Contents Letters: York’s medicine; short-haired strangers; Missouri’s source 2 From the Directors: New endowment program 5 From the Bicentennial Council: Honoring Nez Perce envoys 6 Trail Notes: Trail managers cope with crowds 8 Reliving the Adventures of Meriwether Lewis 11 The explorer’s biographer explains his special attachment to “the man with whom I’d most like to sit around the campfire” By Stephen E. Ambrose The “Odyssey” of Lewis and Clark 14 A look at the Corps of Discovery through the eyes of Homer Rabbit Skin Leggings, p. 6 By Robert R. Hunt The Big 10 22 What were the essential events of the Lewis & Clark Expedition? By Arlen J. Large Hunt on Corvus Creek 26 A primer on the care and operation of flintlock rifles as practiced by the Corps of Discovery By Gary Peterson Reviews 32 Jefferson’s maps; Eclipse; paperback Moulton In Brief: Before Lewis and Clark; L&C in Illinois Clark meets the Shoshones, p. 24 Passages 37 Stephen E. Ambrose; Edward C. Carter L&C Roundup 38 River Dubois center; Clark’s Mountain; Jefferson in space Soundings 44 From Julia’s Kitchen By James J. Holmberg On the cover Michael Haynes’s portrait of Meriwether Lewis shows the captain holding his trusty espontoon, a symbol of rank that also appears in Charles Fritz’s painting on pages 22-23 of Lewis at the Great Falls. We also used Haynes’s portrait to help illustrate Robert R. Hunt’s article, beginning on page 14, about parallels between the L&C Expedition and Homer’s Odyssey. Black-billed magpie , p. 26 February 2003 We Proceeded On ! 1 Letters York’s big medicine among the Hidatsas February 2003 • Volume 29, Number 1 We Proceeded On is the official publication of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc. Its name derives from a phrase that appears repeatedly in the collective journals of the expedition. 2003 E. G. Chuinard, M.D., Founder ISSN 02275-6706 Editor J. I. Merritt 51 N. Main Street Pennington, NJ 08534 609-818-0168 [email protected] Art Direction Margaret Davis Design Princeton, New Jersey SHELDON GREEN SHELDON Printed by James Printing & Design, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania Ken Burns, Gerard Baker, Dayton Duncan, and Stephen Ambrose at On-a-Slant Village, 1997. Editorial Board On page 78 of the late Stephen Ambrose’s said this story had been passed down book Lewis & Clark: Voyage of Discov- through Hidatsa families for generations. Gary E. Moulton, Leader ery Lincoln, Nebraska , which he wrote in collaboration with He first heard it as a boy, and it became the National Geographic Society, the au- his personal entry into the Lewis and Robert C. Carriker thor tells the story of hearing the Hidatsa Clark saga. Spokane, Washington version of attempts to rub the color off This episode was only partially re- Robert K. Doerk, Jr. York. The casual telling of the story il- corded in the journals for March 9, 1805. Fort Benton, Montana lustrates one of the great attractions of Clark, who was the journalist during this Glen Lindeman the Lewis and Clark adventure—that it period, was away most of the day check- Pullman, Washington can be told today from other cultural ing on the progress of the dugout canoes. perspectives. Lewis was left to welcome Le Borgne, the Membership Information The scene was the reconstructed cer- powerful and haughty chief of the north- emonial lodge at On-a-Slant, once a ernmost Hidatsa village. Always skepti- Membership in the Lewis and Clark Trail Mandan village south of present-day Bis- cal of the Americans, Le Borgne didn’t Heritage Foundation, Inc. is open to the public. Information and applications are available by marck, North Dakota. The occasion was believe there could be a black white man writing Membership Coordinator; Lewis and the publicity tour for the 1997 PBS pre- and had said that the only worthwhile Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, P.O. Box miere of the Lewis and Clark documen- Americans were the blacksmiths, who 3434, Great Falls, MT 59403. tary by Ken Burns, Dayton Duncan, and could work magic with metal. The jour- We Proceeded On, the quarterly magazine of Ambrose. North Dakota native Gerard nal entry notes that Le Borgne was re- the Foundation, is mailed to current members Baker, of Hidatsa lineage and now the ceived by Lewis and given some medals in February, May, August, and November. Lewis and Clark bicentennial coordina- and ribbons. Later, when Nicholas Biddle tor for the National Park Service, was was preparing the journals for publica- Annual Membership Categories standing around a fire in the earth lodge tion, Clark and George Shannon re- Student $30 with Ken, Dayton, and Stephen. Gerard counted the story to him, which Biddle Individual/Library/Nonprofit $40 said his grandfather had told him of a included as a footnote. So, this interest- Family/International/Business $55 Hidatsa chief who had heard tales of a ing encounter very nearly didn’t see print. Heritage Club $75 Explorer Club $150 black white man but wouldn’t believe Le Borgne’s visit eventually became the Jefferson Club $250 them until he could see the man for him- source of a famous Charles M. Russell Discovery Club $500 self. Gerard said the chief walked to Fort painting, but Russell got some of it Expedition Club $1,000 Mandan solely for this purpose. After wrong. He painted the encounter in an Leadership Club $2,500 meeting York, the chief wetted his fin- earth lodge, although it actually occurred gers with spittle and rubbed York’s cheek. at Fort Mandan, and only Lewis was The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc. is a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation. Individual When his blackness failed to come off, present, even though both captains are membership dues are not tax deductible. The portion the chief knew the stories were true about shown in the painting. of premium dues over $40 is tax deductible. the black white man and warmly em- I was standing next to Ambrose when braced York as good medicine. Gerard Baker told his story and snapped several 2 ! We Proceeded On February 2003 Letters The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc. pictures of the group gathered around Guide to the Continental Divide Trail, P.O.B. 3434, Great Falls, MT 59403 that warm fire on a cool October after- Vol. 2: Southern Montana and Idaho 406-454-1234 / 1-888-701-3434 noon. It is now my personal favorite of (1979): “Angle right to reach Hell Roar- Fax: 406-771-9237 all the Lewis and Clark stories. ing Creek, a mere trickle when observed, www.lewisandclark.org SHELDON GREEN and follow it upstream past a series of Fargo, N.D. ledges of slick red and black rock, reach- The mission of the LCTHF is to ing a large clean spring at the base of a stimulate public appreciation of the ten foot wall. This might fittingly be Lewis and Clark Expedition’s contributions to America’s heritage and Short-haired strangers named ‘Mississippi Spring,’ for it is said to support education, research, First, I would like to thank the Lewis to be the remotest tributary in the entire development, and preservation of the and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation for Mississippi River Basin.” Lewis and Clark experience. the kind tribute to my father written by The coordinates as well as the differ- Jeff Olson and included in the mailing ent physical description show quite Officers President of the November WPO. I will make sure clearly that Brower’s Spring and Missis- Larry Epstein that everyone in the family sees it. sippi Spring are not the same. Brower’s Cut Bank, Mont. Second, I read with interest “Neatness Spring is at an elevation of 8,500 feet, at Mattered,” the article in the same issue by 44o 32’ 43.92” N, 111o 28’ 58.37” W. Mis- President-Elect Robert J. Moore arguing that Lewis and sissippi Spring, half a mile farther north- Ron Laycock Benson, Minn. Clark and their men probably kept their east, lies at an elevation of 8,800 feet, at hair closely cropped, in accord with mili- 44o 33’ 2.02” N, 111o 28’ 19.18” W. (A Vice-President tary regulations. Coincidentally, I had just table in my guide gives the elevation as Gordon Julich read an account by Pierre Pichette, a Sal- 8,800 feet and places the spring 0.3 mile Blue Springs, Mo. ish oral historian, about seven strangers west of the Montana-Idaho border.) Secretary (members of the Corps of Discovery) I hope other researchers will visit the Jane Schmoyer-Weber who showed up in a Salish camp with area to review the discrepancy and put to Great Falls, Mont. packs on their backs. He states that “all of rest the question of just where the “ut- Treasurer the men had short hair. So our people most source” may be. The easiest access Steven G. Lee thought they were in mourning for the rest point is the Sawtell Peak Road on the Clarkston, Wash. of the party who (we believed) had been Idaho side. Immediate Past President slaughtered. It was the custom for mourn- JAMES R. WOLF Jane Henley ers to cut their hair.” The story appears Director, Keswick, Va. in the booklet “The Salish People and the Continental Divide Trail Society Executive Director Lewis and Clark Expedition,” published Baltimore, Md. Carol A. Bronson by the Salish–Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee in 2000. Directors at large STEPHENIE AMBROSE TUBBS Thank you for the article “The Utmost Charles Cook, Billings, Mont.