Oregon and Eldorado; or, Romance of the Rivers. Bulfinch Thomas
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the contemplated enterprise: he sought only an opportunity of indulging his love of adventure by exploring regions at that time unknown. Mr. Jefferson, as the guardian of his country's interests and the friend of science, was warmly interested in any scheme which contemplated the opening of the vast interior regions of the American continent to the occupancy of civilized man. Since it was impossible to engage mercantile adventurers to fit out an expedition by sea, Mr. Jefferson proposed to Ledyard that he should go as a traveller, by land, through the Russian territories, as far as the eastern coast of the continent of Asia, and from thence get such conveyance as he could to the neighboring coast of America, and thus reach the spot where his main journey was to begin. Ledyard eagerly embraced the proposal. Permission was obtained from the Empress Catharine of Russia, and the enterprising traveller, in December, 1786, set forth. He traversed Denmark and Sweden; passed round the head of the Gulf of Bothnia, after an unsuccessful attempt to cross it on the ice; and reached St. Petersburg in March, 1787, without money, shoes, or stockings, having gone this immense journey on foot in an arctic winter. At St. Petersburg he obtained notice, money to the amount of twenty guineas, and permission to accompany a convoy of stores to Yakoutsk, in Siberia. But, for some unexplained reason, he was arrested at that place by order of the empress, and conveyed back to Europe; being cautioned, on his release, not again to set foot within the Russian territories, under penalty of death. This harsh treatment is supposed to have arisen from the jealousy of the Russian fur-traders, who feared that Ledyard's proceedings would rouse up rivals in their trade.
Mr. Jefferson did not, upon this disappointment, abandon the idea of an exploration of the interior of the American continent. At his suggestion, the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia took measures, in 1792, to send suitable persons to make a similar transit of the continent in the opposite direction; that is, by ascending the Missouri, and descending the Columbia. Nothing was effected, however, at that time, except awakening the attention of Capt. Meriwether Lewis, a young officer in the American army, a neighbor and relative of Gen. Washington. He eagerly sought to be employed to make the contemplated journey.
In 1803, Mr. Jefferson, being then President of the United States, proposed to Congress to send an exploring party to trace the Missouri to its source; to cross the highlands, and follow the best water communication which might offer itself, to the Pacific Ocean. Congress approved the proposal, and voted a sum of money to carry it into execution. Capt. Lewis, who had then been two years with Mr. Jefferson as his private secretary, immediately renewed his solicitations to have the direction of the expedition. Mr. Jefferson had now had opportunity of knowing him intimately, and believed him to be brave, persevering, familiar with the Indian character and customs, habituated to the hunting life, honest, and of sound judgment. He trusted that he would be careful of those committed to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance of discipline. On receiving his appointment, Capt. Lewis repaired to Philadelphia, and placed himself under its distinguished professors, with a view to acquire familiarity with the nomenclature of the natural sciences. He selected, as his companion in the proposed expedition, William Clarke, a brother-officer, known and esteemed by him.
While these things were going on, the treaty with France was concluded, by which the country of Louisiana was ceded to the United States. This event, which took place in 1803, greatly increased the interest felt by the people of the United States in the proposed expedition.
In the spring of 1804, the preparations being completed, the explorers commenced their route. The party consisted of nine young men from Kentucky, fourteen soldiers of the United-States army who volunteered their services, two French watermen, an interpreter, a hunter, and a black servant of Capt. Clarke. In addition to these, a further force of fifteen men attended on the commencement of the expedition to secure safety during the transit through some Indian tribes whose hostility was apprehended. The necessary stores were divided into seven bales and one box, the latter containing a small portion of each article in case of a loss of any one of the bales. The stores consisted of clothing, working tools, ammunition, and other articles of prime necessity. To these were added fourteen bales and one box of Indian presents, composed of richly laced coats and other articles of dress, medals, flags, knives, and tomahawks for the chiefs; ornaments of different kinds, particularly beads, looking-glasses, handkerchiefs, paints, and generally such articles as were deemed best calculated for the taste of the Indians. The company embarked on board of three boats. The first was a keel-boat, fifty-five feet long, carrying one large square sail and twenty-two oars. A deck of ten feet, at each end, formed a forecastle and cabin. This was accompanied by two open boats of six oars. Two horses were to be led along the banks of the river, for bringing home game, or hunting in case of scarcity.
The narrative of the expedition was written by the commanders from day to day, and published after their return. We shall tell the story of their adventures nearly in the language of their own journal, with such abridgments as our plan renders necessary.
May 14, 1804. – All the preparations being completed, they left their encampment this day. The character of the river itself was the most interesting object of examination for the first part of their voyage. Having advanced, in two months, about four hundred and fifty miles, they write as follows: "The ranges of hills on opposite sides of the river are twelve or fifteen miles apart, rich plains and prairies, with the river, occupying the intermediate space, partially covered near the river with cotton-wood or Balm-of-Gilead poplar. The whole lowland between the parallel ranges of hills seems to have been formed of mud of the river, mixed with sand and clay. The sand of the neighboring banks, added to that brought down by the stream, forms sand-bars, projecting into the river. These drive the stream to the opposite bank, the loose texture of which it undermines, and at length deserts its ancient bed for a new passage. It is thus that the banks of the Missouri are constantly falling in, and the river changing its bed.
"On one occasion, the party encamped on a sand-bar in the river. Shortly after midnight, the sleepers were startled by the sergeant on guard crying out that the sand-bar was sinking: and the alarm was timely given; for scarcely had they got off with the boats before the bank under which they had been lying fell in; and, by the time the opposite shore was reached, the ground on which they had been encamped sunk also.
"We had occasion here to observe the process of the undermining of these hills by the Missouri. The first attacks seem to be made on the hills which overhang the river. As soon as the violence of the current destroys the grass at the foot of them, the whole texture appears loosened, and the ground dissolves, and mixes with the water. At one point, a part of the cliff, nearly three-quarters of a mile in length, and about two hundred feet in height, had fallen into the river. As the banks are washed away, the trees fall in, and the channel becomes filled with buried logs."
"July 12. – We remained to-day for the purpose of making lunar observations. Capt. Clarke sailed a few miles up the Namaha River, and landed on a spot where he found numerous artificial mounds.
NOTE. A late traveller, Rev. Samuel Parker, speaks thus of these mounds: "The mounds, which some have called the work of unknown generations of men, were scattered here in all varieties of form and magnitude, thousands in number. Some of them were conical, some elliptical, some square, and some parallelograms. One group attracted my attention particularly. They were twelve in number, of conical form, with their bases joined, and twenty or thirty feet high. They formed two-thirds of a circle, with an area of two hundred feet in diameter. If these were isolated, who would not say they were artificial? But, when they are only a group among a thousand others, who will presume to say they all are the work of man?..
"It is said by those who advocate the belief that they are the work of ancient nations; that they present plain evidence of this in the fact that they contain human bones, articles of pottery, and the like. That some of them have been used for burying-places, is undoubtedly true; but may it not be questioned whether they were made, or only selected, for burying-places? No one who has ever seen the thousands and ten thousands scattered through the Valley of the Mississippi will be so credulous as to believe that a hundredth part of them were the work of man."
"From the top of the highest mound, a delightful prospect presented itself, – the lowland of the Missouri covered with an undulating grass nearly five feet high, gradually rising into a second plain, where rich weeds and flowers were interspersed with copses of the Osage plum. Farther back from the river