CHAPTER XV
SCOUTING IN THE GREAT NORTHWEST
"SOME of you boys went out to Illinois, last summer," he began. "Did you go as far as the Mississippi River?"
"No, but we camped out on the Illinois River," I told him, "and that flows into the Mississippi."
"We explored," explained Benny, "just like LaSalle and Tonty and the other guys did. Skinny was LaSalle and I was Tonty."
"LaSalle and Tonty were great scouts. Do you remember when they made those early explorations?"
"I think it was somewhere around 1680 or 1681," said Skinny, who was always good in history. "Mr. Baxter told us all about it while we were sitting on top of Starved Rock, where LaSalle once had a fort."
"There was a great country west of the Mississippi, about which LaSalle knew very little, although when he explored the river he took possession of the land in the name of his king, and he called the country Louisiana.
"At that time, with the exception of a few fur traders and missionaries, all the people who came to America from the Old World settled along the Atlantic coast and the Great Lakes, in various colonies. Some of these afterward became the thirteen original states of the United States of America.
"After Thomas Jefferson became president, he had a chance to buy Louisiana of Napoleon, who was then at the head of the French government, and he did so."
"Huh! Napoleon!" said Skinny. "George Washington could lick——"
"Aw, ferget it, can't you?" said Bill. "You are stopping the story."
"That gave us a vast territory, reaching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. Nobody knew very much about it, or about the country west of the Rockies. Jefferson may have been looking far into the future when he made the Louisiana purchase, but probably his more immediate purpose was to secure undisputed possession of the wonderful Mississippi River.
"That was in 1804, only a little more than a lifetime ago and nearly a century and a half after LaSalle explored the river and took possession of the country. Little, if anything, was known about the country at the time of its purchase by the United States more than was known in LaSalle's time. A few hardy traders went up and down the river, buying furs of friendly Indians, and that was all.
"Naturally, after Jefferson had bought it, he wanted to know something about his purchase. So he appointed two men to explore the new country. I want you to remember their names, because they did a great work. One was Meriwether Lewis and the other William Clark, and you will find their trip described in your school history as 'the Lewis and Clark expedition.' I can't see why their exploration was not attended by as much danger and hardship as LaSalle's, which had been undertaken so many years before. The dense forests and great rivers of the West were all unknown and there were many hostile Indians.
"What did you boys do, when you made up your minds to explore the rivers in Illinois last summer?"
"We built a boat," Hank told him.
"Exactly. And that was what Lewis and Clark did, or, rather, it was done for them at Government expense. A keel boat, fifty-five feet long and drawing not more than three feet of water, was made for them at Pittsburgh, where, if you remember, two rivers unite to form the Ohio. This boat had places for twenty-two oarsmen and carried a large, square sail. Steamboats were not known in those days, although a few years afterward Robert Fulton ran one on Hudson River. The Government also provided two smaller boats and loaded them with coffee, sugar, crackers, dried meats, carpenter's tools, presents for the Indians, and things like that. A few horses also were taken along in the large boat.
"The leaders selected a crew of twenty-five men, and one fine day the whole outfit started down the Ohio River. When they reached the Mississippi they turned north and soon made their way up the great river to St. Louis. St. Louis was a French trading station then. Now it is a large city. A few years ago the hundredth anniversary of the Louisiana purchase was celebrated by holding a world's fair in St. Louis.
"There more men joined the expedition and considerable information that President Jefferson wanted was picked up about the Indian tribes who lived up and down the river.
"Finally, May 14, 1804, the explorers started on the real trip. It wasn't easy work any longer, for they had to row against the mighty current of the Mississippi. After they had gone a few miles they came to another great river, which was pouring a dirty looking, yellow flood into the Mississippi. Who can tell me what that river was?"
"The Missouri," said Benny, who had been studying about it in school. "The Mississippi River, with its principal tributary, the Missouri, is the longest river in the world."
"Right you are. If you will look on some map you will see how it is possible to go in a boat from Pittsburgh almost across the continent. Lewis and Clark turned into the Missouri and started for the then unknown Northwest. They made their way along very slowly, for the river was swollen with heavy rains and the current was very strong.
"After much labor and hardship they managed to reach the mouth of the Osage River. There they went into camp and sent out an armed party to explore the interior. When the party returned they brought back ten deer and all had a great feast on the river bank.
"Once more they breasted the fierce current, narrowly escaping shipwreck several times. Once the wind was so strong that they were obliged to anchor and go ashore. Again they had to pull their boats along with ropes through some rapids."
"Betcher life they didn't go without a rope," said Skinny. "Why——"
Somebody threw a sofa pillow just then and it struck exactly where his face happened to be. Before he could find out who did it Mr. Norton went on.
"At last they reached the mouth of the Kansas River. A large city stands there now. Does anybody know the name of it?"
"That is too far from home," said Benny. "I know what city is at the mouth of Hoosac River. There ain't any."
"Kansas City now stands where they went into camp. They divided into two parties. One went out after game, so that there should be plenty to eat, and the other explored the country."
"It's fun to explore," said Bill.
"Probably these men found a certain pleasure in it, notwithstanding the hardships. They were seeing something new every day. After a time they started once more and late in July reached the mouth of the Platte River. They had heard that a tribe of Indians were living near there, so Lewis and Clark went out with a party to find them and tell them that the country now belonged to the Great Father at Washington. Under some bluffs, opposite the present city of Omaha, they sat in council with the Indians, made them gifts, and smoked the peace pipe. The Indians didn't seem to care who owned the country so long as they received presents and had room enough to hunt. A city now stands on those bluffs where the Indian council was held. I guess you can tell me the name of that one."
"Council Bluffs," said two or three of us at the same time.
"Then on went the explorers up the river, through a wonderful country. Vast prairies, covered with grass and without any trees, stretched away in every direction, as far as they could see, and great herds of buffalo roamed up and down. On they went, through what is now Nebraska; then through South Dakota; then, North Dakota, where some fierce Indians dwelt. Another council was held and more presents were given. When the boat was about to put off after this council, the Indians grabbed hold of the cable and held it. They wouldn't let go."
"Great snakes!" said Bill. "I'll bet they didn't do a thing to those Injuns. I'll bet they paralyzed them. They had guns, didn't they?"
"Yes, and they did sort of paralyze the savages, I guess.
"'Take aim but don't fire,' Lewis told his men.
"The next second those Indians were looking into the muzzles of about twenty-five guns."
"That's the stuff!" shouted Skinny, swinging his arms and then pretending to shoot. "Did they kill them all?"
"I am afraid that you boys are a little bloodthirsty," said Mr. Norton. "They didn't shoot at all. When the Indians saw the pointed guns they dropped the cable and pretended that all they wanted was to do some more trading. The white men were glad enough to let it go at that and get away as quickly as possible.
"It soon became necessary to go into camp for the winter. An island in the river was chosen for the purpose and they spent the winter there. The Indians in the vicinity proved to be friendly. They never had seen white men before, possibly that was the reason. Some of the things which are very common to us seemed wonderful to them. Do you remember how I lighted the fire one day, when we wanted to cook dinner on Bob's Hill and had forgotten the matches?"
"With a sunglass," I told him.
"Well, that didn't seem very astonishing to us because we were used to it, but the Indians had never seen a sunglass. They started their fires by rubbing two sticks together. Even the whites had to use a flint and steel, for the art of making matches hadn't been discovered. Captain Clark carried a sunglass in his pocket. One day he went to an Indian village, intending to smoke a peace pipe with the chief. As he was entering the village, he saw some wild geese flying over and shot one. The Indians heard what seemed to be thunder and saw the goose fall, and it scared them. They ran into their wigwams and closed the skin doors. Soon after Captain Clark came up to the wigwam of the chief, without thinking he was doing anything out of the ordinary, he pulled out his sunglass and lighted his pipe with it.
"The frightened Indians were peeking out of their wigwams, and when they saw the white man start a blaze in his pipe by holding up one hand, they felt sure that he was a spirit. The Redskins gave one yell and ran into the woods. It was a long time before they could be made to understand.
"Spring came at last and the impatient party started up the river again. The way grew more and more difficult. They were now a long distance from the mouth of the river, and the water was shallow in places and filled with dangerous rocks. Often they had to get out and wade, pulling the boats along by the cables.
"May 26 they passed the mouth of the Yellowstone River and for the first time saw the Rocky Mountains in the distance, covered with snow and looking very grand. They were then in Montana, or what we now call Montana.
"In June they heard the roaring of a cataract, and Lewis started out afoot to find it. After he had traveled for hours he climbed a cliff and at last looked down upon the cataract. So far as we know he was the first white man who had ever seen it, although thousands see it every year now. The cascades of the Missouri stretch for thirteen miles, with foaming rapids between. It is a great sight."
"Gee, Peck's Falls ain't in it," said Skinny. "Did he find a cave?"
"History fails to mention a cave. Lewis went back and ordered the boats to proceed up the river as far as the first rapids. The question was, how to get around those cascades. They couldn't go up the river, so they had to get the boats around in some way. Their horses had died during the winter. There was nothing to do but drag the boats around eighteen miles. The men went to work and made rough carts, felled trees, cleared away bushes, dug out rocks, leveled off the ground, and pulled, pushed, and struggled on, until at last the work was accomplished and the boats were launched again in the river above the rapids.
"But soon the river became too shallow for the large boat and they had to stop again. Then they cut down trees and made 'dugouts.' They paddled on until finally they came to a most wonderful place. We think that the ravine below Peck's Falls and that at the Basin are grand and beautiful, and so they are, but they found a great canyon, whose walls in places were a thousand feet high.
"Beyond this canyon they could not go in their boats, for they were at the foot of the first range of the Rockies. They had to leave their boats there and climb. But, first, Lewis started out alone to find some Indians for guides.
"The brave man made his way to the top of the ridge and looked down into the valley beyond. In that valley flowed a river, and far up the stream he could see an Indian village. It was the home of the Shoshones. He managed to reach the village, and by offering presents induced some of the Indians to go back with him, bringing horses, and to guide his men across the mountains.
"The trip was a very perilous one, even with guides, and it took them a whole month to cross. Up, up they climbed, so high that they could not find any game to shoot. One by one, the horses died from exhaustion, and the starving men ate the flesh to keep themselves alive.
"After terrible hardships, they finally left the mountains behind and came upon streams which flowed toward the west. Here they rested, secured a new supply of food, built new boats, and then, when all was ready, paddled down the Lewis and Clark rivers into the broad Columbia, which, as you know, pours its waters into the Pacific Ocean. They had crossed the entire country from Pittsburgh to the Pacific, and made the whole trip by water except that terrible journey across the Rocky Mountains.
"It was now November and they were forced to go into camp once more to spend the winter months. In the spring they started on the long journey home again and at last reached Washington, where they told the President about the vast Northwest and what a great country he had purchased from France."
"I'll tell you what let's do," said Benny, after Mr. Norton had finished. "When we start on our trip let's play we are Lewis and Clark 'sploring the country."