[167] Probably Joseph L. Dougherty, who was in 1839 farmer at the Council Bluffs agency. His brother John accompanied Maximilian as far as Bellevue on the outward journey. The opposition of Soublette and Campbell to the American Fur Company was spirited though brief; consult Chittenden, Fur-Trade, i, pp. 350-354. The rival post was just below the former post of Lisa (see our volume xxii, p. 364), and above Fort Clark.—Ed.
[168] For Joshua Pilcher see James' Long's Expedition, in our volume xiv, p. 269, note 193. For his post consult our volume xxii, p. 364, note 335.—Ed.
[169] Red Shield was a young chief at the time of Lewis and Clark's visit; see Original Journals, i, p. 230. He is said to have been the slayer of Le Borgne, the famous Minitaree tyrant; see our volume v, p. 162, note 90.—Ed.
[170] For the location of this Minitaree village, see our volume xxii, p. 357, note 333.—Ed.
[171] See the view of the village Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush, Plate 49 [in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv] where one of these boats is introduced.—Maximilian.
CHAPTER XXIV
DESCRIPTION OF FORT CLARKE AND THE ENVIRONS
History of the Fort—Description—Climate—Soil—Geological Formation of the Country—Plants—Animals—The neighbouring Indian Population—Indian Villages.
Lewis and Clarke gave an account of the state of this part of the country at the time of their residence in the vicinity of the Mandan villages, in the winter of 1803-4.[172] At that time they erected a fort on the north bank of the Missouri, a little above the place where Fort Clarke now stands, but, at present, there is not the smallest trace of that post. The river has since changed its bed in such a manner, that the site of that building, which was then at some distance from the shore, is now in the middle of the stream. Such changes in the channel of the Missouri are of very common occurrence, so that all the islands, sand banks, little bends, and points of land formed by them, laid down in the special maps, are correct for only a short time. Above the Manitari villages is a place where the river made its way through a tongue of land, and now forms a channel nearly four miles from its former bed. This took place in 1828. Some persons think that Lewis and Clarke's fort would now be on the south bank of the Missouri. Charbonneau, who was interpreter for the Manitari language, and had lived thirty-seven years in this part of the country, was here at the same time as those travellers, passed the winter with them, and afterwards accompanied them to the Columbia River. He generally lives at Awatichai, the second village of the Manitaries, and, excepting some journeys, has always remained at this spot: hence he is well acquainted with the Manitaries and their language, though, as he candidly confessed, he could never learn to pronounce it correctly.[173]