Contents Letters: Eye of the Needle; Missouri headwaters; Clark’s signature 2 President’s Message: New staff; Space Day; Trails and Rails 8 Bicentennial Council: Tribute to Sheheke, American patriot 10 Another “New” Portrait of Patrick Gass 12 Photograph found among his granddaughter’s effects Patrick Gass’s Account Book 16 And what it tells us about the Corps of Discovery sergeant By Carol Lynn MacGregor Remembering Patrick Gass 21 He sang “queer Irish songs” and had a cat named Sacagawea Gass portrait, p. 12 By Kathryn L. Downing Smith Patrick Gass’s Missing Journal 24 It was almost certainly lost in a flood in the 1880s or 1890s By Carol A. Harrington Slaughter River Pishkun 26 It really was a buffalo jump, just as the captains stated By Francis Mitchell Lost & Found: Discharge Papers of John Shields 35 Archives yield documents of Corps of Discovery’s gunsmith By James J. Holmberg Reviews 38 The True Account; In Full View; Prologue to Lewis & Clark; Account book, p. 16 Seduced by the West; Sheheke; The Journey of Sacagawea From the Library: Gifts are key to library and archives 48 L&C Roundup: Wendy Raney, new field director 50 Passages: Leandra Holland; Sid Huggins; Gary Miller 50 Soundings 52 Wilbur and Orville, Meriwether and William By Bill Smith On the cover Baltimore artist Alfred Jacob Miller went west in 1837 and painted this scene of mounted Indians stampeding buffalo over a cliff—a method of hunting Miller probably heard about but did not actually witness. Meriwether Lewis described a pile of buffalo corpses on the Missouri and attributed the kill to this hunting tactic. Although some scholars believe the buffalo were victims of drowning, in his article beginning on page 26, Francis Mitchell argues that Lewis had it right. Courtesy Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska. Pishkun, p. 26 February 2004 We Proceeded On ! 1 Letters Eye of the Needle; Missouri’s headwaters February 2004 • Volume 30, Number 1 We Proceeded On is the official publication of You may have heard from dozens of read- the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, ers concerning the caption for the photo- Inc. Its name derives from a phrase that appears graph on page 16 of the November WPO repeatedly in the collective journals of the accompanying Dayton Duncan’s article on expedition. 2004 Montana’s White Cliffs. The image is of the E. G. Chuinard, M.D., Founder Hole in the Wall, not the feature known as ISSN 02275-6706 the Eye of the Needle. Duncan had it right when he said that the Eye of the Needle Editor was across the river from Stonewall Creek J. I. Merritt (now Eagle Creek). 51 N. Main Street I enjoyed Duncan’s article, which HUSER VERNE Pennington, NJ 08534 brought back memories. I am very famil- The Hole in the Wall and its view of the river 609-818-0168 [email protected] iar with that stretch of the Missouri, hav- noes with the current, not struggling ing worked for the B.L.M. at Lewistown, against it, and they were in the right po- Volunteer Proofreaders Montana, as the team leader putting to- sition (upstream, looking downstream) H. Carl Camp Jerry Garrett gether the first management plan after its for seeing it. But they were in a hurry to designation as a national wild and scenic get home, so perhaps they weren’t look- Printed by James & Associates, river. I am also a longtime member of the ing out for such features; it was raining Trooper, Pennsylvania Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Founda- then, too, which may have obscured the EDITORIAL BOARD tion and served as its sixth president view. Gary E. Moulton, Leader (1975-76). Can readers offer any other theories? Lincoln, Nebraska GARY LEPPART VERNE HUSER Robert C. Carriker Fort Benton, Mont. Albuquerque, N.M Spokane, Washington EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks for alerting us to Robert K. Doerk, Jr. Fort Benton, Montana this error, which was also pointed out to Source of the Missouri us by Dayton Duncan. Glen Lindeman Pullman, Washington An article by Donald Nell and Anthony Demetriades, “The Utmost Reaches of While canoeing the upper Missouri last the Missouri,” appeared in the Novem- Membership Information summer, some friends and I stopped at a ber 2002 WPO, followed in the February Membership in the Lewis and Clark Trail prominent feature in the White Cliffs, a 2003 issue by letters in response to it from Heritage Foundation, Inc. is open to the public. “window” in the rocks known as the James Wallace and myself. My letter Information and applications are available by Hole in the Wall. It is a few miles below called into question the article’s statement writing Membership Coordinator; Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, P.O. Box the Eye of the Needle, now collapsed. that the source spring is at an elevation 3434, Great Falls, MT 59403. Neither Lewis nor Clark mentions the of 8,500 feet; by my reckoning it should Hole in the Wall (or the Eye of the be 8,800 feet. We Proceeded On, the quarterly magazine of the Foundation, is mailed to current members Needle, for that matter), but it is certainly To clarify the discrepancy, I returned in February, May, August, and November. an obvious window, and you’d think they to this area last August. At that time I lo- Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted would have. Why didn’t they? cated the spring and the cairn marking it and indexed in HISTORICAL ABSTRACTS and We speculated that perhaps it had been and once again found them to be at an el- AMERICA: HISTORY AND LIFE. formed after they passed through the evation of 8,800 feet. I am sure this is the area; this is possible but unlikely, al- same site visited by Nell and Demetriades, Annual Membership Categories: though rocks could have fallen from the as evidenced by their photograph of the Student $30 Individual/Library/Nonprofit $40 wall to create the hole. cairn. (A jar, with records of several re- Family/International/Business $55 It was raining when the explorers cent visits, is hidden in the rocks.) Heritage Club $75 passed the Hole in the Wall going up- I believe the authors may have re- Explorer Club $150 stream in 1805; they were working hard corded the 8,500-foot elevation because Jefferson Club $250 towing the boats, and perhaps the com- of the misleading description by Mrs. Discovery Club $500 bination of poor visibility and the effort Culver, cited by Wallace, that “suddenly Expedition Club $1,000 of towing caused them to miss it. Also, the creek turned quite abruptly and headed Leadership Club $2,500 this feature can’t be seen from down- in the northeast at quite a pretty spring, The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc. stream, and once they were upstream of which came from under a large black rock is a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation. Individual it, it’s doubtful they would have looked on the side of the mountain near some membership dues are not tax deductible. The portion back and seen it. Of course, on the re- balsam.” The abrupt turn is at 8,500 feet, of premium dues over $40 is tax deductible. turn journey they were paddling in ca- but the spring is half a mile away. Had Mrs. 2 ! We Proceeded On February 2004 Letters The Lewis and Clark Trail Culver written that the creek turned “and Clearwater: cleer-water—that is, as Heritage Foundation, Inc. headed northeast until it arrived at a pretty one word, not as though it were a two- spring,” I doubt that there would have word adjective. P.O.B. 3434, Great Falls, MT 59403 406-454-1234 / 1-888-701-3434 been any confusion. MILT WILLIAMS Although there was some water in a Boise, Id. Fax: 406-771-9237 pool at the spring, www.lewisandclark.org it did not produce The mission of the LCTHF is to even a trickle un- stimulate public appreciation of the Don Nell der the drought Lewis and Clark Expedition’s conditions that On behalf of our family I would like to contributions to America’s heritage and to support education, research, existed during my thank WPO for the tribute to my husband, development, and preservation of the Don, in the November issue. Our thanks visit. Water did Lewis and Clark experience. start to flow, how- also go to the many friends whose letters JAMES WOLF JAMES Officers ever, about 100 Cairn marking spring of condolence bolstered our spirits. Such yards down the kind comments from those he admired President valley. And, while it is appealing to con- so much would have meant a great deal Ron Laycock Benson, Minn. sider the spring as the utmost source, to Don. owing to its proximity to a pass on the BARBARA NELL President-Elect Continental Divide, a small but vigorous Bozeman, Mont. Gordon Julich tributary that drains the steep slope to its Blue Springs, Mo. north would add a bit to the river’s over- Vice-President all length. I think this is what Mrs. Cul- Patti Thomsen Learning at Lemhi ver had in mind when she noted that “a Hartland, Wis. dozen or more tiny springs higher up run Lewis and Clark enthusiasts wishing to Secretary into this one.” expand their knowledge of the expedition Jane Schmoyer-Weber JAMES R. WOLF can participate, as I did last August, in a Great Falls, Mont. Baltimore, Md. U.S. Forest Service program that retraces Treasurer some of the L&C Trail from Montana Charles H.