WESTERN TERRITORY OF AMERICA.
The river Missouri.
Previously to the commencement of the expedition commanded by Mr. Pike, the government of the United States had directed arrangements to be made for examining the Missouri, from its mouth to its source; thence exploring the vast and dreary range of mountains, which form the highest land in the centre of that part of the American continent; and afterwards, of descending, by some one of the rivers which flow westward, to the Pacific ocean. This formidable undertaking was committed to captains Lewis and Clarke, two officers, in the American army, who were, in every respect, qualified for the arduous duties which it required; and who had, under their command, a party of forty-two soldiers and boatmen. Its professed object was to ascertain the possibility of opening an inland communication, between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; but the American government had also in view the obtaining of information, respecting the country of Louisiana, which they were desirous of possessing, and which has since been ceded to them by France.
Narrative of a voyage from St. Louis to the source of the Missouri.
From the travels of Captains Lewis and Clarke.
The party having embarked in three boats, set out from St. Louis, on the 14th of May, 1804; and, for several days, they proceeded without interruption. Early in the morning of the twenty-fourth, they ascended a difficult rapid, called the Devil's Race-ground, and narrowly escaped having one of their boats upset. Beyond this place, they met two canoes, laden with furs, which had been eight weeks on their voyage from the Mahar nation, about seven hundred miles distant. On the banks of the river was much timber, consisting of cotton-wood, sycamore, hickory, and white walnut.
On the 1st of June, they passed the mouth of the Osage river, which falls into the Missouri, at the distance of a hundred and thirty-three miles from its junction with the Mississippi. This stream gives name to a nation of Indians which inhabit its banks. The Osage Indians are, in their persons, well formed: they reside in villages, and, having made considerable progress in agriculture, they seem less addicted to war than their northern neighbours.
Beyond the Osage river, the southern bank of the Missouri was low, and covered with rushes; and occasionally with oak, ash, and walnut-trees. On the north, the land was, in some places, rich, and well adapted to agriculture. Near the mouth of Big Manitou Creek, the voyagers met a raft, formed of two canoes joined together. On this, two French traders were descending, from the river Kanzes: it was laden with beaver-skins, which they had collected during the winter. Not long afterwards, captains Lewis and Clarke landed, to examine a singular limestone rock, which was nearly covered with inscriptions and uncouth paintings of animals; but they found the place occupied by a nest of rattlesnakes, and left it. In several parts of their voyage, they passed canoes, boats, and rafts laden with furs.
In many places the river was bordered with prairies or swampy meadows, on which grew several kinds of fruit, such as mulberries, plums, wild apples, raspberries, and strawberries. Numerous herds of deer were seen, pasturing in the plains, or feeding on the young willows of the river.
Near the mouth of the Kanzes, the Missouri is about five hundred yards wide. On the south, the hills or highlands approach within a mile and half of the shore; but, on the north, they are several miles distant; and the country, on all sides, is fine. In some places the navigation was interrupted by sand-banks, and in others, by the remains of trees which had fallen into the water. On the second of July, the whole surface of the stream, for a considerable distance, was covered with drift wood. This had probably been occasioned by the giving way of some sand-bank, which had before detained the wood, as it floated down the stream.
The weather was now so hot that some of the men experienced from it great inconvenience; but the air was occasionally cooled by showers. In the evenings the voyagers often landed and encamped, for the purpose of passing the night on shore. In that part of the river at which they arrived on the 16th, the width, from bank to bank, was about a mile; but the water was so shallow that they could perceive the remains of fallen timber scattered quite across the bottom. The Missouri is here wider than it is below, where the timber, which grows on its banks, resists the power of the current.