First Across the Continent: The Story of the Exploring Expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804-5-6Brooks, Noah
History
First Across the Continent: The Story of the Exploring Expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804-5-6
Brooks, Noah
Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806); United States -- Discovery and exploration; West (U.S.) -- Description and travel
“About two o’clock we collected our horses and set out, accompanied by
Weahkoonut, with ten or twelve men and a man who said he was the brother
of Twisted-hair. At four miles we came to a single house of three
families, but could not procure provisions of any kind; and five miles
further we halted for the night near another house, built like the rest,
of sticks, mats, and dried hay, and containing six families. It was now
so difficult to procure anything to eat that our chief dependence was
on the horse which we received yesterday for medicine; but to our great
disappointment he broke the rope by which he was confined, made his
escape, and left us supperless in the rain.”
Next day they met an Indian who brought them two canisters of powder,
which they at once knew to be some of that which they had buried last
autumn. The Indian said that his dog had dug it up in the meadow by the
river, and he had restored it to its rightful owners. As a reward for
his honesty, the captains gave him a flint and steel for striking fire;
and they regretted that their own poverty prevented them from being more
liberal to the man.
They observed that the Rocky Mountains, now in full sight, were still
covered with snow, and the prospect of crossing them was not very rosy.
Their Chopunnish guide told them that it would be impossible to cross
the mountains before the next full moon, which would be about the first
of June. The journal adds: “To us, who are desirous of reaching the
plains of the Missouri--if for no other reason, for the purpose of
enjoying a good meal--this intelligence was by no means welcome, and
gave no relish to the remainder of the horse killed at Colter’s Creek,
which formed our supper, as part of which had already been our dinner.”
Next day, accordingly, the hunters turned out early in the morning, and
before noon returned with four deer and a duck, which, with the
remains of horse-beef on hand, gave them a much more plentiful stock
of provisions than had lately fallen to their lot. During the previous
winter, they were told, the Indians suffered very much for lack of food,
game of all sorts being scarce. They were forced to boil and eat the
moss growing on the trees, and they cut down the pine-trees for the sake
of the small nut to be found in the pine-cones. Here they were met by
an old friend, Neeshnepahkeeook and the Shoshonee, who had acted as
interpreter for them. The journal says:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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