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Meriwether Lewis and William Clark - History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I.

M >> Meriwether Lewis and William Clark >> History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I.




We waited with much anxiety the return of our messenger to the Ottoes.
The men whom we despatched to our last encampment, returned without
having seen any appearance of its having been visited. Our horses too
had strayed; but we were so fortunate as to recover them at the distance
of twelve miles. Our apprehensions were at length relieved by the
arrival of a party of about fourteen Ottoe and Missouri Indians, who
came at sunset, on the second of August, accompanied by a Frenchman, who
resided among them, and interpreted for us. Captains Lewis and Clarke
went out to meet them, and told them that we would hold a council in the
morning. In the mean time we sent them some roasted meat, pork, flour,
and meal; in return for which they made us a present of watermelons. We
learnt that our man Liberte had set out from their camp a day before
them: we were in hopes that he had fatigued his horse, or lost himself
in the woods, and would soon return; but we never saw him again.

August 8. The next morning the Indians, with their six chiefs, were all
assembled under an awning, formed with the mainsail, in presence of all
our party, paraded for the occasion. A speech was then made, announcing
to them the change in the government, our promises of protection, and
advice as to their future conduct. All the six chiefs replied to our
speech, each in his turn, according to rank: they expressed their joy at
the change in the government; their hopes that we would recommend them
to their great father (the president), that they might obtain trade and
necessaries; they wanted arms as well for hunting as for defence, and
asked our mediation between them and the Mahas, with whom they are now
at war. We promised to do so, and wished some of them to accompany us to
that nation, which they declined, for fear of being killed by them. We
then proceeded to distribute our presents. The grand chief of the nation
not being of the party, we sent him a flag, a medal, and some ornaments
for clothing. To the six chiefs who were present, we gave a medal of the
second grade to one Ottoe chief, and one Missouri chief; a medal of the
third grade to two inferior chiefs of each nation: the customary mode of
recognizing a chief, being to place a medal round his neck, which is
considered among his tribe as a proof of his consideration abroad. Each
of these medals was accompanied by a present of paint, garters, and
cloth ornaments of dress; and to this we added a cannister of powder, a
bottle of whiskey, and a few presents to the whole, which appeared to
make them perfectly satisfied. The airgun too was fired, and astonished
them greatly. The absent grand chief was an Ottoe named Weahrushhah,
which, in English, degenerates into Little Thief. The two principal
chieftains present were, Shongotongo, or Big Horse; and Wethea, or
Hospitality; also Shosgusean, or White Horse, an Ottoe; the first an
Ottoe, the second a Missouri. The incidents just related, induced us to
give to this place the name of the Council-bluff; the situation of it
is exceedingly favourable for a fort and trading factory, as the soil
is well calculated for bricks, and there is an abundance of wood in the
neighbourhood, and the air being pure and healthy. It is also central to
the chief resorts of the Indians: one day's journey to the Ottoes; one
and a half to the great Pawnees; two days from the Mahas; two and a
quarter from the Pawnees Loups village; convenient to the hunting
grounds of the Sioux; and twenty-five days journey to Santa Fee.

The ceremonies of the council being concluded, we set sail in the
afternoon, and encamped at the distance of five miles, on the south
side, where we found the musquitoes very troublesome.

August 4. A violent wind, accompanied by rain, purified and cooled the
atmosphere last night; we proceeded early, and reached a very narrow
part of the river, where the channel is confined within a space of two
hundred yards, by a sand point on the north, and a bend on the south;
the banks in the neighbourhood washing away, the trees falling in, and
the channel filled with buried logs. Above this is a trading house, on
the south, where one of our party passed two years, trading with the
Mahas. At nearly four miles, is a creek on the south, emptying opposite
a large island of sand; between this creek and our last night's
encampment, the river has changed its bed, and encroached on the
southern shore. About two miles further, is another creek on the south,
which, like the former, is the outlet of three ponds, communicating with
each other, and forming a small lake, which is fed by streams from the
highlands. At fifteen miles, we encamped on the south. The hills on both
sides of the river are nearly twelve or fifteen miles from each other;
those of the north containing some timber, while the hills of south are
without any covering, except some scattering wood in the ravines, and
near where the creeks pass into the hills; rich plains and prairies
occupying the intermediate space, and partially covered, near the water,
with cottonwood. There has been a great deal of pumice stone on shore
to-day.

August 5th. We set out early, and, by means of our oars, made twenty and
a half miles, though the river was crowded with sandbars. On both sides
the prairies extend along the river; the banks being covered with great
quantities of grapes, of which three different species are now ripe; one
large and resembling the purple grape. We had some rain this morning,
attended by high wind; but generally speaking, have remarked that
thunder storms are less frequent than in the Atlantic states, at this
season. Snakes too are less frequent, though we killed one to-day of the
shape and size of the rattlesnake, but of a lighter colour. We fixed our
camp on the north side. In the evening, captain Clarke, in pursuing some
game, in an eastern direction, found himself at the distance of three
hundred and seventy yards from the camp, at a point of the river whence
we had come twelve miles. When the water is high, this peninsula is
overflowed, and judging from the customary and notorious changes in the
river, a few years will be sufficient to force the main current of the
river across, and leave the great bend dry. The whole lowland between
the parallel range of hills seems formed of mud or ooze of the river, at
some former period, mixed with sand and clay. The sand of the
neighbouring banks accumulates with the aid of that brought down the
stream, and forms sandbars, projecting into the river; these drive the
channel to the opposite banks, the loose texture of which it undermines,
and at length deserts its ancient bed for a new and shorter passage; it
is thus that the banks of the Missouri are constantly falling, and the
river changing its bed.

August 6. In the morning, after a violent storm of wind and rain from
N.W. we passed a large island to the north. In the channel separating it
from the shore, a creek called Soldier's river enters; the island kept
it from our view, but one of our men who had seen it, represents it as
about forty yards wide at its mouth. At five miles, we came to a bend
of the river towards the north, a sandbar, running in from the south,
had turned its course so as to leave the old channel quite dry. We again
saw the same appearance at our encampment, twenty and a half miles
distant on the north side. Here the channel of the river had encroached
south, and the old bed was without water, except a few ponds. The
sandbars are still very numerous.

August 7. We had another storm from the N.W. in the course of the last
evening; in the morning we proceeded, having the wind from the north,
and encamped on the northern shore, having rowed seventeen miles. The
river is here encumbered with sandbars, but no islands, except two small
ones, called Detachment islands, and formed on the south side by a small
stream.

We despatched four men back to the Ottoes village in quest of our man,
Liberte, and to apprehend one of the soldiers, who left us on the 4th,
under pretence of recovering a knife which he had dropped a short
distance behind, and who we fear has deserted. We also sent small
presents to the Ottoes and Missouris, and requested that they would join
us at the Maha village, where a peace might be concluded between them.

August 8. At two miles distance, this morning we came to a part of the
river, where there was concealed timber difficult to pass. The wind was
from the N.W. and we proceeded in safety. At six miles, a river empties
on the northern side, called by the Sioux Indians, Eaneahwadepon, or
Stone river; and by the French, Petite Riviere des Sioux, or Little
Sioux river. At its confluence it is eighty yards wide. Our interpreter,
Mr. Durion, who has been to the sources of it, and knows the adjoining
country, says that it rises within about nine miles of the river
Desmoines; that within fifteen leagues of that river it passes through a
large lake nearly sixty miles in circumference, and divided into two
parts by rocks which approach each other very closely: its width is
various: it contains many islands, and is known by the name of the Lac
d'Esprit: it is near the Dogplains, and within four days march of the
Mahas. The country watered by it, is open and undulating, and may be
visited in boats up the river for some distance. The Desmoines, he adds,
is about eighty yards wide where the Little Sioux river approaches it:
it is shoaly, and one of its principal branches is called Cat river. Two
miles beyond this river is a long island which we called Pelican island,
from the numbers of that animal which were feeding on it: one of these
being killed, we poured into his bag five gallons of water. An elk, too,
was shot, and we had again to remark that snakes are rare in this part
of the Missouri. A meridian altitude near the Little Sioux river made
the latitude 41 degrees 42' 34". We encamped on the north, having come
sixteen miles.

August 9. A thick fog detained us until past seven o'clock, after which
we proceeded with a gentle breeze from the southeast. After passing two
sandbars we reached, at seven and a half miles, a point of highland on
the left, near which the river has forced itself a channel across a
peninsula, leaving on the right a circuit of twelve or eighteen miles,
which is now recognised by the ponds and islands it contains. At
seventeen and a half miles, we reached a point on the north, where we
encamped. The hills are at a great distance from the river for the last
several days; the land, on both sides low, and covered with cottonwood
and abundance of grape vines. An elk was seen to-day, a turkey also
shot, and near our camp is a beaver den: the musquitoes have been more
troublesome than ever for the two last days.

August 10. At two and a half miles, we came to a place, called Coupee a
Jacques, where the river has found a new bed, and abridged a circuit of
several miles: at twelve and a half miles, a cliff of yellow stone on
the left. This is the first highland near the river above the
Council-bluff. After passing a number of sandbars we reached a willow
island at the distance of twenty-two and a half miles, which we were
enabled to do with our oars and a wind from the S.W. and encamped on the
north side.

August 11. After a violent wind from the N.W. attended with rain, we
sailed along the right of the island. At nearly five miles, we halted on
the south side for the purpose of examining a spot where one of the
great chiefs of the Mahas named Blackbird, who died about four years ago
of the smallpox, was buried. A hill of yellow soft sandstone rises from
the river in bluffs of various heights, till it ends in a knoll about
three hundred feet above the water; on the top of this a mound, of
twelve feet diameter at the base and six feet high, is raised over the
body of the deceased king; a pole of about eight feet high is fixed in
the centre; on which we placed a white flag, bordered with red, blue,
and white. The Blackbird seems to have been a personage of great
consideration; for ever since his death he is supplied with provisions,
from time to time, by the superstitious regard of the Mahas. We
descended to the river and passed a small creek on the south, called, by
the Mahas, Waucandipeeche, (Great Spirit is bad.) Near this creek and
the adjoining hills the Mahas had a village, and lost four hundred of
their nation by the dreadful malady which destroyed the Blackbird. The
meridian altitude made the latitude 42 degrees 1' 3-8/10" north. We
encamped, at seventeen miles distance, on the north side in a bend of
the river. During our day's course it has been crooked; we observed a
number of places in it where the old channel is filled up, or gradually
becoming covered with willow and cottonwood; great numbers of herons are
observed to-day, and the mosquitoes annoy us very much.

August 12. A gentle breeze from the south, carried us along about ten
miles, when we stopped to take meridian altitude, and sent a man across
to our place of observation: yesterday he stepped nine hundred and
seventy-four yards, and the distance we had come round, was eighteen
miles and three quarters. The river is wider and shallower than usual.
Four miles beyond this bend a bluff begins, and continues several
miles; on the south it rises from the water at different heights, from
twenty to one hundred and fifty feet, and higher as it recedes on the
river: it consists of yellow and brown clay, with soft sandstone imbeded
in it, and is covered with timber, among which may be observed some red
cedar: the lands on the opposite side are low and subject to inundation,
but contain willows, cottonwood, and many grapes. A prairie-wolf came
near the bank and barked at us; we attempted unsuccessfully to take him.
This part of the river abounds in beaver. We encamped on a sand-island
in a bend to the north, having made twenty miles and a quarter.

August 13. Set out at daylight with a breeze from the southeast, and
passed several sandbars. Between ten and eleven miles, we came to a spot
on the south, where a Mr. Mackay had a trading establishment in the year
1795 and 1796, which he called Fort Charles. At fourteen miles, we
reached a creek on the south, on which the Mahas reside, and at
seventeen miles and a quarter, formed a camp on a sandbar, to the south
side of the river, opposite the lower point of a large island. From this
place sergeant Ordway and four men were detached to the Maha village
with a flag and a present, in order to induce them to come and hold a
council with us. They returned at twelve o'clock the next day, August
14. After crossing a prairie covered with high grass, they reached the
Maha creek, along which they proceeded to its three forks, which join
near the village: they crossed the north branch and went along the
south; the walk was very fatiguing, as they were forced to break their
way through grass, sunflowers and thistles, all above ten feet high, and
interspersed with wild pea. Five miles from our camp they reached the
position of the ancient Maha village: it had once consisted of three
hundred cabins, but was burnt about four years ago, soon after the
smallpox had destroyed four hundred men, and a proportion of women and
children. On a hill, in the rear of the village, are the graves of the
nation; to the south of which runs the fork of the Maha creek: this they
crossed where it was about ten yards wide, and followed its course to
the Missouri, passing along a ridge of hill for one and a half mile, and
a long pond between that and the Missouri: they then recrossed the Maha
creek, and arrived at the camp, having seen no tracks of Indians nor any
sign of recent cultivation.

In the morning 15th, some men were sent to examine the cause of a large
smoke from the northeast, and which seemed to indicate that some Indians
were near; but they found that a small party, who had lately passed that
way, had left some trees burning, and that the wind from that quarter
blew the smoke directly towards us. Our camp lies about three miles
northeast from the old Maha village, and is in latitude 42 degrees 15'
41". The accounts we have had of the effects of the smallpox on that
nation are most distressing; it is not known in what way it was first
communicated to them, though probably by some war party. They had been a
military and powerful people; but when these warriors saw their strength
wasting before a malady which they could not resist, their phrenzy was
extreme; they burnt their village, and many of them put to death their
wives and children, to save them from so cruel an affliction, and that
all might go together to some better country.

On the 16th, we still waited for the Indians: a party had gone out
yesterday to the Maha creek, which was damned up by the beaver between
the camp and the village: a second went to-day. They made a kind of drag
with small willows and bark, and swept the creek: the first company
brought three hundred and eighteen, the second upwards of eight hundred,
consisting of pike, bass, fish resembling salmon, trout, redhorse,
buffaloe, one rockfish, one flatback, perch, catfish, a small species of
perch called, on the Ohio, silverfish, a shrimp of the same size, shape
and flavour of those about Neworleans, and the lower part of the
Mississippi. We also found very fat muscles; and on the river as well as
the creek, are different kinds of ducks and plover. The wind, which in
the morning had been from the northwest, shifted round in the evening to
the southeast, and as usual we had a breeze, which cooled the air and
relieve us from the musquitoes, who generally give us great trouble.

Friday 17. The wind continued from the southeast, and the morning was
fair. We observe about us a grass resembling wheat, except that the
grain is like rye, also some similar to both rye and barley, and a kind
of timothy, the seed of which branches from the main stock, and is more
like a flaxseed than a timothy. In the evening, one of the party sent to
the Ottoes, returned with the information that the rest were coming on
with the deserter: they had also caught Liberte, but, by a trick, he
made his escape: they were bringing three of the chiefs in order to
engage our assistance in making peace with the Mahas. This nation having
left their village, that desirable purpose cannot be effected; but in
order to bring in any neighbouring tribes, we set the surrounding
prairies on fire. This is the customary signal made by traders to
apprize the Indians of their arrival: it is also used between different
nations as an indication of any event which they have previously agreed
to announce in that way; and as soon as it is seen collects the
neighbouring tribes, unless they apprehend that it is made by their
enemies.

August 18. In the afternoon the party arrived with the Indians,
consisting of the Little Thief and the Big Horse, whom we had seen on
the third, together with six other chiefs, and a French interpreter. We
met them under a shade, and after they had finished a repast with which
we supplied them, we inquired into the origin of the war between them
and the Mahas, which they related with great frankness. It seems that
two of the Missouris went to the Mahas to steal horses, but were
detected and killed; the Ottoes and Missouris thought themselves bound
to avenge their companions, and the whole nations were at last obliged
to share in the dispute; they are also in fear of a war from the
Pawnees, whose village they entered this summer, while the inhabitants
were hunting, and stole their corn. This ingenuous confession did not
make us the less desirous of negotiating a peace for them; but no
Indians have as yet been attracted by our fire. The evening was closed
by a dance; and the next day,

August 19, the chiefs and warriors being assembled at ten o'clock, we
explained the speech we had already sent from the Council-bluffs, and
renewed our advice. They all replied in turn, and the presents were then
distributed: we exchanged the small medal we had formerly given to the
Big Horse for one of the same size with that of Little Thief: we also
gave a small medal to a third chief, and a kind of certificate or letter
of acknowledgment to five of the warriors expressive of our favour and
their good intentions: one of them dissatisfied, returned us the
certificate; but the chief, fearful of our being offended, begged that
it might be restored to him; this we declined, and rebuked them severely
for having in view mere traffic instead of peace with their neighbours.
This displeased them at first; but they at length all petitioned that it
should be given to the warrior, who then came forward and made an
apology to us; we then delivered it to the chief to be given to the most
worthy, and he bestowed it on the same warrior, whose name was Great
Blue Eyes. After a more substantial present of small articles and
tobacco, the council was ended with a dram to the Indians. In the
evening we exhibited different objects of curiosity, and particularly
the airgun, which gave them great surprise. Those people are almost
naked, having no covering, except a sort of breechcloth round the
middle, with a loose blanket or buffaloe robe painted, thrown over them.
The names of these warriors, besides those already mentioned were
Karkapaha, (or Crow's head) and Nenasawa (or Black Cat) Missouris; and
Sananona (or Iron Eyes) Neswaunja (or Big Ox) Stageaunja (or Big Blue
Eyes) and Wasashaco (or Brave Man) all Ottoes. These two tribes speak
very nearly the same language: they all begged us to give them whiskey.

The next morning, August 20, the Indians mounted their horses and left
us, having received a canister of whiskey at parting. We then set sail,
and after passing two islands on the north, came to on that side under
some bluffs; the first near the river since we left the Ayauwa village.
Here we had the misfortune to lose one of our sergeants, Charles Floyd.
He was yesterday seized with a bilious cholic, and all our care and
attention were ineffectual to relieve him: a little before his death, he
said to captain Clark, "I am going to leave you," his strength failed
him as he added "I want you to write me a letter," but he died with a
composure which justified the high opinion we had formed of his firmness
and good conduct. He was buried on the top of the bluff with the honours
due to a brave soldier; and the place of his interment marked by a cedar
post, on which his name and the day of his death were inscribed. About a
mile beyond this place, to which we gave his name, is a small river
about thirty yards wide, on the north, which we called Floyd's river,
where we encamped. We had a breeze from the southeast, and made thirteen
miles.

August 21. The same breeze from the southeast carried us by a small
willow creek on the north, about one mile and a half above Floyd's
river. Here began a range of bluffs which continued till near the mouth
of the great Sioux river, three miles beyond Floyd's. This river comes
in from the north, and is about one hundred and ten yards wide. Mr.
Durion, our Sioux interpreter, who is well acquainted with it, says that
it is navigable upwards of two hundred miles to the falls, and even
beyond them; that its sources are near those of the St. Peters. He also
says, that below the falls a creek falls in from the eastward, after
passing through cliffs of red rock: of this the Indians make their
pipes; and the necessity of procuring that article, has introduced a
sort of law of nations, by which the banks of the creek are sacred, and
even tribes at war meet without hostility at these quarries, which
possess a right of asylum. Thus we find even among savages certain
principles deemed sacred, by which the rigours of their merciless system
of warfare are mitigated. A sense of common danger, where stronger ties
are wanting, gives all the binding force of more solemn obligations. The
importance of preserving the known and settled rules of warfare among
civilized nations, in all their integrity, becomes strikingly evident;
since even savages, with their few precarious wants, cannot exist in a
state of peace or war where this faith is once violated. The wind became
southerly, and blew with such violence that we took a reef in our sail:
it also blew the sand from the bars in such quantities, that we could
not see the channel at any distance ahead. At four and a quarter miles,
we came to two willow islands, beyond which are several sandbars; and at
twelve miles, a spot where the Mahas once had a village, now no longer
existing. We again passed a number of sandbars, and encamped on the
south; having come twenty-four and three quarter miles. The country
through which we passed has the same uniform appearance ever since we
left the river Platte: rich low-grounds near the river, succeeded by
undulating prairies, with timber near the waters. Some wolves were seen
to-day on the sandbeaches to the south; we also procured an excellent
fruit, resembling a red currant, growing on a shrub like the privy, and
about the height of a wild plum.

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