out: As Sancho said to Quixote on "shaking his dart" at the Corps of sands-"the Toe roap Broke, the an earlier "voyage of discovery" - Discovery. Boat turned Broadside .. . She "Fortune is a drunken whimsical There were at least 56 incidents wheeled & lodged on the bank jade, blind, and therefore neither involving some unfortunate event, below ... three times ... this place be­ sees what she does, nor knows a disaster, or a mishap.7 Roughly ing the worst I ever saw ... we were whom she casts down or whom two-thirds of these related to haz­ So nearly being lost. .. " she sets up ... "4 Seeking a better ards of nature, either physical or • June 9-Again struck a log, explanation than blind luck, animate; e.g. river and weather turned the boat "against Some drift Chuinard turned to William Clark: dangers, creature en counters & Snags ... with great force." At a homecoming reception at (bears, snakes, etc.). About one­ • June 14-At the "Place of Fincastle, Virginia, Clark declared fourth were "self-induced" through Snakes," the boat struck a sand bar that the general safety of the party personal error, i.e. mishandled and was nearly upset-"obliged to

6 WE PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 run great [risk] of Loseing both Boat & men ... " • June 29- The boat again struck a moving sand bar-turned within 6 inches of a large sawyer-"if the Boat had Struck the Sawyer .. .S he must hav Sunk in the Deep water below ... " • July 14-A "Storm Struck our boat ... and would have thrown her up on the Sand Island dashed to peces in an Instant, had not the party Jeeped out on the Leward Side and kept her off with ... ancker & Cable ... " • September 30-" .. .the Sturn of the boat got fast on a log ... was verry near filling ... the Chief on A canoe striking on a tree. From The journals of Patrick Gass, edited and board was So fri tened ... he ran off annotated by Carol Lynn MacGregor. Mountain Press Publishing Company, and hid himself. .. " Missoula, Montana, 1997. Other members of the group, traveling in the two perogues, nod toward "good luck," he added, get her upright. Lewis came des­ faced sim ilar trials. On September "wefortunately escaped." A few perately near plunging in the water 21, at 1 :30 a.m., the sand bar on weeks later, May 11 , after further and swimming to the rescue-but which the party was camped, be­ bouts w ith the "very crooked" "recollected the fo lly on the at­ gan to give way. Clark was awak­ river, Lewis mused: tempt." They credited Peter ened and saw by the light of the I sometimes wonder that some Cruzatte w ith forcing control and moon that the sand "would Swal­ of our canoes or perogues are getting the party ashore. Lewis sur­ low our Perouges in a few m inits." not-swallowed up by means of mised again that the occupants All hands were ordered on board the immence masses of earth must "have perished had the and pushed off. Part of the Camp which are eternally preciptating perogue gone to the bottom." fell into the river ... "which would themselves into the river. we Further upstream, in 1805: Certainly have Sunk both Perogues have had many hair breadth • May 31 - The white perogue by the time we made the oped. escapes from them but provi­ touched a rock and "was very near Shore ... " dence seems so to have ordered overseting." Lewis feared that "her In the spring of 1805, as the it that we have as yet sustained evil genni will play so many Corps resumed water travel from no loss in consequence of them. pranks .. . that she will go to the bot­ Ft. Mandan, the W hite Perogue'\ tom some of these days." was crucial to the success of the Three days later, Lewis had to • June 1 7-0ne canoe turned mission. It usually carried the most report an occurrence which he over, as the men attempted to sur­ valuable part of the cargo, as well could "not recollect but with the mount rapids at a falls "4 feet as the several non-swimmers. In utmost trepidation and horror" -a prepinticular." the afternoon of April 13, w ith replay with the white perogue. • July 26- Charbonneau, accom­ sails hoisted, 200 yards from the Again at risk "almost every article panying Clark on a reconnais­ nearest shore, it was struck by "a indispensably necessary:"· and sance, was "very near being swept sudden squall of wind," and was again, under sail, another "sudon away by the current .. . Capt C. how­ "as near overseting ... as it was pos­ squaw! of wind.: The perogue was ever risqued him and saved his sible." Drouillard's quick response struck obliquely, was instantly up­ life. " in taking in the sails enabled recov­ set-"completely topsaturva ... " • August 6-Near the Three Riv­ ery. Lewis judged that if the Watching on the bank, 300 yards ers Valleys, several canoes were up­ perogue has "overset," the three distant, the two captains looked on set. Private W hitehouse was non-sw immers, as well as in horror while the perogue lay on thrown out and pressed under one Sacagawea and child, "would most her side for half a minute before of these- "had the water been 2 probably have perished." With a the crew could take in the sail and inches shallower must inevitably

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 7 have crushed him to death." storms tested the explorers repeat­ hail descended, tripping off an ava­ Once over the hump of the Great edly. In the very fi rst days of the ex­ lanche of rocks and mud rushing to­ Divide, on downstream waters pedition, Captain Clark, January 9, ward them. Clark scrambled up the bound for the ocean, the party 1804, near the mouth of the Mis­ steep bluff, dragging, pushing and threaded its way th rough perilous souri, took a ducking: while crossing shoving his companions-"one mo­ rapids. On October 8, 1805, Sgt. a frozen pond 400 yards wide, the ment longer & it would have swept Gass's canoe split open and sank on ice broke- his feet froze to his shoes. them into the river just above the the rapid; those aboard, incl uding He was "verry unwell" from the ex­ great cataract of 87 feet where they non-swimmers, managed to hang on cessive cold ... At Fort Mandan, Octo­ must have inevitably perished." Dur­ to the canoe until Clark could dis­ ber 1804, a raging prairie fire passed ing this same storm, several men patch a rescue party. The Gass jour­ by the corps' encampment. The vio­ moving baggage over the plains of nal reports: "Fortunately the water lence and spread of this "truly the portage were "sorely mawled was not more than waist deep ... so tremendious" fire caught a native with the hail which was so large and our lives and baggage were saved." man and woman, burned them to driven with such force by the wind On October 25, Clark found it "truly death. November 13, Lewis and six that it nocked many of them gratifying" when the last canoe fi­ men ventured upriver through the down''. .. most of them bleeding nally passed through a dangerous ice looking for stone to build their freely and much bruished. channel. He had noted, above the chimneys-"they got fast on a Sand whirl of the torrent, an audience of bar & had to be out in the water Cliff Hangers Indians "on the rocks viewing us"­ ab to. 2 hours." Their clothing froze During the first weeks from Camp doubtless expecting the strangers to on them ... On December 8, hunting Dubois (spring 1804). Lewis wished meet their doom. buffalo with the thermometer at 12 to inspect a large cave in a high cliff After winter at the mouth of the below zero, several suffered frost above the river. "300 feet high hang­ Columbia, when the corps headed bite, particularly (and poignantly) the ing over the water." Having climbed back upstream in the spring and black man York.9 But the ultimate to this objective, he lost his footing, summer of I 806, the river struggle cold for Clark was in the Bitterroots slipped and fell; Clark wrote that "he resumed: September I 6, 1805- in thin caught at 20 foot." A year later. • May 30-Shannon and Collins "mockersons," slogging through the Lewis was snaking his way through survived a canoe "driven broadside thick timber and snow cover of Lolo wet rocks and gumbo across the face with the full force of a very strong Pass, fearful of frozen feet: "I have of a high bluff-again, he slipped, current against some standing been wet and as cold in every part and but fo r a "quick recovery by trees ... and sunk" -Potts, a poor as ever I was in my life ... " Earlier, means of his espontoon," he would swimmer, made land with difficulty. mid-May of that year, fire had come "have been precipitated into the river • July 3-Lewis, himself, on a crude close to catching both captains. down a craggy precipice of about raft w ith several non-sw immers, was along with Charbonneau, wife and ninety feet." Scarcely having reached drawn off by a bush, had to swim ch ild. A large tree had caught fire a place to stand. he heard a voice cry aside whil e his endangered compan­ late at night over their leather out behind him, "good god Capt. ions, clinging to the raft, "fortunately "lodge;" just after a frantic move of what shall I do." "lt was Private made shore below." the lodge, the top of the burning tree Windsor who had just slipped and • August 4-Willard, thrown over­ fell exactly on the place where the fallen, was "lying prostrate on his board from Ordway's canoe when lodge had stood-"had we been a belly with his wright hand arm and struck by sawyers, grabbed hold of few minutes later we should have leg over the precipice while holding one, set himself adrift among the been crushed to attoms." Burning with his left arm and foot as well as sawyers "which he fortunately es­ coals were thrown on the rest of the he could ... " Lewis "expected every caped," and met up again with party who were "much harrassed instant to see him loose his strength Ordway. also by this fire." and slip off." To relieve the suspense • August 31 -0nce more a "Suden Li fe was again measured in min­ of how Lewis saved Windsor's life, Squal of Wind" broke cables of two utes for Clark and companions near read his entry for June 27, 18051 (We small canoes; Willard and Weiser on the Great Falls. Accompanied by aren't making this up.) board trying to save them were Charbonneau, wife and child, Clark Lewis had yet to record "the "blown quite across the river ... where saw an ominous "black cloud rising most wonderful escape [he] ever fortunately they arrived safe." in the West; " he hustled the group to w itnessed"-at least until Septem­ Nature's Grip a perch under some shelving rocks. ber l 9, 1805. The party was again Ice, fire, severe cold and violent Soon a violent torrent of rain and on a steep precipice. Frazier's horse

8 WE PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 fell and rolled, with his load, nearly monstrous bears. Ap ril 29: Lewis, perpendicular bank. The bear a hundred yards into the creek, hunting on shore, wounded two of plunged in "only a few feet be­ down a hill which was "almost per­ these creatures. One escaped but hind," but was dispatched by the pendicular and broken by large ir­ the other, a three hundred fire of the two men in reserve on regular and broken rocks." pounder, pursued Lewis 70 or 80 shore. Eight balls had been passed Expecting to see a dead horse, the yards before he could recharge his through him in different directions. party saw the anim al get up, "but gun and kill the anim al. May 11 : Clark said the bear "had like to littlle injured," and in 20 m inutes Bratton shot a "m onstrous beast" have defeated the whole party." proceed on. through the center of its lungs; it Other grizzly escapes: Other accidents where horses then pursued Bratton a half m ile­ • June 2-A bear "very near slipped or fell, endangering the Lewis and seven men trailed the catching Drewyer; it also pursued m en astride: wounded bear and shot him, "2 Charbono ... " • September 22, 1805-Clark's balls through the skull." Lewis's • June 4- 0ne nearly caught Jo­ "young horse in fright threw journal is dism ally prophetic: seph Field- "bear was so near that himself ... [and Clark] on the side of " these bear being so hard to die it struck his foot." a steep hill," and hurt Clark's hip reather intimidates us all ... "-the • June 14-Lewis had j ust killed a "much." very words (as italicized) w hich buffalo and forgot to re load, when • June 18, 1806-Colter's horse Lewis is said to have uttered four a large bear crept within 20 steps fell while crossing a creek, threw years later, in personal agony, on before being discovered. The bear Colter off, he suffered an injured the last day of his life, October 11 , pitched at him , "open mouthed leg. 1809, when he m et his own death and full speed;" Lewis ran toward • June 30, 1806-Lewis's horse by gun shot on the Natchez the stream about 80 yards, the slipped and fell. Lewis himself also Trace ... bear gaining fas t. Lewis jumped in "fell backwards and slid near 40 A 500 hundred pounder was en­ the water waist high, turned and feet down the hill .. . the horse near countered May 14. Six good hunt­ pointed his espontoon at the on­ falling on me." ers surrounded him undetected coming beast; lo, the creature sud­ • July 18, 1806-Gibson on w ithin 40 paces and opened fire­ denly wheeled about and ran off at mounting his horse, "fell on a snag "in an instant the monster ran at full speed three miles and disap­ and sent in nearly two inches into them w ith o p~n mouth." Unable to peared in the distance! "The cause the Muskeler part of his thy ... a reload, the men took flight, were of his allarm," Lewis wrote, "still very bad wound and pains him ex­ nearly overtaken; two th r~w them­ remains with me m isterious and ceedingly." selves into the river over a 20 foot unaccountable." • June 17, 1805-While ascend­ ing cliffs to measure the height of the Great Falls, Clark was "near Slipping into the water at w hich place I m ust have been Sucked un­ der in an instant ... " • August 5, 1805- Along ste€p precipices, Drouillard "missed his step and had a very dangerous fall." These close calls occurred where rushing water or slippery earth, i. e. sheer gravity, inanimate nature, could have acounted for victim s. But the most fearful and startling encounters were animated-those where the m en literally stared into live jaws of death. Creature Crises During the spring of 1805, to­ An American having struck a bear but not killed him, escapes into a tree. From ward the Great Falls, there were at The j ournals of Patrick Gass, edited and annotated by Carol Lynn MacGregor. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, Montana. 1997. least nine confrontations with

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 9 • June 18-Willard was "very caped being bitten by a rattle­ in the resulting tangle but Lewis near being Caught;" Colter also. in snake, " and again on August 15, he was so angered that he took 24 the same encounter. was "very near being bitten men in pursuit the next day­ • June 25- Joseph Field ran into twice .. . the Indian woman also nar­ though too late to catch the rob­ three of the monsters, "only a few rowly escaped." Lewis too had had bers. steps distant."- "the second time a rattler stand-off on May 26. Re­ • July 27, 1806-Lewis's famous he has narrowI y escaped them." turning to camp in the late twi­ fight with a party of eight Piegan More than a year later, again light, he "trod within five inches of Blackfeet while scouting the Two near the Great Falls, the most pub­ a rattlesnake in a striking attitude;" Medicine River: Lewis, with licized bear scrape of all occurred. Lewis flayed about at random with Drouillard and the two Field broth­ (See accompanying illustration his espontoon, managing to kill the ers, camped in an uneasy truce from Gass's journal, page 9.) Lewis viper before it bit him. Ordway's with this band overnight. At dawn reflected that there seemed to be journal for June 12 relates that one the Indians managed to steal the "a certain fatality attached to the man actually took hold of a rattler rifles of Lewis and his men, who neighborhood of these falls." "which was in a bunch of bushes were still asleep or dozing. In a McNeal on horseback was unknow­ as he was walking along the tow­ hectic skirmish the four explorers ingly within 10 feet of a grizzly in ing line, but luckily escaped being were able to recover their guns; thick brush. The horse in fright bit. " but in the melee Reuben Field threw McNeal immediately under A fi nal instance where nature stabbed one Indian to death; a sec­ the bear. McNeal clubbed the ani­ literally bared fangs is recorded by ond Indian may also have been mal with his musket, stunning the Clark's entry of August 8, 1806- k illed in an exchange of fire with attack and giving McNeal time to reporting on Sgt. Pryor's mission Lewis. While the Indians dispersed, climb a nearby tree. He remained bound for Ft. Mandan. On July 26, Lewis and company rounded up hung up there until late evening during the night "a Wolf bit Sergt. enough horses to beat a desperate when the bear finally gave up and Pryor through his hand when retreat, hell-bent for the Missouri left. Lewis's journal for July 15 asleep;" the animal also attacked River. After a near non-stop, 24 to records that "it seems ... the hand of Windsor nearby when "Shannon 26 hour horse race of more than providence has been most wonder­ fortunately shot him." Editor Gary 100 miles, they reached the river fully in our favor with rispect to Moulton notes that the "Wolf's be­ j ust in time to greet the detach­ them, or some of us would have havior suggests rabies but neither ment which had been stationed at long since fallen a sacrifice to their Pryor nor Windsor contracted the the Great Falls and was then coin­ farosity." disease as far as is known." cidentally floating downriver for With other creature assaults. the ultimate rendezvous with the rest Native Challenges difference between life and death of the corps. Thus ended perhaps There were only five hostile inci­ was sometimes in inches, not just the most dramatic escape of the minutes. Late at night on May 29, dents where life was directly expediti on. 1805, a large buffalo bull leapt on threatened by native people: There was always action wher­ 25, 1804-The and over the white perogue • September ever Drouillard might be. With the beached on shore, charged full Teton Sioux attempt to block pas­ Shoshones near Lemhi Pass. speed toward the camp fires and sage of the corps on the upper Mis­ Drouillard was alone on horseback was within 18 inches of the heads souri: A show-down on the river hunting for game. Coming upon a of some of the men who lay sleep­ bank ensued-Clark with drawn small group of natives, he dis­ ing. When the animal rushed near sword and all hands under arms, mounted for a friendly visit, laid the captains' tent, Lewis's dog Sea­ eyeball to eyeball opposite Sioux down his rifle and turned out his man "saved us by causing him to chiefs backed by t 00 warriors, horse to feed. Ordway reported change course." The dog's feat was bows drawn and aimed straight at (August 22, 1805) that one of the remarkable in itself, considering the party. Clark's bravado seems to Indians took Drouillard's gun and that j ust 10 days previously he had have carried the day, no one hurt, "Sprang on his horse and rode been bitten by a beaver through but it must have been close! off." Drouillard quickly mounted the hind leg; the artery was cut. Later near Ft. Mandan, a raiding his own horse. chased the thief Lewis had difficulty stopping the party of the Sioux (February 1805) "about 20 miles," caught up with blood- "! fear it will prove fatal to m et up w ith a detachment of the him; wrestling with the armed In­ him." corps gathering meat 25 miles out dian, Drouillard recovered his gun Clark on May 17 "narrowly es- from the fort. No blood was spilled and send the assai lant fleeing. A

IO W E PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 man of lesser skill than Drouillard Lewis had "much difficulty in abled and in pain fo r several could have turned up missing in stoping the blood." weeks. One cannot help being re­ such a broil. On August 22. 1804, on a bluff minded, again, in these gun shot One further hostile scuffle: in present day Jackson County, episodes, of that fatal night, years Scene: The Salt Works, a day's trek South Dakota, Lewis geologically after the expedition. when Lewis south of Fort Clatsop on the Or­ examined and pounded a sub­ died of gun shot wounds on the egon coast. Action: near murder of stance thought to be "arsenic or Natchez Trace. Private McNeal! Captain Clark and Cobalt." Clark wrote that Lewis Home at Last several companions from Clatsop "was near poisoning himself by The Cruzatte accident was the were visiting the "salt detachment" the fumes & tast of the Cobalt." last brush with death before the at this remote post. On January 9, His narrowest escapes however end of the journey. Looking back 1806, in the late evening, Clark's were from gun fire. The famous air over the preceding two years, accu­ native guide "made signs that gun, in retrospect, had provided a mulating all the narrow escapes Someone's throat was cut. " It de­ kind of warning at the very com­ and considering them together, veloped that McNeal had been mencement of the expedition, em­ one shares the same sense of awe lured into a nearby native lodge on barking from Pittsburgh. A visitor, that Dr. Chuinard had-that only "a premeditated plan of [a] pre­ permitted to examine the instru­ one man died ... Often on the edge tended friend of McNeal to ment, "suffered her to discharge of that "undiscovered country from assanate for his Blanquet. " A Chi­ herself accedently." The bullet whose bourn no traveler returns," nook woman gave the alarm to hat of a passed through the the explorers had suffered their full Clark et al. "in time to prevent the woman about 40 yards distant. cut share of the "slings and arrows of horred act," and the would-be as­ her temple, blood gushing pro­ outrageous fo rtune." 10 Readers like­ sassin ran off. fusely. Lewis supposed she was minded with Olin Wheeler may "Own Worst Enemies?" dead but "in a minute she revived deny that fortune was "outra­ to our enespressable satisfac- A number of self-induced acci­ geous" for the Corps- was really dents, within the customary daily • tion ... " Later, Lewis would m iss nothing but " ra re good luck." death by gun shot on three differ­ activity of the explorers, could Those of a different mind, how­ have been devastating. Private Sh­ ent occasions. Once. among the ever. can turn back to Quixote, annon, the 18 year old, youngest Shoshones-. Lewis and Private when Sancho called fortune "a man of the party. while hunting on Frazier"were hunting in the area of drunken whimsical jade." "I can shore, got far ahead of the main the "Shoshone Cove," August 25, tell thee." said Quixote, "there is I 805. Frazier fired his musket at body moving up the Missouri. no such thing as Fortune in the Thinking himself behind, rather some ducks in a little pond 60 world, nor does anything which than ahead, he kept hurrying on, yards distant from Lewis-"the ball takes place there, be it good or trying to catch up-was thus Jost rebounded from the water and bad, come about by chance. but passed w ithin a very few feet of for 12 days-according to Clark's the special pre-ordination of report (September 11 , 1804) on the me. " He had an even closer shave Heaven ... " in the fight with the Blackfeet, brink of starvation. "without any Take your choice: Was it "good when his wounded antagonist fired thing to eate but Grapes & one fortune," or was it "providence"? Rabit, which he Killed by shooting at him . Being bareheaded he "felt Blind luck or divine intervention­ a piece of hard stick in place of a the wind of the bullet very dis­ that saved their necks? Meriwether ball. " Later, at Fort Mandan, March tinctly." Two weeks later (August Lewis and William Clark were 11. 1806) a bullet finally did catch 7, 1805, Shannon cut his foot with mindful of. and acknowledged an adze. Previously, at Mandan him. Lewis and Peter Cruzatte both explanations ... Or was it j ust (November 11, 1804). two others were hunting mid-day "on a thick "an incredible miracle?" "cut themselves with an ax" while willow bar." Lewis was about to fire constructing their huts. On the on an elk when a ball struck his homeward journey, June 18, 1806, left thigh and cut "the thickness of Potts was one of four men in front the bullet across the hinder Hunt is a frequent contributor of the main body in the Bitterroots, part .. . the stroke was very severe." to WPO. He is a member of the hacking through brush to open a Cruzatte, a man of poor eyesight, WPO editorial board. trail. He "cut his leg very badly accidentally had shot his com­ mander! Lewis was physically dis- with one of the large Knives. " (LUCK continued on page 12)

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON I I 2000 Annual Meeting to Be in Dillon, Montana

The 32nd Annual Convention of pus. A recent major renovation Lost Trail Pass it will proceed to the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage project has refurbished many of Jackson (Clark's berling springs) for Foundation w ill be held in Dillon, the buildings and dormitories. dinner and return to Dillon. The Montana. on August 13, 14, 15 and The Dillon area offers many other trip will travel to Twin 16, 2000. Lewis and Clark sites. The Beaver's Bridges, the Beaver's Head, Clark's Dillon is located in southwestern Head, the diorama of Lewis and Lookout, the Lewis and Clark Di­ Montana on Interstate 15 and State Clark at the Beaver's Head, Clark's orama, Camp Fortunate and return Route 41. It is 62 miles south of Lookout, Rattlesnake Cliffs, and the to Dillon for dinner. Butte and 11 5 miles southwest of Camp Fortunate site are all within Several seminars and break-out Bozeman. Butte and Bozeman a short distance. Dillon is most of­ sessions are planned for the con­ (Gallatin Field) are the closest air­ ten the starting point for a trip to vention. The banquet speaker will ports. Dillon is 145 miles north of Lemhi Pass and Sacagawea Memo­ be Dr. Albert Furtwangler of Salem , Idaho Falls, Idaho. rial Park. Oregon. Dr. Furtwangler is the au­ The convention site w ill be at The town has seven motels and thor of several books about the ex­ Western Montana College. The four RV camps. Additional lodging pedition, including one titled Acts school was authorized by the legis­ will be at the college if needed. of Discovery. There will also be a lature in 1893 as the State Normal During the convention we w ill presentation by Dr. Barry Gough of College. Through a series of name have two major field trips. Each Ontario, Canada. His appearance changes it has become Western trip will occur on co nsecutive days, was arranged through the Montana College of the University w ith the participants switching to Alexander MacKenzie Voyageur As­ of Montana. It is still primarily a the other trip on the second day. sociation. He w ill talk about the re­ teacher training institution. One trip will proceed to Lemhi lationship of the MacKen zie The college consists of 20 build­ Pass, into the Salmon, Idaho area Expedition and the Lewis and ings located on a 24.5 acre cam- and on to Lost Trail Pass. From Clark Expedition.

LUCK Cont.from p. 12 END NOTES 'Eldon G. Chuinard. M.D. Only One Man an over-ruling Providence," was used by CLASSIFIEDS Died. the Medical Aspects of the Lewis and Alexander Hamilton with reference to the Clark Expedition, Western Frontiersman Louisiana Purchase, from a report in the Series XIX, Ye Galleon Press, Fairfield, New York Evening Post, July 5, 1803. See LEWIS &. CLARK Bicentennial Washington , copyright 1979 by Lewis and Albert Furrwangler, Acts of Discove1y. Vi­ Commemorative items- Medal­ Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Bozeman, sions of America in the Lewis and Clark lion, Peace Medal, Buckle and journals, University of Illinois Press, Ur­ Montana, Fourth Printing 1980, p. 24. The Keytag. Brochure from Double only man who died was Sgt. Charles Floyd, bana and Chicago, 1993, pp. 20, 249n. 13. early in the voyage, August 20, 1804, near 6Gary E. Moulton, ed .. The journals of the Cabin Trading Co .. P. O. Box present-day Sioux City, Iowa, presumably Lewis and Clark Expedition, University of 249, Victor, MT 59875, (406) from an attack of appendicitis, i.e. not a Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London 1986 , 961-4188. result of an accident. Volumes 2-11 . All quotations or references 2Where italicized words appear in quota­ from the journals noted herein are from tions from journals or other sources in the Moulton, by date indicated in the text, LEWIS &. CLARK Collectibles, T­ foregoing text, the italics have been added unless otherwise stated in these notes. shirts. hats and miscellaneous 7 by the author of this paper. This compilation of life-threatening situa­ now included in The Woodland 3 tions does not include sicknesses or mala­ 0lin D. Wheeler, The Trail of Lewis and Catalog. Included in summer Clark. 7804-06, C.P. Putnams' Sons, New dies where medical attention was applied York and London 1926, p. 46. by the "Captain-physicians" while survival issue is the remaining supply of 4Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don or recovery remained in question-as. for collector spoons featuring Lewis Quixote de la Mancha, translated by John example, Sacagawea's illness at the Great & Clark from the nation's 1976 Falls. For these situations the reader is Ormsby. Great Books of the Western bicentennial. For a free copy World, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., Chi­ referred, of course, to Chuinard, Note I cago, 1952, Vol. 29, p. 408c. above. contact: Woodland, 310 N. Main 8 5 Donald Jackson, ed., Letters of the Lewis viz. Privates Goodrich, Howard, Labiche, St., Moscow, ID 83843, (208) and Clark Expedition with Related Docu­ LaPage, Shields and Werner. 882-4 7 6 7. Please mention 9 Clark wrote that York's " feet also frosted ments 1783-1854, Second Edition, Univer­ WPO. sity of Illinois Press, Chicago, 1978, Vol. I , & his P-s a little ... " p. 359. A si m ilar phrase, "interpositions of

12 WE PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 I I C°&he •••• ...... ii .I- ...... Ail -.n. ii ...- tlr ~ IL- II -U';; ii& II IL- ·­ • . r:-11 II I u •1• 11'1 ,_ I"' § _q~_~ott @/UanfJ-an ·­-· ~ I! - =!!II !I !.. - • ..- -·Over 25 years ago. Gate City Sav­ years .. .with a background choir of toilso me struggle that had moved ings and Loan Association gave the songbirds exulting from the them perhaps 12 miles, set up McLean County Historical Society a cottonwoods ...with an eagle flying their tents, cook a meal, fall into a $10,000 grant for the completion of overhead. Dayton delivered the fol­ much needed sleep, and then set the Fort Mandan reconstruction go­ lowing address to an audience off once more in the morning to­ ing on at that time at Washburn, caught on his every word. ft was a ward the next horizon. North Dakota. The grant was the very special time at Fort Mandan. But for five solid months, this grand prize in a "Better Way of Life" along the Missouri River in North was each day's starting point and contest for community improvement Dakota. this was each day's destination. projects. t has been nearly 200 years since On November 2, 1804, Lewis Fast forward to 1999, and Fort smoke last rose from the noted that the captains had picked Mandan. now under the care of the chimneys of Fort Mandan­ a site-and a name-for the fort; North Dakota Lewis & Clark Bicen­ !) since cottonwood logs on November 3, Clark wrote, "we tennial Foundation, is about to begin popped and crackled and commence building our cabins;" a transformation into a more histori­ blazed on the hearth, illuminating and on the 4th, he scribbled the cally accurate replica. Enter now the small rooms with a fickle, words "Fort Mandan" next to the Gate City Federal Savings Bank, with dancing light and casting a warm date of his diary entry for the first a grant of $35,000 to pay for the ad- embrace toward the farthest wall. time. (Those were two of the few dition offireplaces and chimneys. , There's something about a fire words William Clark never mis­ Gate City Federal President Bob that tends to bring out stories from spelled. He spelled "mosquito" l 9 Anderson was on handjune 5 as those gathered around it, and so different ways in his journals, and those fireplaces were Iit for the first today, after 1,94 years of absence, once spelled "cherry" three ways time. in aformal dedication during as fire5.- burn once more in Fort in a si ngle sentence. But "Fort Washburn's annual "Lewis and Clark Manda'n, let us gather around and Mandan" he never got wrong.) Days." tell stories of the Corps of Discov­ On April 7, 1805, he would "We were glad to be there for the ery and of the time long ago when write those two words, " Fort McLean County Historical Society a those stories were told for the first Mandan," as his temporary ad­ quarter of a century ago. and we are time. dress for the last time. thrilled to be part of the Lewis and We tend to think of Lewis and November 2 to April 7: five Clark Foundation's efforts today, to Clark and their Corps of Discovery months in the same place. Along help bring this wonderful fort to on the move, under an open sky, the entire 4,000-mile trail, no other life." said Anderson during the'(iedi­ fo llowing the sun on its daily west­ site would make such a claim on cation. ward journey, camping under the the restless band of explorers. Author andfilm-maker Dayton stars, and then pushing on again at To them, this wasn't just an­ Duncan gave the keynote address to first light; embarked, Lewis ex­ other campsite. And despite its a crowd of hundreds at the fort that plained to every Indian tribe he name, to them-hardened soldiers day. Jn introducing Duncan, Founda­ met, on "a long journey to the that they were-it wasn't just an­ tion Chairman David Borlaug re­ Great Lake of the West •. where the other m ilitary fort, either. ferred to him as the "soul of the land ends and the sun sets on the No, Fort Mandan was something Lewis and Clark Trail." He went on. face of the great water." more to the Corps of Discovery. "Dayton knows the trail, but more Over the course of 863 days, as During the long, epic voyage that importantly, he knows the people of they crossed the West from St. would take them so far from their the trail. and he has come to love Louis to the Pacific and back, the friends and families, so distant them as much as he loves this great Corps of Discovery made roughly from what all of them referred story." 620 separate camps-the vast pre­ longingly in their journals as "back With smoke billowing out of Fort ponderance of them for only one in the states," Fort Mandan would Mandanfor the first time in 195 night. They would arrive after a become the closest thing to home.

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 13 And like all homes-especially frigid: 12 below on December 8, [gun], and one round of small in those days-and even more es­ according to Clark; 21 below on arms of all the party. Then pecially in winter-its life naturally the 11th; a mind-boggling, body­ another from the swivel. Then centered around the fi re and the numbing 45 degrees below zero on Captain Clark presented a glass hearth. the 17th. of brandy to each man of the But first, the chimneys and fire­ So cold, according to Ordway, party We hoisted the American places had to be built. that the guards were relieved every flag, and each man had another Sergeant john Ordway tells us hour-then every half hour-to glass of brandy The men pre­ that work on the chimneys began keep from freezing. So cold, he pared one of the rooms and right away- November 7- and the say, "that we did nothing but git commenced dancing. At 10 next day, he wrote, "we continued wood for our fires." o'clock we had another glass of building with as much haste as But thank God for those fires. brandy. at one a gun was fired passable in order to Git [inside] be­ "Our Ro oms are verry close and as a signalfor dinner. Half past fore winter sets in ." warm," Ordway noted with some two another gun was fired to By the 13th, snow was fa ll ing relief in the midst of the December assemble at the dance, and so and ice was running in the river­ onslaught, "So we can keep our­ we kept it up in a jovial manner "considerable fast," according to selves warm and comfortable." until eight o'clock at night, all Ordway. Lewis and six men took "Warm" and "comfortable"­ without the company of the one of the pirogues upriver, and, he might have added, "alive." female sex. .. " through the fl owing ice, to collect During their time at Fort By my count that's three glasses stones for the backs of the chi m­ Mandan, the explorers would of brandy and a dance party be­ neys. Let Ordway recount the record 49 sunrises when the mer­ fore 10 a .m.; then dinner (and who story: cury was below zero. And when knows how much more to drink "Capt. Lewis returned with his you add in the constant winds­ with that); then another six hours party much fatigued. They got "winds of astonishing violence," as of dancing (with, one can imagine, [stuck] on a Sand bar & had to Clark called them-those tempera­ something more to drink during be out in the water abto. 2 tures were even colder still. that time). hours. the Ice running against In the simplest, starkest terms­ The hearths of Fort Mandan their legs. their close frooze on in terms that each member of the would have witnessed it all-in fact them. one of them got I of their Lewis and Clark Expedition under­ would have been the center of the feet frost bit. it hapned that stood in ways that we today can­ celebrations. And their fires would they had some whiskey with not; and in terms that they never have been the last sound the men them to revive their Spirits. " forgot, nor should we-the fire­ heard that night when they went to places at Fort Mandan meant sur­ Eight days later, the men were bed, as Ordway wrote, "all in vival. peace & quietness." still searching fo r more stones, still Without the chimneys and the working feverishly on their fort. On On the other hand, think of ev­ fires they made possible, life here erything the fireplaces heard dur­ November 22, the chimneys were for the Corps of Discovery during fi nally complete-and just in time, ing those five long months. the brutal winter of 1804-1805 First of all, they heard a multi­ as it turned out. would not have been merely un­ The wind shifted to the north­ tude of languages. With a popula­ pleasant or uncomfortable; it tion of 4,500-more people than west, and temperatures began to would have been impossible. plummet. By the 29th, ice had lived in St. Louis or even Washing­ But the chimneys were built in ton, D.C., at the time- the Mandan closed the river near the Mandan time; the wood was cut; the fires villages upstream and the snow and Hidatsa villages were the un­ were kept blazing-and life at Fort disputed "big city" of the Northern was already 13 inches deep in the Mandan became not just possible, wooded river bottoms. Plains in the early l 800s-a natu­ but, to quote Ordway again, ral gathering place of many December brought even colder "warm and comfortable." weather-"colder," Ordway wrote, peoples, a "trade mart" fo r dozens On Christmas morning, the of Indian tribes, an intersection of "than I ever knew it to be in the yuletide logs burned particularly States." international com merce and in­ bright. Private Joseph Whitehouse trigue. And consider: Ordway was from tell s it best: New Hampshire! For the Virginians I like to imagine it as something and young men from Kentucky, it "We ushered [in] the morning like the scene in "Star Wars," when must have seemed unbelievably with a discharge of the swivel ObiWan Kenobi brings young Luke

14 WE PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 Skywalker to rent a space ship in a who would have guessed that she even trying to describe the power­ crowded bar whose dizzyingly di­ and her baby boy would one day ful sound of the great falls of the verse patrons come from every grace a new dollar coin minted by Missouri. corner of the far-flung galaxies. the United States government? And despi te the famous Charlie The same diversity could have It was in front of these fires that Russell painting to the contrary, it been found at Fort Mandan. Black Cat- a Mandan of " integrety, was in front of these fires- not in Here were the Mandans and firmness, inteligence and an earth lodge-that the proud Hidatsas, of course, "our friendly perspicuety of mind," according to Hidatsa Chief Le Borgne arrived to neighbors," as Lewis called them; Lewis-recounted what Clark test the skin of Clark's slave, York. but that w inter Arikaras and Chey­ called "Indian aneckdotes" during 'The chief observed that some ennes, Assiniboines and Crees his 17 visits to the fort. foolish young men of his nation gathered around the fort's fire­ Here it was that the generous had told him there was a per­ places as well-all speaking differ­ Sheheke told the captains, "If we son among us who was quite ent languages, all wearing their eat, you shall eat," and another black. and he wished to know if own distinctive clothing, all pursu­ Mandan chief, Little Raven , arrived it could be true." Clark wrote in ing their own agendas with the to trade bushels of much-needed his journal. "We assured him it strangers from the East. corn and buffalo meat for an iron was ... and sentfor York. Le Scotsmen like Hugh McCracken pot and an axe. The same fires Borgne was very much sur­ and Charles Mackenzie would have would have cooked the kettle of prised at his appearance, ex­ rolled their "R"s as they conversed summer squash, beans, corn and amined him closely. and spit on with the captains about the trade chokecherries that Li ttle Raven's his finger and rubbed the skin policies of the North West Com- wife presented as a gift outright, in order to wash off the paint; pany and Hudson's Bay Company. which the captains pronounced nor was it until [York] uncov­ Francois Antoine LaRoque, jean quite "palitable." ered his head and showed his Baptiste Lafrance, and Joseph These fires listened to Hidatsa short hair that Le Borgne could Gravelines would have added their • warriors explaining the landmarks be persuaded that he was not a French to the rich linguistic brew. the Co rps of Discovery coul d ex­ painted white man. In front of these fires, Toussaint pect farther west, drawing rough Le Borgne had not been im­ Charbonneau applied for a job as maps on the floor as they talked, pressed by the cap tains' array of interpreter-using his Shoshone­ . ~ speaking wife, Sacagawea, as his principal recommendation-then backed out of the deal, then begged once more to be hired on. In February of 1805, these fi res heard Sacagawea gasping in pain during a painful first childbirth; heard Rene jusseaume patiently explain to Meriwether Lewis t ~e use of rattlesnake rattles for induc­ ing labor; heard the potion being ground up and then swallowed­ and minutes later, heard the very first sounds to em erge from one of North Dakota's most famous native sons when jean Baptiste Charbonneau-half Indian, half French Canadian , 100 percent American-drew his first breath and cried for his mother. Who knew then that one day From left to right: Mark Scott, Dave Wallen. Gary Anderson. re-enactors; Dana Sacagawea would have more stat­ Bischke, development director for the North Dakota Lewis & Clark Bicentennial ues in her honor than any other Foundation; Bob Anderson of Gate City Federal Savings & Loan; Dr. Gerard American woman in history? And Gawalt of the Library of Congress. and Dayton Duncan and his son Will.

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 15 telescopes and mirrors, and he had friends. become absolutely necessary to a boasted that his warriors could "They Say if"they catch any different type of survival. It's either handle the soldiers of the expedi­ more of us they w ill kill us," talk and grow closer, or surrender tion like "so many wolves" on the Ordway w rote in his journal, " for to "cabin fever" and splinter apart. prairie. they think that we are bad medi­ This is especially true for a large But York was something else en­ cine." group in close quarters, like the tirely. To the men from Virginia, he I'm sure the m en shared other Co rps of Discovery and the five was a slave, som ething to be stories around these fires. When months they spent here at Fort owned. To Le Borgne and the the days are so short, the nights so Mandan, 1,609 miles- Lewis amazed Indians, he was someone long, and the temperatures so noted w ith great specificity-from to admire; he was " Big Medicine." cold, there's plenty of time and what had only recently been the Around these fires, other types plenty of reason to sit near a farthest border of their native land. of medicine were discussed and hearth and just talk. But just how far they had come practiced-"medicine" of all kinds. They surely discussed all the could be measured in something The hearth of Lewis's fireplace new experiences here in North Da­ other than m iles . became the Fort Mandan outpa­ kota to talk over- a brilliant dis­ On February 10, Thomas tient clinic. Two m en cut them­ play of Northern Lights, double Howard was court-martialed for selves in accidents w ith their axes. suns appearing over the frozen climbing over the walls of the fort John Shields suffered from rheu­ prairie, a total lunar eclipse on w hen he returned after hours from matism. Nathaniel Pryor dislocated January 15, frost coating the entire one of the Mandan villages. He a shoulder. requiring four attempts grove of cottonwoods on the river was found guilty and sentenced to to pop it back in place. bottom , the fatigue-and exhilara­ 50 lashes. Lewis treated his men for tion-of hunting buffalo in the During their trip up the river in sunblindness by holding their face snow, and of course, just how the summer and fall of 1804, the over a hot stone and tossing on damn cold it really was only a few punishm ent would have been auto­ snow to m ake steam. He treated feet from the fires' warmth. m atically meted out. Their first them for venereal disease w ith in­ As the days wore on, and those winter, at Camp Dubois, had been j ections of m ercury. He lanced one stories got stale and worn out from a disciplinary disaster, w ith disor­ Mandan boy's abscess and gave the retelling, the sounds around der, drunken brawls, and open dis­ another one a dose of that power­ the fire would have become more obedience, and fo r the next nine ful laxative, "Rush's Thunderbolts," mundane: the ring of the months the captai ns had employed fo r a fever. Yet another Mandan blacksmith's hammer near the the lash with a certain regularity to boy was brought in, so severely charcoal kiln; the whisper of enforce their rules. frostbitten that Lewis had to ampu­ needle and thread m aking m occa­ But this time, the court of tate his toes without the benefit of sins fo r the road ahead; the scratch Howard's peers recommended anesthesia or a surgical saw. of a quill pen on the rough paper mercy- and Captain Lewis decided Over in the enlisted m en's quar­ of a journal or a letter home; the to fo rgive the punishment. Signifi­ ters, the talk around the fireplace call of the magpie and the w histle cantly, this would be the last tim e a was of a much different type of of the prairie dog in their cages, court martial was convened during "medicine." It's easy to guess how waiting to be shipped back to the entire expedition-even the conversations went, late into President Jefferson; perhaps an old though there were still thousands the night, w hen som e of them re­ familiar tune played on the mouth of m iles and 20 more months to turned from the Mandan buffalo harp or Pierre Cruzatte's fiddle. go. calling ceremony, that great And then, 1 think, they would Something had obviously " Medisan Dance," as Clark called have started talking some more, changed. Something was different it, designed "to cause the buffalow this time about themselves per­ now and would never be the same. to Com e near. .. " haps or their families "back in the And it had happened around the And the talk would have had a states." fires here at Fort Mandan. different tone, when the topic It happens that way on long My friend Jim Ronda has w ritten changed to a report that filtered up w inter nights in North Dakota- or that during the winter here the from the Arikara villages in Febru­ anyplace on earth w here the sun Lewis and Clark Expedition ary- news that the Teton Sioux goes down at 4: 15 in the afternoon changed from being an unruly w ere planning a springtime war and doesn't reappear for another group of soldiers and frontiersmen against the Mandans and their new 16 hours. Talking around a fire can to becoming something of a family.

I 6 WE PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 I believe that's true; that, and According to the captains' something more. Here, I believe, weather journals, ice had stopped for the first time they truly became running in the big river on the first a Corps of Discovery in every of the month. A flock of brant had sense: fully prepared to move for­ passed northward on the 4th, fol­ ward into what to them was the lowed by an even larger flock of com plete unknown, capable of tak­ cedar waxwings on the 6th. The ing on any challenge and overcom­ ducks and swans they had seen ing any obstacle because now they flying south w hen they first started were ready- without coercion or building the fort had already come even admonition-to work to­ back. "All the birds that we believe gether. visi t this country," the captains The captains understood this noted, "have now re turned." change that had occurred during So had the bugs: troubleso me the winter, and Lewis expressed it gnats they began noting w ith in­ best in the letter he sent to Presi­ creasing displeasure. I suppose the dent Jefferson in the spring: smoke in the fort's quarters m ight '/'it this moment, every indi­ have provided at least a little rel ief vidual of the party are in good from those pests-one last parting health and excellent spirits; gift from the fires that had seen zealously attached to the enter­ the men through an uncommonl y prise, and anxious to proceed; harsh w inter. The first lighting of the fireplaces using ajlintfire starting kit Below: not a whisper of discontent or It was t ime to move on. Two young visitors admiring the murmur is to be heard among At 4 p.m ., the big keelboat chimneys and new roof at Fort them, but all in unison act with pushed off downstream for St. Mandan. the most perfect harmony. With Louis, carrying the prairie dog and such men I have everything to the magpies, the collection of skins hope, and but little to fear." and skeletons that would reach the East Coast four months later and He wrote those words by the thrill Jefferson'and others in Wash ­ light of one of Fort Mandan's ington as great curiosit ies from this fires-the ve ry same fires that had newest section of the young na­ helped fo rge this " most perfect tion; there was Arikara co rn harmony " in the first place. Jefferson would plant in his garden It's said that travel changes a at Monticello, Mandan tobacco he person. But in the case of these would turn into cigars; maps and peripatetic travelers, w hose most Indian vocabularies; and a letter com mon phrase was "we pro­ from Lewis to his m other, describ­ ceeded on," I think it may have ing the verdant beauty of the Mis­ been the five months here, in rf'ie souri River valley and telling her same place, that changed the not to worry about his safety. Corps of Discovery the most. At the sam e time that the More than any other spot on keelboat headed downstream, their long trail, they had m ade this Clark and the rest of the "perm a­ place a home. Here they had talked nent party" headed upriver in six for hours and drawn closer to­ freshly carved dugout canoes and gether. The fires, the hearths, and the two pirogues. the chimneys had made it all pos­ Lewis was the las t to leave the sible. fort. He needed some exercise, he it. Far from it. This was a day of April 7, 1805, dawned w ith a wrote in his journal, and so he in­ looking forward, not back. fair sky and the tem perature at 28 tended to walk to the expedition's Lewis-after comparing himself degrees; warm by Fort Mandan first campsite in five m onths. to Christopher Columbus-cap­ standards, and set to rise to a If there was any tinge of sadness tured the palpable sense of antici­ balmy 64 degrees by m id-after­ about leaving their temporary pation in words: noon. home behind, no one mentioned (CHIMNEYS continued on page 18)

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 17 Second Jefferson Document Oisplayed at Lewis & Clark Center in Washburn

U.S. Senator Byron L. Dorgan (D­ Last year Dorgan persuaded the Jefferson before the U.S. acquired the ND) brought another piece of Ameri­ Library of Congress to loan the inter­ Louisiana Territory, clearly showing can history to North Dakota in June pretive center an original letter writ­ Jefferson's certainty in anticipating when the Lewis and Clark lnterpretive ten to President Jefferson by Captain American control of the Missouri val­ Center in Washburn unveiled a sec­ Lewis reporting on the progress of the ley and its gateway to the Pacific. ond rare and historic original docu­ expedition while they wintered in "Last year's display, made possible ment from the Lewis and Clark North Dakota. This newest document by Senator Dorgan, resulted in an in­ Expedition. This document loan, display will add further dimension creased attendance at our interpretive which Dorgan requested from the Li­ and historical context for those inter­ center-remarkable, since we were brary of Congress, is a handwritten ested in following the progress of the tracking against our grand opening draft of President Thomas Jefferson's Corps of Discovery. season. This treasure of American his­ original instructions to Captain Written in early 1803, President tory will very likely do the sam e for us Meriwether Lewis that set in motion a Jefferson's handwritten draft, which is again. We are especially pleased to voyage of discovery symbolic of a part of Thomas Jefferson's Papers in have this exhibit for the national an­ America's spirit and initiative. the rare documents section of the Li­ nual meetings of the Lewis and Clark Dorgan said he is pleased to see brary of Congress, shows the many Trail Heritage Foundation here this another treasured document from the revisions Jefferson made to his final summer," said David Borlaug, chair­ expedition on display for North Dako­ instructions for the expedition, based man of the North Dakota Lewis & tans and visitors to the state. "Once on suggestions from his cabinet offic­ Clark Bicentennial Foundation. "Sena­ again, the public will have a chance to ers. Jn addition to scientific explora­ tor Dorgan shar es our passion for tell­ view a document that has never be­ tion, Jefferson added commercial ing the story of Lewis and Clark in fore been available," he said. "Dis­ instructions and requested the expe­ North Dakota. We continue to be as­ playing such artifacts near the Lewis dition gather information on the Na­ tounded at the remarkable letters he and Clark Historic Trail is important to tive American tribes. Of further is acquiring for us, and we are very educate and attract visitors. " interest, the letter was drafted by grateful."

CHIMNEYS rush to St. Louis on the return trip, nal one. Cont. from p. 17 Clark at least stopped very briefly­ The purpose is this: that genera­ "to view the old works," as he now tions gather once more 'round the "We were now about to penetrate a called this place. Their real homes hearths of Fort Mandan and tell the country at least two thousand miles in were beckoning, so this temporary stories of the Corps of Discovery and width. on which the foot of civilized home had been relegated to a lower the winter of 1804-1805, the time man had never trodden; the good or evil standing-"the old works"-and there when a band of United States soldiers it had in store for us was for experiment was no need for the entire group to lived as friends and neighbors to the yet to determine,.. . [yet] entertaining as delay for a prolonged visit simply out Indians surrounding them; when a I do, the most confident hope of suc­ of nostalgia. black slave was treated with reverence ceeding in a voyage which had formed a Some pickets by the river were still and dignity; when an unknown Native da[r ]ling project of mine for the last ten standing, Clark reported, but most of American girl could give birth with the years. I could but esteem this moment of the rest of the fort was gone. All but president's top assistant acting as my departure as among the most happy one of the rear huts had burned down midwife; and when the prospects for of my life." by accident. the future were as boundless as the Did he check to make sure the fires The chimneys had done their western horizon, because the group of were out before closing the door for work-and done it well-when they individuals who stared across these the last time? Did he look back over had been sorely needed, but with the fires at one another finally saw in the his shoulder as he walked toward his fort abandoned they apparently had embers' glow the faces of America, destiny? We don't know. The words, given up once they no longer felt a ready to act in unison and live in a "Fort Mandan" essentially drop from sense of purpose. "most perfect harmony." the journals on that day. But now the chimneys are back As the rising smoke is my witness, More than a year later, on August and the fireplaces are in good working that is the story of the fires of Fort 17, 1806, after departing the Mandan order and with a new sense of pur­ Mandan. It was a true story then. It villages to begin the final, headlong pose-a purpose much like their origi- can be true again.

18 WE PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 BURNING DAYLIGHT WITH THE CAPTAINS

by Stephanie Ambrose Tubbs country bike trek with hundreds of active roles and her hard work to efore the New York hunky young m en who also caught be an important member of the Times book review my wandering eye as we encoun­ corps. Later, l would identify with cover page, before # 1 tered them along the way. But john her role as a mother and marvel at B position on the Times was the one who made it into my the memory of the young woman bestseller list, even before Burns journal and into my heart. with her son on her back searching and Duncan, there was a Univer­ People often ask me if the intro­ the horizon on her way up the Mis­ sity of New Orleans history profes­ duction in Undaunted Courage is souri with a crew of sweaty men. sor/biographer and his family and true. Could a family really enj oy Years later, taking our two sons, their plan to do some serious dis­ themselves and survive thousands Ri ley and Alex, aged 3 and 6, over covering in the summer of 1976. of miles of extreme cl oseness? the Lalo Trail on horseback, on the Each of his five children, ages 16 How could a teenage American girl Missouri Breaks, albeit with experi­ to nine, and an 18 year old friend traveling with her parents and four enced outfitters. did take a certain would be given a blank j ournal and younger siblings across the country amount of courage on a mother's charged with writing down their find romance, historical perspec­ part. After all, there is no local thoughts and feelings along the tive and a place to call home all in emergency room when you are on way. Lewis and Clark would be one three month time frame? Well, a 150 mile stretch of wild and sce­ their guides, their teachers, their it is true. I did find all of th e above nic river or on a mountain trail inspiration. It was the beginning of but as I rernad my journal it occurs miles from a town of any legiti­ the family's lifelong love affair with to me ti;lat I was definitely looking mate size. I did pack a first aid kit the Corps of Discovery and a trip for something. Yearning is more capable of handling any emer­ which would change my life for­ accurate. I read the rambfings of gency and eliciting comments of ever. my 16 year old heart with a sense envy and praise from Larry and As millions of readers of the in­ of pride and humor as I tried to ex­ Bonnie Cook, our Missouri River troduction to Undaunted Courage press my feelings of wanting to be outfitters. I also had a faith, a kind know, I met the man I would later a grownup, of feeling out of place. of blind faith, in my father's lead­ m arry at a little-known spot along of admiring Lewis and Clark and ership abilities similar to the faith the trail called Gates of the Moun- Sacagawea, of wanting to live up to of the young men of the expedi­ . ~ tams. We were both 16 at the time my parents' expectations and real­ tion in their leader Meriwether and he barely remembers the day, ize what a wonderful trip to have Lewis. Perhaps it was his tradi­ June 25, but thanks to my journal I taken and how lucky I was that we tional wake-up call, familiar on all know that my future father-in-law, had such adventurous folks. of our trips. "Get up! We are burn­ Bob Tubbs, played matchmaker, Looking back, I realize I am one ing daylight!" We were responsible and that I followed his son john of a few Lewis and Clark enthusi­ for wrestling our sleeping bags into around as he smiled at me and asts who can say I have been both their stuff sacks. taking down our performed his duties as gas boy at child and parent on por.ti.ons of the tents, packing our gear into the the Gates' boat launch. Seven trail at different stages of my life. I truck as quickly as possible so as years to the day later we would be believe fo llowing Lewis and Clark not to waste any precious day married at the same spot. can teach you many things about time. We had miles to go before we Truthfully, and in all deference your strengths, your country, re­ slept. to j ohn, he wasn't the only teenage sponsibility, and yes, about cour­ Yet even my father's confident boy I made goo-goo eyes at that age. Of course as a teenage girl I leadership could not erase all of summer. After all, '76 was the readily identified with my motherly concern, especially in summer of Bikecentennial, a cross Sacagawea-both her passive and (BURNING continued on page 22)

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 19 BURNING

WE PROCEEDED ON 20 AUGUST 1999 AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 21 1993 when I realized Riley would discussing the journals and com­ miserable wet mornings in the be riding his own steed over the posing in our 0wn, we had many tent. We always found a reason to Lola. I suppose I thought he would things to do. In '76, before the ad­ laugh, even the dogs gave us rea­ be riding double with another vent of the Walkman, I carried my son to smile. I remember our lab horseman the whole time. It battery powered radio to quench catching a frog in his mouth, and I worked out fine though, even my teenage desire for America's will never forget an episode when when his saddle slipped. Our Top Forty. We also listened to my father gave our adopted mas­ guide, Harlan Opdahl, assured me countless tapes of our favorite mu­ cot mutt "LC." worming pills in Riley did a good job of handling sicians and read many books to the morning when we broke camp. the fall, "he rode the saddle clear pass the time in the car. My journal Driving on a bridge over the Co­ to the ground" and landed safely in reveals plenty of humorous inci­ lumbia the pills took effect and a clump of bear grass. Riley and dents wherein my brothers' and without going into detail you can Harlan became friends forever on sister's desire to make mischief imagine the results. that trip because when his little ended up with mixed results. Once As a "city girl" my journal fre­ head became limp and l could see we were camped next to a Boy quently mentions the charms of from behind he was falling asleep Scout troop in Iowa and my small towns like Fort Benton, Mon­ in the saddle, Harlan and his won­ brother snuck out at midnight to tana and Niobrara, Nebraska. Their der horse Kid came to the rescue. cut all of their tent ropes, leaving public swimming pools, museums, Harlan simply put Riley in front of us all to get the evil eye from the festivals and fairs offered a wel­ him on the saddle and carried him froop leader the next morning. An­ come relief to miles of mind­ in his coat while he took a short other time, when my parents, our numbing highway. I picked up on nap. captains as I referred to them­ the friendliness of Montanans right For families considering making were out on an overnight paddle, away. I recorded conversations the trip l can relate the main pre­ we made so much racket at night with park rangers and their jokes occupation of the sum of our trips that the forest ranger made us about the weather and the bugs. was, as with Lewis and Clark, the move camp next to his station the One told me in Montana the mos­ weather. My '76 journal is filled next day. quitoes get so big you could hear with pleas to the heavens for more We ate a lot of burgers and them arguing outside the tent sun, more warmth, more dryness. beans on those trip. Spaghetti, whether to eat you there or carry In '93 our photos reveal the Breaks barbequed chicken, tuna and rice, you home for later. trip to be a fashion statement­ and, being southerners, red beans Our trip had its moments of layering. Clothes, clothes and more and rice were also high on the sourness and pain, too. I recall hik­ clothes Even layers of hats were menu. We had cheese and sum­ ing the Lolo in '76 and cursing my worn during that particularly wet mer sausage frequently. We en­ father for going on ahead, insuring and cold year. Needless to say, a joyed a bit of an advantage over that we would have to follow if we constant concern was laundry and Lewis's portable soup but anyone wanted dinner, and sending back laundromats as well as an over­ who has ever tasted freeze dried messages of . "just one more whelming desire for warm show­ backpacking food would have to mile .. . one more switchback." I ers. admit it wasn't much of one. On deeply appreciate the advances of I recall spending 90 percent of backpacking trips trail mix or gorp today's hiking footwear, especially one trip in the Breaks swimming in was a favorite for us youngsters. I when I remember removing my the muddy Missouri because of the vividly remember picking out all never quite broken in hiking boots searing heat. On that trip a friend the M&Ms long before the end of (weighing about five pounds each) ended up with third degree sun­ the hike just to satisfy my sugar and backpacking barefoot on the burn. 1993 was a whole different cravings, but I was not the only gravel logging roads of the Lola. story. We spent much time drying one. M&Ms became a valuable My parents gave us the chance out by the fire as we listened to my item of currency on the trail. to grouse and to grow. My mother father read to us from the journals. So you see, we did have fun, en­ often sided with us when she felt Yet, somehow it remained an ex­ joyed ourselves, made good friends my father was getting a bit too au­ citing adventure, especially for the with each other and people we en­ thentic in his demands. She was a kids who never seemed to mind countered along the way. We great model for me to follow, never the weather, good or bad. learned more than we ever could sweating the small stuff. Some Entertainment was not a prob­ in a traditional classroom, despite nights when our sons' eyes were lem. Aside from listening to and the endless highway miles and (BURNING continued on page 23)

22 WE PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 BURNING Cont. from p. 22 First Bicentennial Display glazing over and they would cry, Set to Go on Tour "Aw, Mom!" w hen I would say time to hit the sack, I would imi­ The first Lewis and Clark Trail Lewis and Clark and the Corps of tate her example and let them Heritage Foundation Bicentennial Discovery are America's epic. stay up for one more campfire activity has been presented at And, not surprisingly, people story. Our boys pride themselves the University of Scranton in gravitate to it. on being Montanans, on chilly Scranton, Pennsylvania. Bud Presently, the combined exhibi­ days w hen they insist on not zip­ Clark, Jon Stealey and Bob Weir tions are in storage awaiting their ping up their coats they tell me from the Lewis and Clark Trail next venue. If you or your organi­ and their grandparents, "we Heritage Foundation brought to­ zation wish to sponsor the exhib­ aren 't cold, we were born in gether Clark family and period its in your area, please contact, Montana!" Like my brothers, sis­ artifacts; 1904 - 1905 Portland Ex­ Bob Weir, P.O. Box I 04, Fleetville, ter and I, they know the true hibition Lewis and Clark memo­ PA 18420. Summer 2003 is al­ meaning of burning daylight and rabilia; and modern photographs ready reserved for Philadelphia. they try not to do it very often. of unspoiled landscapes v iewed Yes, there are costs. Insurance, My advice to parents considering by the Corps of Discovery. transportation, security, etc., are the trip, get everyone a journal to The response to these co m­ being evaluated in term s of finan­ w rite in, pack plenty of warm, bined exhibits has been over­ cial burden. Every possible cost waterproof clothing, lots of w helming. The exhibits attracted cutting measure is being explored. books, maps and tapes, and don't m ore attent ion from the public We look forward to your re­ forget the M&Ms! and media than any other exhi­ sponse that we may proceed on. bition in the university's history. r::::======~ · WPO DISPLAY ADS Display advertising must pertain to Lewis and Clark and/ or North American history such as books, art or related items for sale, and conferences, work­ shops or other meetings. ... the Trail of Lewis & Clark Black and white camera ready advertising only. Lewis & Clark Trail Adventures invites you to walk in the footsteps of Rates are: full page-$500; half America's great early explorers. Our trip destinations are some of the best preserved page-$250; one-third page- .~ areas of the Lewis & Clark expedition route. S 167; one quarter page-$ 125; one column inch-$16.67. •ii•»&i Deadline fo r ads is six weeks • Lolo Trail Historic Tours -~-­ before the publication month of the scheduled quarterly issue, Bike or Hike LEWIS~& CLARK e.g., March 15 fo r the May issue. • Missouri River Canoe Trips iiiiiii iiiiiiiii WPO reserves the right to • Main Salmon··ruver Trips Missoula Montana reject any advertising deemed unsuitable. • Combination Trips Advertising or inquiries should We are the only licensed outfitter on both the Lolo 1iail and the Missouri River - be sent to: Editor, We Proceeded our 11th year in business/ Call, write, or e-mail us today for our free brochure. On, t 203 28th Street South #82, Great Falls, MT 59405. Tele­ phone: 406-761-4706. E-mail: 1-406-728-7609 1·800·366-6246 www.trailadventures.com wpo@lewis&clark.org P.O. Box 9051, Missoula, MT 59807

AUGUST 1999 W E PROCEEDED ON 23 --

Clark's l'ort Osage Jo~~

by Ann Rogers. Ph.D column of dragoons, mounted licks, leading him to write : "This lark's Fort Osage journal troops from the St. Charles area. Country is full of salt." was found among the Volunteers for this mission had The last day of August, the party Biddle papers when Milo swelled the company's number to reached another stream familiar to Quaife began preparing 80. Beside Clark rode their pilot, readers of the expedition's j our­ ein 19 14 to edit j ohn Ord way's jour­ Nathan Boone, youngest son of nals: "Good Womans River." Clark nal. Unable to find a major portion Daniel Boone. so admired the terrain that his en­ of the sergeant's account, Quaife The first 20 miles of the route try for the day has four references asked the grandsons of Nicholas were along the Boonslick Road. to "delightfull lands." Biddle to look again through the through land Clark described as That afternoon, more than 170 family papers. Thei r search yielded "J)utifull high rolling Country miles west of St. Louis, the party not only the remainder of intersperced with plains of high "crossed a Cart Road leading from Ord way's journal and Meriwether grass Most of them rich & fertile." Boons lick," which was two miles Lewis's previously unknown "Ohio Their camp two nights later was at to the north. Scouts sent out by journal" but also a small journal a large but overused salt lick Clark found men working the lick kept by William Clark during his claimed by Nathan Boone. Clark's Nathan Boone and his brother had 1808 trip to western Missouri for entry for the day contains several established on land leased from the purpose of establishing Fort references to "butifull" prairies, James Mackay, the surveyor whose Osage.' where turkey, partridge. grouse. maps and knowledge of the lower The 44-page diary, now at the and deer abounded. The following Missouri had assisted Lewis and American Philosophical Society in day, elk were seen near the head­ Clark in 1804. Philadelphia, covers the period waters of the Loutre River. The troops camped for the night from August 25 to September 22 On August 29, Clark "marked a near Arrow Rock. For seven days, and describes Clark's overland trip Birch tree Gen. W. Clark 100 m." since leaving St. Charles, they had from St. Charles to a point near Eighty of those miles had been been traveling north of the Mis­ present-day Independence, the ini­ without roads, but since leaving St. souri River. The next morning they tial construction of the fort, his Charles the troops had averaged would cross to the south, at a place treaty with the Osage, and his re­ over 22 miles a day, an impressive long used by Indians and later to turn by boat. pace. They were not far from be used by settlers moving west. Written four years after the present-day Jefferson City, This spot, Clark wrote, provided "a Corps of Discovery's westbound Missouri's capital, near the center fi ne landing on a Rocky crossing of Missouri, it has many of the state. In 1808, it was a re­ Shore .. . and a gentle assent." similarities to Clark's 1804-06 jour­ gion of elk, buffalo, and deer. Ce­ They would be assisted in the nals, even to the phrase "we pro­ dar Creek, passed that day, was crossing by a pirogue left there by ceeded on." There is the same known to Clark from his 1804 j our­ Captain Eli Clemson, who was terse style, the fa ithful recording of ney. bringing a flotilla from Fort each day's events. and Clark's Moniteau Creek, named for the Bellefontaine, near St. Louis. abiding appreciation for the Mis­ Indians' Great Spirit, was also Aboard six keelboats were supplies souri landscape. Edited by Kate L. noted by Lewis and Clark in 1804. and trade goods headed for the Gregg, the journal was published in Lewis had followed the creek about Fort Osage site, along with 81 sol­ 1937 under the title Westward with three miles to "Licks or Springs of diers commanded by Clemson. Ac­ Dragoons. 2 Salt Water," while Clark had ob­ companying him were George Leaving St. Charles on August served near its mouth "Several Sib ley, who would be a factor at 25, William Clark, Indian agent Courious Paintings and Carveing in the trading house, and Reuben and brigadier general in the territo­ the projecting rock. "3 On the 1808 Lewis, younger brother of rial militia, rode at the head of a journey, it was Clark who saw the Meriwether Lewis, who would be-

24 W E PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 come sub-agent at the post. with it and am equally so now." vided to Biddle by Clark in 1810, Along with the pirogue, Clark Strangely, there is no mention of two years after the fort was built. 8 found a letter from Reuben Lew is, the site in either his field notes or A footnote in the Biddle edition dated six days earlier, saying they his j ournal. Clark's entries fo r June adds: "The United States built, in expected to reach the site by Sep­ 23, 1804, tell of strong headwinds September, 1808, a factory and a tember 4. preventing the expedition's boats fo rt at this spot, which is very con­ At the crossing point, Clark from moving and of his decision to venient fo r trading with the marked a hickory tree " 155 leave the keelboat and walk about Osages, Ayauways, and Kansas. " 9 lt m [iles] ." After the m en had six miles past a wide bend in the seems evident that Clark wanted cleaned and checked their guns, Missouri. Realizing the boats could the published account of the expe­ they "preceded on,." He continued not reach him before dark and he dition to include a description of to record their progress on the had walked too far to return, he the "commanding position" and a trees he blazed, including five "Peeled Som e bark to lay on" and reference to the fore he had estab­ more that day, and in his j ournal. prepared to spend the night.6 lished there. For three days after crossing to the A detailed description of the Fort j ust as there is no mention of south side of the Missouri, he Osage site appears in the journals the si te in his June 23 entries, dated his entries as October, be­ as edited by Biddle and later by there is also no mention of the site fore realizing the new month was Coues: in the list Clark drew up during the September, but his descriptions of winter of 1804-05, in which he in­ Directly opposite, on the south. the landscape remained careful.4 cluded rivers, creeks, and other is a high commanding position. Between the Mine (or Lamine) "remarkable places" along the more than 70 feet above high­ River and the Missouri, he admired route traveled between Wood River water mark. and overlooking a "most elligant" prairie, where the and Fort Mandan. 10 However, the the river, which is here of but Little Osage once had a village. name "Fort Point" appears at the little width. This spot has many Nearby was a salt sp ring he re­ Fort Osage location in Clark's very advantages for a fort and trad­ garded as "equal to Boons and similar but undated postexpedi­ ing-house with the Tndians. 7 very far Superior to those in tionary list. 11 Kent[uck]y." Reading the passage, one could If Clark wrote any remarks in After a 247-mile trip that had easily assume Lewis or Clark had l 804 regarding the future site of taken 11 days, they reached the writ.ten it iri 1804. In fact, the de­ Fort Osage, they have apparently Fire Prairie, a place known to scription is based on notes pro- been lost. His maps for this portion Lewis and Clark from their earlier crossings of Missouri. When the War Department decided early in I 808 to build a fort and trading house on the Osage River, both men had written to the Secretary of War suggesting a location higher up the Missouri River and c l os~r to the current Osage villages. Meriwether Lewis's letter specifi­ cally mentioned the Fi re Prairie, a recommendation Secretary Dearborn accepted.5 On September 4, the overland party was greeted by Captain Clemson, who was waiting at "a point," Clark noted, "on which I had Con templated on buildings." Rising early the next morning, Clark observed "the River could be completely defended" and deemed the "Situation elegant. " He wrote: William Knox's mural painting in the Missouri State Capitol Building at Jefferson City depicts the fort soon after its construction. "This Situation [ had examined in State Historical Society of Missouri. Columbia. the year 1804 and was delighted

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 25 of the journey are missing, and it loaded supplies, and Nathan Boone his complaints that there was "not is at least possible that his nota­ set off with interpreter Paul Loise a Sufficiency of axes to work with," tions regarding the site were made to tell the Osage of Clark's inten­ the "milita work[ed] reluctantly," on a map of the area. 12 In any tion to build there. Before nightfall and the horses refused to draw event, it seems unlikely Clark a "strong Redoubt" stood at the wagons intended to haul logs. His would have noted in his private di­ point with a guard of 20 men. brief entry for September t O be­ ary that he had previously studied The next day, as men cleared gins with a report of "violent rain" this area if he didn't believe he trees, Clark sent a speech to the and ends with the notation that he had. Kanza nation. He also took tim e to was "not well with a kind of On his first full day at the site in write letters to his wife, whom he disentary." I 808, he determined the place­ had recently brought to St. Louis as Despite the problems, construc­ ment of the blockhouses and other a bride, and to Governor Lewis. tion moved forward. On the fifth structures. While the militia By September 7, the work be­ day, with the men displaying worked to clear a parade ground in gun so resolutely was meeting with " more Chearfullness than usial," front of the camp, other men un- obstacles. Clark's j ournal records he could write: "We got 2 Block

··~~

~· .. .•..

/

Clark's sketch shows both his design of the fort and its strategic placement. State Historical Society of Missouri. Columbia

26 WE PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 l houses and one house for the fac­ tory to the first Story." One day, Reuben Lewis and an I assistant m easured the height of the promontory on which the fort was being built, providing the fig­ ures "95 feet above low water, 72 feet above high water mark," the second figure corresponding to that used in the Biddle edition of the journals. Clark, meanwhile, "took the width and bearing of the river from differe nt points," a re­ minder of his mapping of the Mis­ souri during the 1804-06 expedition. On a page of his 6 112 " x 4" diary, he drew preliminary plans for the fort, a pen sketch subsequently overwritten by his journal entry of Two blockhouses and the factory form a portion of the accurate and extensive September 15. On another page. reconstruction of Fort Osage. Photograph by Ann Rogers more than a dozen smears of once-vivid red, green, and blue partially obscure his key to identi­ Lewis. It is likely there were lan­ Accompanying him were two fying by color the various struc­ guage difficulties and misunder­ chiefs who had signed the treaty. tures in the final draft.13 standings. In addition, Pierre Also aboard were letters the offic­ As work began on the block­ Chouteau, the Osage agent, appar­ ers had given Clark fo r their fami­ house nearest the river, 75 Osage ently urged the chiefs to insist a lies and friends. chiefs and warriors arrived in the treaty validate his land claims in From the river, he added to his company of Boone and his inter­ the ~rea . Neiti'1er version did. journal one more description of preter. The report was that "all (When the second treaty was the Fort Osage site: presented to the Osage by their villages" were on the way to We leave this Handsome Spot Chouteau in November, 1808, the the fort. While Clark prepared to at 2 oClock. and did not get out post was officially named Fort Os­ address the assembly, the Indians of Sight until/ past 3 oCl[oc]k. age. Some continued to use its ear­ sang and danced through most of The Situation is eligant Comdg lier name. Fort Clark, and that is the night. [commanding] and he/thy. the the name William Clark used when The journal entry for September land about it fine. 13 tells of his council with the Os­ he placed it on his 1810 map of age leaders and a resulting treaty. the West.) 14 Descending the Missouri, four The Osages relinquished their By September 15, the fort Clark days later, Clark challenged the lands between the Missouri and had sketched out only days before trading license of Francis the Arkanas rivers. a vast area in­ had become a reality. A blacksmith Robidoux, just as he and cluding almost half of present-day shop was finished, the block.houses Meriwether Lewis had questioned Missouri. The benefits they re­ were nearly complete, two houses the license shown them by ceived were principally the advan­ for trade goods were under cover, Robidoux's older brother. Joseph, tages of a government trading and a road was being buil t. The when the captains met him in the 15 house and the promise of protec­ dragoons who had come from St. final week. of their return journey. tion from feared eastern tribes. Charles to offer protection and as­ Th e last day of his 1808 trip found The chiefs expressed approval, sist in the construction would be him initially ordering back. another cannons boomed, and the Indians leaving, but Clark., still feeling "ex­ trading party with no pass. Then, celebrated. ceedingly unwell," would not travel weary and unwilling to delay Clark could not know then that with them . longer, he allowed the group to this treaty would soon be rej ected On September 16, after dining continue when told the permit was by other Osage chiefs and replaced with Captain Clemson, he boarded with one of their hunters who had with one written by Meriwether a boat for his return to St. Louis. gone ashore.

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 27 -

To save a few m iles of travel, established. The publication of his the first entry in his 1803 journal (Moulton. Clark left the boat at St. Charles diary in 1937 ptompted the Native Vol. 2, 65-66). 5 and proceeded by land to St. Louis, Sons of Kansas City to advance Clark to Dearborn, June 25, 1808; Lewis to Dearborn, July 1, 1808, Territorial Papers of arriving on September 22, one day plans fo r a rebuilding of the historic the United States, Vol. XIV, I 94-203. before the second anniversary of post. Archaeological research un­ 6Moulton, Vol. 2, 317 his return from the Pacific with the covered artifacts and established 7 Elliott Coues, ed., History of the Expedition Corps of Discovery. some of the foundation lines. The Under the Command of Lewis and Clark In 18 08, Fort Osage was the sketch Clark made in his journal (Dover. New York, 1965), Vol. I, 30. nation's most wes tern outpost; and and later re fined for the War De­ 8 Donald jacl~son, ed., Letters of the Lewis in the next few years its history partment showed the placement of and Clark Expedition (University of Illinois was interwoven with the lives of the original buildings. In 19 40, Jack­ Press, Urbana, 1978). Vol. 2, 509. I thank Gary Moulton for directing me to Biddle's Manuel Lisa, Chief Sheheke, john son County purchased the property, note as the source for this passage. Luttig, Henry Brackenridge, the located at Sibley. Missouri. A full re­ •coues, I, 30 Astorians, and all who traveled up construction of Fort Osage, oper­ 10 Moulton, Vol 3. 370 the Missouri from St. Louis or St. ated by the Jackson County Parks "Ibid. Vol. 8, 378. Fort Point does not ap­ Charles. It operated one of the Department, stands on the com­ pear on Ordway's copies of Clark's two lists more successful of the government manding site William Clark de­ that include present-day Missouri (Vol. 9, 80-81, 368) factories, held the Osage as allies scribed in his 1808 j ournal. 2 ' While we do not have Clark's m aps of to the United States, helped to END NOTES Missouri, we do have copies of his 1805 regulate traders on the river, and map of the West, which included Missouri. 'Paul Cutright, discouraged British and Spanish A History of the Lewis and Fort Point does not appear on these. Clark journals (University of Oklahoma encroachments. (Moulton, Atlas, 32a,b,c) Press. Norman, 1976), p. 13 1 During the War of 181 2, when 13Microfilm of original diary, American 20 vid Bell Press, Fulton (Missouri), 1937. All Philosophical Society. This page is not re­ its troops were pulled away, Sibley quotations in the article are from this edi­ moved his trading house fo r a time produced in the Gregg edition. tion. Because the published diary is chro­ 4 ' Moulton, Atlas, 125 to Arrow Rock, another place Clark nological and only 28 pages long. 1 have 15/bid. Vol. 8, 362 had designated as a good site for a chosen not to footnote each phrase fort. The end of the government quoted. 3 About the author.. . factory system brought the closing Gary E. Moulton, ed., The journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition (University of Ann Rogers, Ph.D. . is the author of of Fo rt Osage in 1822. Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London. 1986), Lewis and Clark in Missouri and a A little more than a century later, Vol. 2, 284-5. member of the Missouri Lewis and Clark's journal was instrumental in 4Keeping track of dates could be a problem. Clark Bicentennial Commission. giving new life to the fort he had Lewis, for example, had the wrong date for

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28 WE PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 DeSoto Bend National Wildlife Refu.ge: What Happens When We Stop a River's Meandering

Editor's Note: The following is an DeSoto Bend-whenever I came souri. On that first visit, with Iowa excerpt (Chapter 21) from Daniel to Lewis and Clark. country, I State University professors Tom Botkins's recently published ended up here. This time I had Jurik and David Glenn-Lewin, we book, Passage of Discovery: come out to give a talk. at the saw a Missouri River very m uch American Rivers Travel Compan­ Fontenelle Forest Preserve. Gary tamed- an Army Corps of Engi­ ion to the Missouri River of Garabrandt, chief naturalist at the neers' canal, with broken rocks Lewis and Clark, published by forest, had agreed to take me on a set along the shores like an ocean Perigee Press. field trip to see more of the Lewis breakwater, and the sides cut and Clark. countryside in exchange away and made uniform. On this eSoto Bend National for my talk.. third visit, the river's edge was in Wildlife Re fuge is It was my first view of snow disorder. the floods had scattered north of Omaha, Ne­ geese and about as dramatic as I the rocks an d unstraightened the braska, in Iowa. From could imagine. The scene was like channel. I thought about the great Omaha take Route 75 north to Fort a Japanese watercolor- muted differences between the tamed Calhoun (you can then stop at Fort hues blended together. It was Missouri, the Missouri in disarray, Atkinson on the way) to Blair, Ne­ worth fighting upwind against a and the river that Lewis and Clark braska. Go right (east) on Route 30 cold that made blue jeans feel like observed when they reached this over the Missouri River. The refuge thin cotton; it was so cold that l area. is off of Route 30. Turn right at the could only take my fingers out of On August 4, 1804, Lewis and signs to the refuge. my gloves long enough to take Clark were a little north of the You can also reach the refuge by two snapshots-any longer than present location of DeSoto Bend taking Interstate 29 in Iowa north that and the cold metal started to National Wildlife Refuge when the to Route 30, then left (west) on 30 feel like it was freezing my fingers variableness and fickleness of the to the refuge. up to the k.nuck.les. river became dangerously appar­ With a series of cries and the We parked in a tarmac lot and ent to them. They wrote that the beat of wings, snow geese rose walked upwind to a bird-viewing riverbanks were "washing away & from the icy waters and faded in blind on the oxbow lake for which trees falling in constantly for 1 and out in the falling snow, white the refuge is well known. This was m ile." The next day the boats fol­ upon white, up against down, ~~ rd s not wilderness, but in the w inter lowed a large meander in the river swirling to the right, counterclock­ air there was a feeling of wildness upstream. In the eve ning Clark wise, snow angling left, clock.wise, created by the swirling images walked on the shore. "In in the winter wind. An icy blast and blasting wind. A few other Pursueing Some Turkeys" he went burnt my fingers and stung my people braved the cold, but it was on foot downstream 3 70 yards eyes. Everything seemed to move hard to see them. and found himself at the begin­ and the world lost its co lor. It was The wildlife refuge had changed ning of the meander, a distance November, but the early snow­ greatly since my first vis.it, the re­ he had measured to be 12 miles storm and blast of Canadian arctic sult of the 1993 floods on the Mis­ by river. "In every bend the banks air made it seem like January. souri River. The first time I visited are falling in from the Current be­ Lewis and Clark. had passed this DeSoto Bend had been in early ing thrown against those bends," spot in the late summer, but they sp ring a few years before that he wrote. "Agreeable to th e Cus­ had known this kind of prairie win­ flood, when the work. of th e Army tomary Changes of the river I ter when they wintered with the Corps of Engineers was intact and Conclud . that in two years the Mandan Indians near m odern Bis­ the wildlife refuge was one of th e main cu rrent of the river will pass marck., North Dakota. most accessible places to see ef­ through"-it w ill cut off the mean­ This w as my third visit to fects of channelization on the Mis- der. Clark recognized the river's

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 29 natural tendency to change its slower, than on the outside. The and live on the floodplain, to farm channel, to meander across its river erodes the outer, longer bank that floodplain for a number of floodplain, to create sandbars and and depos its along the shorter years without worrying about then erode them away, to deposit bank nearer to the main channel. dreadful floods-in exchange for a soil on the edges and then under­ Eventually the meander takes on loss of the renewing sediments cut them into unstable cl iffs. an extreme shape of a near circle, that had created the fertile farm­ It was just the kind of danger­ called an oxbow. A flood carries land in the first place, and in ex­ ousness that Lewis and Clark ob­ the waters across the short bank change for rarer but more served that the Army Co rps of at the inside of the m eander, cut­ dangerous floods that could occur Engineers projects were supposed ting off the meander. This short in the future. to remove-to make the river safe channel becomes the path of the During that first visit we for people who lived and farmed river; beside it remains a lake w ith strolled from the channelized on the floodplain. to provide a the shape of a crescent moon, banks back to low wetlands. We constant, reliable source of irriga­ called an oxbow lake. Meanders of saw large willows and cotton­ tion water from dams, and to the Missouri have been measured woods, which are so characteristic make navigation safe and simple to m igrate across the floodplain at of these habitats. But these wil­ for boat traffic, with the belief that an average rate of about 250 feet lows were much larger- probably barges would be a major m ode for a year. much older-than I was familiar transporting goods through the Over the years, the meanders with. There was also a dense un­ Midwest in the late twentieth cen­ them selves m igrate back and derstory of flowering dogwood. tury. But other forms of transpor­ fo rth across the river valley. Over Dav id suggested that such an un­ tation-railroads, interstate thousands of years, th e river has derstory would never have existed highways, big trailer trucks, and wandered across the plains, erod­ with the natural flooding of the air fre ight-interfered, and th e ing and depositing, like an artist river, because dogwood cannot channelized Missouri never be­ working his oils over and over withstand flooding and the floods came a big moneymaker for the again on his canvas. On this would bulldoze the small trees transportation industry. Today sculpted, painted landscape, Lewis away. He believed that the barges carry only 1 .5 percent of and Clark pushed their small river presettlement floodplain forests the agricultural products of the re­ crafts upstream, through the me­ would have had a "cathedral" gion. anders, through the fallen sands, look- tall, arching trees, but little At this refuge in 1960 the U.S. through the snags. They saw the understory. We saw there were Army Corps of Engineers con­ river's sandy, silty painting at one few dead logs on the ground. This structed a channel that cut moment in time. It has becom e a also David thought unnatural; through a meander to shorten common belief of our age that na­ there would have been many dead river travel by seven miles, avoid­ ture undisturbed by modern civili­ logs on the natural bottomland, ing the DeSoto Bend of the river. zation was fixed, constant, steady, some washed there from up­ They built levees to cu t off the perhaps reliable and trustworthy. strea m by the river, the rest from meander, thus fo rming an oxbow. But the real Missouri changed be­ trees that fell and remained in In this case, the oxbow lake had fore Lewis and Clark passed its place. Although a few floodplains an artificial original; but long be­ way, kept changing under their trees were there, others that we fore channelization, natural ox­ feet, and changed after they left. expected to see were not, includ­ bow lakes were continually being The countryside. as a result, was ing elm and ash; the elimination formed by the Missouri as it cut also always changing. of flooded areas seemed to have off m eanders. These are scattered During my first visit to DeSoto eliminated many kinds of trees over the countryside and many Bend, it seemed that the adapted to those wet, frequently are recreational parks, such as channelization of the river had ex­ flooding habitats. Lewis and Clark State Park in tinguished the wonderful wild Mis­ These images of the wetlands Iowa. souri of fact and folklore. In its and tamed river I had seen before A meander begins as a small place was a placid, tamed stream . th e 1993 floods came to mind as bend in a river. Over time, the My reaction was not so much sen­ we walked through the drifting shape of a meander becomes timental as it was a recognition snow to the edge of the river's more extremely arced, with more that we had made a Faustian bar­ main channel. The well-i nten­ m aterial deposited on the inside gain with the river, gaining short­ tioned works of human beings on of the curve, where the rive r runs term stability- a chance to build the river were in disarray. The

30 WE PROCEEDED ON AUGUST 1999 neat, straight banks were gone, crease production of wildlife. This for birds. washed away; the even line of managem ent is part of the reason The snow geese swirling in the boulders a j umble of rocks. that DeSoto is such a good place November snow created one of Since the time of Lewis and to see many of the water birds the most beautiful scenes I have Clark, the Miss ouri River has been that were here when Lewis and ever w itnessed on the Missouri teaching the same lessons, but Clark passed this way. With much River. DeSoto Bend left me with a rarely have we listened, rarely of the surrounding countryside mixed message. Channelization have we learned. We thought that under cultivation and many of the had caused many problems, but our mechanized projects were a prairie pothole ponds and wet­ that didn't mean all human at­ rational approach to the river, but lands drained for farming, there tempts to improve nature were it hasn't worked out that way. are fewer places for migrating wa­ bad. The planting of prairie There is a rational approach we ter birds to stop and fe ed. At grasses and of crops that were left can take to living with the river, DeSoto, about 1 ,500 acres have for the wild birds was a natural benefitting from its waters, con­ been planted in grasslands, in­ resource management action that serving its living resources, en­ cluding big and little blues tem, worked. As Gary and I went on to abling it to fertilize and help switch gra ss, Indian grass, view other natural areas along the restore the land. sideoats grama, and wheat Missouri where prairie restoration DeSoto Bend National Wildlife grass-classic grasses of the was in progress, I was convinced Refuge provides an example of tallgrass prairie. These are burned that we could learn the difference how we can accomplish this to­ on a three-year rotation to prevent between those actions that can be day. One of 500 U.S. Fish and trees from entering, as are the beneficial and those that are likely Wildlife Se rvice refuges through­ loess hills. Other fields are cult i­ to fa il. This was worth the walk in out the United States, DeSoto vated in crops, and the crops not the cold and the snow. Bend is actively managed to in- harvested provide additional food '

JO.dose pi'OZimic:y to di.C: YdIOwstonc- River, Captain Lewis and four men from the C.Orps of Discovery proceeded in advance of the boars. That afternoon, from a high bluff on the south bank of the Missouri , they m ade their fi rst sighting of the Yellowstone River, an important milestone on their epic journey.

Abou L Lhe Artist Monrana artist C harles Fritz has exhibited his work widely in museums across the West. T he C.M. Russell Museum, the Albuquerque Museum, the National Museum of Wildlife Arr, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, and the Denver Art Museum have Captain Lewis Sighting the Yellowstone all exhibited or own his wo rks. Apri l 25, 1805 Listed in "Who's Who in the West" and "Who's Who in America," his paintings have won many awards By Charles Fritz including the Lee M. Loeb Award Edition of 750 signed/numbered prints on 100 lb. acid free paper for Landscape at rhe Salmagunda Club, New York, N .Y. $150.00 plus $10.00 s/h • VISNMC accepted

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 31 by. Martin Erickson

The 2000 federal spending plan has more than those people who want to come visit." doubled the amount appropriated for the bicen­ Officials are predicting anywhere from 1 to 4 mil­ tennial commemoration of the Lewis and Clark lion tourists over the four-year period. Expedition. In late June, the Senate Appropria­ "We are dealing with issues like where are we go­ tions Committee approved an Interior Department ing to park 40 tour buses a day in [the small Idaho bill that would include $2.6 million for the bicen­ town of] Kamiah and where are they going to go to tennial. Last year's federal budget provided the bathroom," Lorraine Roach, president of the $775,000 for the bicentennial. The increased Clearwater-Snake Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Com­ funding is to help states prepare for infrastructure m ittee. improvements and the influx of tourists. The bill There are also sites sacred to the Nez Perce tribe includes $300,000 for maintenance and develop­ across the corridor, said Nez Perce Tribal Executive ment of the trail. $1 .3 million will be used for Committee Member Carla High Eagle. maintenance activities for the commeD'loration and $1 million for new construction projects.

A psychologist and bass guitar player with the Number 2/100 of the Critical Martini Band, in Great Falls for a weekend Atlas Second Edition Goes to ... jazz festival, was the 100,000th visitor to the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Cen­ ter. Ted McKain, 50, was "overwhelmingly sur­ prised" when Center Director Jane Weber presented him w ith a batch of balloons and a free annual fam­ ily pass to the center. He also received other gifts from the interpretive center's store w hich is oper­ ated by the nonprofit Lewis and Clark Interpretive Association. He came on May I, four days before the center's May 5 anniversary date.

The U.S. Forest Service is proposing restrictions to protect forest lands and tribal sites from an ex­ pected flood of tourists fo llowing Lewis and Clark's footsteps across the Northwest. Under a proposed Clearwater National Forest Plan, a lottery permit system would restrict access into the popular system of historic trails in the Lolo Trail Corridor during the Meriwether Hudson of Durham, North Carolina! 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedi­ Coincidentally, as you might suspect from her name, tion. Meriwether is a descendant of the Lewis family. The public had until June to comm ent on the plan. The foundation received an overwhelming response The permit system would go into effect only if to its recent solicitation for contributions to help safety, congestion or natural resource damage be­ underwrite the reprinting of Volume I (the Atlas) of came a problem. the journals of Lewis and Clark, edited by Dr. Gary " ... From a tourism standpoint the states are look­ Moulton. All donations received were placed in a ing at it [the bicentennial] as the cultural tourism bag, and the limited edition numbers were awarded event of the millennium," said Margaret Gorski, the in the order names were drawn. Foundation Board Member Jane Schmoyer-Weber and Librarian Missoula, Montana based U.S. Forest Service Bicen­ Julianne Ruby did the honors of drawing the tennial Coordinator. "From the federal perspective, winning name. our first priority is to protect the trail and host alt

32 W E PROCEEDED ON MAY 1999 LEWIS AND CLARK: VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY, the book and realized each one was not only special, by Stephen E. Ambrose, Photographs by Sam Abell but taken from vantage points and at times of the National Geographic Society, 1998, 256 pages day (and year) that I would never experience myself. What a valuable record to have by a consummate Reviewed by Bob Doerk professional. Just when you think there is nothing else to say in Second, the layout and flow of the narrative. I a new survey book of the Lewis and Clark Expedi­ won't dwell on Steve's writing style but to say he is a tion, particularly by Steve Ambrose who already powerful prose writer, as most of you know who authored Undaunted Courage and was one of the con­ have read Undaunted Courage , Crazy Horse and tributors to Lewis and Clark: the journey of the Corps Custer, and/or his many books on World War II, of Discovery, by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns, you Eisenhower, and Nixon. I have read this book twice better think again! This book is simply a joy to read and can't find a boring paragraph on any page. Like and look over the photographs in detail. Let me tell Churchill, Ambrose's prose is straightforward, color­ you why ... ful, and emphasizes the use of single syllable words First the photos. Any time National Geographic that are most descriptive and hit the mark. does a book you would expect stunning photo­ The volume begins with a 14-page preamble, w ith graphs, taken from angles not shown before, with photos and sparse journal notes and some brief nar­ proper lighting and mood conveying ~pressions rative from Steve, setting the mood fo r what follows. that are fresh and insightful. When you have Sam The short preface relates the personal side of the Abell taking the photographs. you have a real profes­ Ambrose family exploration and study of the trail sional at work. I first met Sam back in I 985, when. since 1976 and why they have stayed interested all he attended a Portage Route Chapter meeting ip these years. These reasons include the cast of char­ Great Falls and was in the area doing his photogra­ acters, the range of experiences, the setting (two­ phy for the feature article on Charlie Russell in the thirds of the continent). drama/importance, and January, 1986 issue of National Geographic. He has heroism/national unity. In short, Steve Ambrose ex­ only improved with age and Steve Ambrose recounts plains how he and his family found America, each several anecdotes about how he simply could not other, and themselves, primarily through the three­ keep up with Sam as he scrambled up hills and to month camping trip along the whole length of the places that were almost inaccessible to get the right trail they took in 1976. This intertwining of the per­ photograph. I had the same experience back in sonal with what Lewis and Clark were doing perme­ 1997, when I was in the White'Cliffs area with Larry ates the book and makes it very special. Zabel, a very respected western artist. Larry took lit­ Third, there are many new insights and reaffirma­ erally hundreds of photos during the five day trip, up tions of common sense information we all know but at dawn and in the hills, more like a big horn sheep have never, perhaps, reflected upon the way Steve than a human being and Larry was in his 60s! Light­ Ambrose does. Here are several examples. Lewis had ing and proper ambiance were just too important for his priorities right when planning for the his future paintings on Lewis and Clark and Sam trip, .. enough powder and lead to repeat the trip and Abell is obviously of the same ilk. Knowing this enough ink and paper to rewrite the journals. As background, I studied each and every photograph in long as you had a rifle, ammunition and powder you

Sacagawea is still a historical mystery, according to Mark Halverson, curator of collections research for Rick Collins, a spokesman for the State Historical So~ the State Historical Society, said it is healthy for ciety of North Dakota. people to re-examine history. Did she die in 1812 or 1884? Was she buried in He said, "Every generation seeks some new insight South Dakota or Wyoming? and what will change them in their lives. That's what "Jn terms of deciding which is the true Sacagawea, makes it so dynamic. " that's not our purpose," he said.

MAY 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 33 could make it through almost any trial and tribulation Salt Camp was not located at Cannon Beach, but and the ink and paper made the trip a success! Or rather at Seaside, Oregon, seven miles away from when he says, "Shields earned dozens of bushels of Cannon Beach (p. 200), and the 15 rifles Lewis ob­ corn for his axes, and it was Mandan corn that got the tained from Harpers Ferry Arsenal in l 803 were not expedition through the winter. Had the Mandan not Kentucky rifles (p . 36). been there, or had they no corn to spare, or had they It has been my experience over the years that it is been hostile, the expedition would not have survived almost impossible to marry up impeccable research the winter" (p. 79) . Or when he discusses how the late with a writing style that is an absolute page turner. Bob Scriver spent a year researching the expedition Certainly, that is the goal, but perfection is difficult to prior to sculpting his statue of Lewis and Clark and attain. I think Jim Ronda comes closest to approxi­ Sacagawea and baby Pomp, having Pomp wrapped in mating that ideal, an example being his Lewis and a blanket because his cradleboard had been lost in the Clark Among the Indians. Steve Ambrose is a story river on May 14, 1805 (p. 103). This became contro­ teller with a strong grounding in history. If you want versial lately with the way Pomp appears in the design the unvarnished truth, go to the journals themselves for the new coin, with the artist getting it right through or many good aspect books on the expedition (ex­ the help of Andy Anderson and Bill Sherman. Steve amples being Passage Through the Garden, the afore­ Ambrose picked it up all along. mentioned Lewis and Clark Among the Indians, Only In Shakespeare, the play is the thing. In this book, One Man Died, Pioneering Naturalists, etc.). If you the narrative is the thing. It is a must read. Examples want a stimulating read, you can't go wrong with of how it all flows ...a description of their camps after this volume under review. It will kindle your interest, leaving Fort Mandan ... "The only shelter was ate­ either for the first time or, if an experienced enthusi­ pee-the tents had long since given out ... in it slept ast. once again in the marvelous epic that is the the captains, the Charbonneau family, and Lewis and Clark Expedition! Drouillard. The fires were small ones for cooking, not big blazes for dancing and singing. Sentries took Bob Doerk is an authority on the Lewis and Clark up their posts. The men slept on the ground, with a Trail. He lives in Cheyenne. Wyoming. buffalo robe below and another above. The captains had a writing table and candles in their tepee." Or when Dayton Duncan and Steve Ambrose are si tting around the campfire discussing when Lewis and Clark did their writing: " Dayton, who used to be a ~~~~~ reporter, figured they often wrote during the day, basing this judgment on the physical form of the moo m n ITOOIT\!irn rnYP j ournals, which are very like the notepads a modern reporter scribbles in. But, I [Steve Ambrose] ob­ 1999 SCHEDULE j ected, surely they didn't take ink and quill with (madewithyouinmind) them into the field" (p. 179). We may have to get ·:· Canoe RentalK •!• ExcluHivc Trips Gary Moulton into that discussion! •!• Single-day Guided T rips •!• G uide O nly Service Does this volume have mistakes when checked in •!• Mtdti-day Trip• •!• Horsebach Duy Rides detail with the historical record? Yes it does, and •:• Travel Through lhe \Vh.ite •!• S hulUe Services some of them are surprising. Martin Plamondon II, a Clill~ •:• 5'k• DiRcounl for Lewis and Experience "River T ime" C lnrl. Trail H eritage devoted Lewis and Clark scholar and member of the •!• •!• "Wild and Scenic" Trip Foundation mem.bers Governor's Washington State Lewis and Clark Trail Comm ittee, has outlined 34 errors in his 16 page at­ BOOK YOUR PIACE IN HISTORY TODAY! tachment to a letter he fo rwarded to the National BOOK EARll'! Geographic Society. His attention to detail and m e­ The launch dates for the 1999 ticulous research took a month to accomplish but is ~\S~~ season will be selected by you on a first-come, first-served just the right input appreciated by all Lewis and ~ ~ basis. Clark scholars and buffs when ensuring correct infor­ n . I\ - fl} Call us-we'll work to meet your needs! mation is conveyed to the reading public. Several ex­ ~ -~c:,,. y.· · ;:: For a fi·ee brochure amples of the errors needing correction in any future ~ - ~·. · ·c~ ·~ 01· more in{ormation calf printing of this volume-The Bitterroot River runs Q ·" ·~ through the Bitterroot Valley and not the Big Hole 1-888-595-9151 •~expe~ or visit our website at Valley (p. 232); there is no Mount Hood Gorge but www.lewisandclarkguide.com rather there is a Columbia River Gorge (p . 193); the formerly Leiuis N Clark ca11oeAdventJ1ros

34 WE PROCEEDED ON MAY 1999 Music Flows from the Journals of Lewis and Clark

by Martin Erickson costs? The composers have their piece maybe 25 to 35 minutes knew the piece was going own questions. How long do you long. He thought he could do it to work, but I was over, want it? What is the composition comfortably. He had an innate in­ j whelmed with the emo, of your orchestra? What are its terest in the subject. " tional response from the strong points? Which performers Meanwhile, in Moscow, Idaho, audience." on which instruments are key Bukvich said, "Gordon called me --Gordonjohnson, conductor ones? Are the strings strong? Who and asked if I was interested in do­ Great Falls Symphony are you playing for? ing a Lewis and Clark piece. My "There is a whole large matrix of first response was I don't think 1770 people filled the Civic Cen­ research involved. A major ques­ there is any music there. I don't ter auditorium in Great Falls, Mon­ tion is - Will it be ready when you think I can do anything for you. tana, on the evening of March 23, want it? It is not uncommon for Because I didn't think anything 1999 to hear the World Premiere commissions to come in two or would happen, I started getting performance of "From the Journals three years late. We needed it to be some ideas. Fortunately, Gordon of Lewis and Clark" by Daniel ready in about a year and a half, called me back. Bukvich. The response was abso­ • by January 1999. Timing was "I hadn't spent much time with lutely overwhelming for the or­ r~a ll y important on this one." the journals. I thought it would be chestra and choir which translated . Johnson said one of the people five years down the road. I started the words and action of the jour­ on the planning comm ittee asked, reading more about the expedi­ nals into music. A simple goal of "V\'h9- t p.bout 'a piece on Lewis and tion. I spent many hours, days, having a commemorative piece of Clark?'" weeks reading Moulton and all the music to celebrate the 40th anni­ With a smile on his face, the works on Lewis and Clark. I spent versary of the Great Falls Sym­ conductor continued, "Coming all summer learning Lewis and phony had turned into a world from a traditional background, I Clark." class composition that will have a thought it was a kooky idea, but "Within two weeks," Johnson long range and stunning influence they decide to go ahead and pur­ said, "Dan sent me an outline of on the bicentennial years of Lewis sue it. I had three or four compos­ speakers, etc. I wrote back with my and Clark and beyond. ers I've worked with. I felt thoughts like the cornerstone of How did this happen? comfortable with all of them. the piece should be the great falls It starred two years ago when "I called Dan Bukvich, a com­ of the Missouri. I also mentioned the long range planning committee poser and arranger at the Lionel the flow of the piece. Several of the Great Falls Symphony Asso­ Hampton School of Music at the months later he called and said the ciation sat down to figure out how University of Idaho in March of piece is closer to an hour. You have to celebrate the 40th anniversay in 1998. His music has been commis­ to give composers room." style. They decided to commission sioned and performed by bands, The m ore Bukvich read about a composition for orchestra and choirs, orchestras and chamber en­ Lewis and Clark, the more he choir. sembles throughout the world. He found "much material for music. l "We started by my talking to was on his second reading of Steve was intrigued by the spelling. I composers," the symphony con­ Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage''. f thought that was a good theme. It ductor, Gordon Johnson, said. had just finished it. It had become gave me musical ideas. It gave m e "There is a lot involved in selecting apparent to m e that this concept the inspiration to work on the a composer. Good composers are would work. Everything was in project. It ended up being 56 min­ always busy. There is a time factor place to make it work. utes long." involved. Would a composer have " Dan's problem was he was Maurice Ravel's musical alpha­ the time available? What are the really too busy. We asked for a (MUSIC continued on page 36)

MAY 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 35 Ravel's Musical Alphabet

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One of the musical pieces is titled "Captain Clark's Spelling." ft was composed by taking the 29 ways Clark spelled "Sioux" and translating the spellings into musical notes using Maurice Ravel's musical alphabet shown above.

William Clark's Twenty-nine Spellings of "Sioux" - Melodicized wit h Ravel's Musical Alphabet-

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MUSIC made up of a cross section of listen­ mark. 'Cruzatte's Fiddle' has the Cont. from p. 35 ers. I had an obligation to the listen­ power to lift spirits. 'Scalp Dance' bet also gave him inspiration for the ers to create an appropriate crowd and 'Lullabye for Jean Baptiste' are basic theme notes. He used just five pleaser, tuneful and melodic." contrasting examples of taking his­ notes - D-B-C-E-A - as the basic "Dan sent me the first draft in torical facts and triggering an emo­ theme. Those five notes occur in December 1 998," Johnson said. "I tional response. Composers write that order throughout the composi­ was overwhelmed. It was huge. He the music, and orchestras and cho­ tion and give an identity and a flow had seven or eight copyists working ruses play and sing the music, and to the music that the listeners are on it. We were able to gather all the if they do it right they can really only subliminally aware of. performance materials for rehears­ communicate with an audience. "It can be a single flow piece or als in January. "I knew the piece was going to eight separate pieces of five to "A couple of things made it suc­ work, but I was overwhelmed with seven minutes long," Bukvich cessful. As improbable as the sub­ the emotional response from the noted. "There are multiple pieces ject matter is to lend itself to a audience. Everything worked right for different occassions. Although symphonic piece everybody identi­ on this one." audiences are made up of all kinds fies with it. When it is as powerful Note: The Lewis and Clark Trail of different people, the music sends and emotional as music can be, it Heritage Foundation contributed to their minds in certain directions. I really resonates with power. the funding for the composition. needed a different kind of music for "The areas that Dan took from The Portage Route Chapter under­ Lewis and Clark.All audiences are the expedition are right on the wrote the funding for the CD.

36 WE PROCEEDED ON MAY 1999 The May 14, 1804 start of the Lewis and Clark Ex­ Educational Outreach Program will be to provide pedition was commemorated with re-enactments, speakers for area clubs and organizations. Talks will historical readings and special ceremonies on Friday, be about 35 minutes with l 0 minutes for discussion. May 14, 1999 at the Lewis and Clark Memorial in Seven chapter members have signed on for talks Hartford, Illinois, along Illinois Route 3. The Lewis ranging from Thomas Jefferson and the Expedition to & Clark Discovery Expedition of St. Charles, Mis­ A Trip on the Columbia River. souri, dismantled its camp while a narrator read from Meriwether Lewis's t 804 journal describing the An auto caravan into South Dakota to follow the original departure of the expedition. Discovery Expe­ Lewis and Clark Trail and also see other historic sites dition m embers presented a rowing and sailing dem­ was sponsored by the Minnesota Chapter in mid­ onstration using a reproduction boat based on one june. They toured the site of the expedition's co n­ from the original journey and then sailed away. frontation with the Lakota Indians, ate lunch at the Other activities included a color guard, flag rais­ D&E Cafe in Pierre (made famous by Dayton ing, volley firing, a presentation on "Early 1800s Duncan in Out West) and toured the Pierre Cultural U.S. Army Wash Women", a tomahawk throwing ex­ Heritage Center. They also saw the site where Lewis hibition and a dancing exhibition. and Clark met the Arikaras and then traveled to the William Clark's May 14, 1804 journal notes: "a supposed burial site of Sitting Bull and a nearby me­ cloudy morning fixing for a Start. .. m cany of the morial to Sacagawea. neighbours Come from the cournrey mail and feemail ... " Meriwether Lewis described the j ourney partici- . pants as "robust helthy hardy young men recorp­ COMPACT DISC mended." !J.rom Jhe :Journals ofBewis i! Clar£ The Lewis & Clark Society of America, Inc. spon­ sored the program. by Daniel Bukvich Commissioned in celebration of Great Falls Symphony Association's The Travelers' Rest Campsite, a National Historic !Jorhe!.b' 7/nniuersary Landmark, has been designated by the National Live recording of the World Premiere Trust for Historic Preservation as an Official Project Close your eyes and you'll experience a Roaring to Tremendious as Captain Lewis first described the great falls of the Missouri; of Save America's Treasures. It joins other threat­ a soothing Lullaby for Jean Baptiste; the lively sounds of ened cultural treasures in need of support, including Cruzatte's Fiddle around the campfire and so much more. the Star Spangled Banner, Edison's laboratory and Name ______~ Louis Armstrong's archives. Address ______A Lasting Legacies Conference sponsored by the City ______Zip ___ Phone ___ _ _

Traveler's Rest Chapter and funded by the National I'd like to order __ CD's @ $12.50 = $ _ _ _ _ Park Service was held in April on how best to pre­ Postage and handling- add $2.50 each - $ ___ _ serve the campsite and the surrounding area. Repre­ 10TAL $ _ _ _ _ sentatives from the Salish [Flatheads in the j ournals] and Nez Perce tribes joined the other conferees in Paid by: D Check enclosed (payable 10 Great Falls Symphony) discussing how to protect and interpret the Native - or- D Visa D MasterCard D Discover American sites in the Bitterroot Valley. Other panels # ______Ei..'}J. Date ___ included discussions on what role government agen­ Great Falls Symphony cies might play at Travelers ' Rest as well as the non­ P.O. Box 1078 • Great Falls, MT 59403 profits. (406) 453-4102 • Fax (406) 453-9779 A Design Charette fo llowed the conference. Please allow 2 weeks for delivery Funded by the Portage Route Chapter The second phase of -the Home Front Chapter Lewis & Clark Ttail Heritage Foundation

MAY 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 37 THE ARcHrvrsr Is IN ... by Jan e Schmoyer-Weber archives have slowly grown over Bird Woman (Sacajawea) the Guide Chair, Archives Committee the years. In 1997, Emilie Betts, of Lewis and Clark. The series was Julianne Ruby, archivist for the devoted wife of author Robert donated by the Warden family to foundation library, has a new ap­ Betts, donated her late husband's the Lewis and Clark Interpretive preciation for the wonder and an­ personal library-over 200 vol­ Center, Fund, Inc., the organization ticipation surely the Indian umes, periodicals, magazines, and which led the fund drive for the delegations must have felt when personal papers assembled while Great Falls Lewis and Clark Inter­ Lewis and Clark unpacked bundles conducting research for his book In pretive Cen ter. Rather than sell the of gifts under a shade awning or Search of York. Amongst the foun­ collection during their fund raising, inside a buffalo tipi, officially open­ dation titles are several collectibles, the Fund, Inc. donated the collec­ ing negotiations. Uncrating the col­ most notable is the title, Lewis and tion to the foundation for safekeep­ lections for the foundation's Clark: Linguistic Pioneers by Elijah ing and members' use. archives library has revealed a trea­ H. Criswell, written as a master's While most of the foundation's sure trove of books, research mate­ thesis in 1936 and published in collection is shelved and available rials gathered over the years by 1940. Paul Cutright, in his book, fo r handling, fragile titles are past archives co mm ittee chairman History of the Lewis and Clark jour­ stored in handmade acid free Bob Doerk and stored for nearly a nals wrote, " ... Criswell's mono­ boxes to protect them from the el­ decade in the basement of the graph deserves inclusion on any ements. These special books are C. M. Russell Museum. After years list of the I O or 12 most valuable retrieved by the arch ivist and in boxes, 1009 volumes have been books yet published about Lewis handled only after donning cotton uncrated, catalogued, and shelved and Clark." Another gem in the gloves. To protect the resources, all in our library in Great Falls. Thanks collection is R.D. Burroughs's archives library materials are non­ to the generosity and commitment book, Natural History of the Lewis circulating, and research must be to scholarship of our fellow founda­ and Clark Expedition, the first de­ conducted at the library under the tion members, these texts are finitive compilation of research guidance of the archivist. Food, available fo r serious researchers to about the flora and fauna of the drinks, pens, and bookbags are delve and casual trail followers to expedition. The title is just recently checked at the door to further pro­ browse. back in print in paperback, but is tect the collections. Like many research libraries, the very difficult to find today in the Since opening in February, foundation's collections are cata­ hardback edition owned by the li­ Julianne and the library volunteers logued using the Library of Con­ brary. Thanks to a donation by have fielded the ir share of interest­ gress cataloguing system. Great Falls resident, Margaret War­ ing questions. Te lephone calls, let­ Computerized, texts can be re­ den, the foundation eventually ters, and walk-in visitor inquiries called by title, subject, author, pub­ came to own the complete collec­ vary from the easy, "Did York ever lisher, and publication date. tion of all published works by gain his freedom?" to more com­ Initially bolstered by a collection Jam es Willard Schultz. The collec­ plex, "Was bear grease or buffalo from the Robert Taylor estate, the tion includes his very scarce book, grease used as mosquito repel-

The calendar of the Idaho Chapter includes a Mike The Washington State Chapter is doing a great Venso lecture and photo exhibit on August I 2 on job of planning ahead with the schedule for the year Lewiston with the photo exhibit on display until Septem­ 2000 al ready set. Meetings planned include: Febru­ ber 11. Venzo is a reporter/photographer for an Idaho ary 2000- Washington State Historical Museum, newspaper who reported on and photographed his jour­ Tacoma, for a lecture by Dave Nicandri; Spring ney tracing the Lewis and Clark Trail down the Missouri. 2000-Horsethief Lake State Park, Kl ickitat County The Annual Idaho Chapter Lola Trail Campout will be for a lecture by Martin Plamondon; Septem ber 23, held September 4-6 . A joint meeting with the Washing­ 2000-Bonneville Dam Vi sitor's Center, Columbia ton State Chapter will be held at Lewi s and Clark State River, for a lecture and tour by Don Dinsmore. Park near Dayton, Washington,- September 18. 38 W E PROC EEDED ON MAY 1999 -

lent?" When queried about the rage Route Chapter scholars and researchers to utilize strangest or most interesting ques­ • Sacajawea The Unsung Heroine of the collections. Ultimately, the li­ tion, Julianne recalls a young man Montana, by Laura Tolman Scott, brary helps fulfill our mission to who asked, "How come Moulton courtesy of Ron Laycock and stimulate public awareness and un­ wrote the journals?" After explain­ Erma Gorder derstanding of the expedition's ing Dr. Moulton's diligent research contributions to this nation's heri­ of the original journals, his role in • The Truth About Sacajawea, by tage. The path is before us ... and, the journal reprints, and laborious Ken Thomasma, courtesy of the for the record . we think it was buf­ work enhancing the journal text author falo grease. with fascinating footnotes, the • Undaunted Courage, by Stephen gentleman then exclaimed, Ambrose, first edition, courtesy " ... then why is Mr. Moulton's of Ludd Trozpek Clark Letter on name on them?" With newfound • The Dog Who Helped Explore Display followers, it sometimes takes more America, by R.W. "Rib" explaining and more patience. Gustafson, courtesy of the au­ Now on display at the Lewis & The library is open afternoons, thor Clark Interpretive Center, Washburn, Tuesday through Saturday, North Dakota, is "Clark's Letter from throughout the summer. Appoint­ • Renegade Tribe, by Clifford Trafzer and Richard Schueman, Fort Mandan to Jonathan Clark, April ments for other visits can be ar­ 1805." It will be on exhibit from the courtesy of Barb Kubik ranged w ith a telephone call to middle of July through December. It Julianne at the foundation offices. • Naya Nuki, by Ken Thomasma, is on loan from the Filson Club Supplementing the one staff posi­ courtesy of Martin Erickson Historical Society, Louisville, Ken­ tion are 1O volunteers indexing ar­ • Maps of the Missouri , by the Mis­ tucky. ticles from other publications; souri River Commission, cour­ This letter from Fort Mandan identifying resources available in tesy of Bill Sherman detailed what Clark was sending newsletters and other publications back for the president and his • • Reprint of about western history; updating Lewis and Clark Pio­ brother. He also sent back many the list of artists with works on neering Linguists, by Elijah Harry gifts and these are discussed in the Lewis and Clark (the list is growing Criswell, courtesy of Don Nell Jetter as well . Included were items daily); developing a periodical list The founda_tion's collections such as a white buffalo skin and a and index, assisting with research have grown, thanks to the generos­ pair of winter moccasins. In his requests, and processing new col­ ity and sustaining d edica~ion of our closing Clark says, "When I shall lections. Video and audio cassettes members and friends. According to have the pleasure of seeing you and countless slides collected over foundati on secretary, Ludd again is uncertain ... the country the las t 20 years require thorough Trozpek, the Betts and Taylor dona­ before me is extensive and unex­ review before being added to the tions have afforded us a strong plored." The expedition's adventure collection. The volunteer staff re­ core collection of 20th century began after they left Fort Mandan. ceives extensive training and scholarly material; lacking are vol­ umes from the 19th century. If you works alongside Julianne learning the catalogue system and scouring find yourself in the midst of simpli­ CLASSIFIEDS the collections to answer oftimes fying your lifestyle or reducing obscure questions. Underway now your household and have books LEWIS AND CLARK TOURS . is the task of cataloguing thou­ related to western history, consider Follow the steps of the explor­ sands of personal papers filled the foundation archives library. ers from the Great Falls of the with information documenting the Give a call to the foundation offices Missouri to Travelers Rest. 6 history of the Lewis and Clark Trail or to me at (406) 727-8733 to dis­ nights- 7 days. Motor coach and Heritage Foundation. File folders of cuss a single volume or ·your entire van transportation, accommo­ material donated by past officers collection. The archives committee dations, m eals, events, atrrac­ and board members will require is currently developing a list of, tions, speakers, and more. sorting and filing to retain our titles needed fo r the collecti on. A Group discounts. Rates vary. For organization's complete history. donation from you may fill a gap in further information: www/ Since February, nine new titled the foundation's library. swanrivertours. com , 1-800-792- have been added to the collection: Future plans include computer 6748, 1-406-754-2538 (phone/ links to other library facilities. The fax). • Acts of Discovery, by Albert goal is to make the foundation ar­ Furtwangler, courtesy of the Por- chives a premier library attracting

AUGUST 1999 WE PROCEEDED ON 39 Capt. Wm. Clark I August 4th Sunday 1805 a fine morning cool proceeded on verry early and Brackfast at the Camp Capt Lewis left yesterday morning, at this Camp he left a note informing that he discovered no fresh Sign ofIndians &c. The river continued to be crouded with Islands Sholey rapid & clear, I could not walk on Shore to day as my ankle was Sore from a turner on that part. the method we are compelled to take to get on is fatigueing & laborious in the extreen, haul the Canoes over the rapids, which Suckceed each other every two or three hundred yards and between the water rapid oblige to towe & walke on Stones the whole day except when we have poleing men wet all,, day Sore feet &c. &c