Wednesday, May 19, 2010

The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center is at the Giant Springs National Park here in Great Falls. It is said to be the best one. We have stopped at every one we have passed on our journey and this one was really the best. They have reproductions of pieces of Lewis and Clark's journals here. The originals are in the museums at Chicago and Philadelphia.



The Lewis and Clark journals were so thorough that they wrote more words than the Bible! Of course, their punctuation is a bit haphazard. They spelled the words phonetically- exactly as it sounded to them. In fact, Clark spelled the Sioux Indian name 27 different ways and never spelled it S-i-o-u-x as it should be. In addition to writing in their journals they also wrote on buffalo hides and rock faces.


Captain Lewis studied in Philadelphia for months preparing for this expedition. The boat was made in Pittsburgh and he sailed down the Ohio River from there to meet Clark. They had served together in the military. Lewis had to carry an enormous amount of supplies for their survival. He had gifts to appease the Indians: beads, bells, decorative items, camp kettles, leather working awls, fish hooks and tobacco. In order to survive in the wilderness they needed; food, clothing, firearms, mosquito netting, tools and medicines for 30 men and 1 Newfoundland dog, named Sea Witch. In addition, Lewis and Clark needed writing implements and materials, reference books, scientific instruments to be able to draw the maps accurately for Thomas Jefferson.


All of these items were placed into oiled canvas bags. The gifts for the Indians living on the lower and middle Missouri River filled 21 large bags. They filled 5 bales with gifts for the distant Indians. All of this was placed into a keelboat and 2 pirogues. The keelboat could carry 28 -32 tons. In today's terms, a moving van can carry 10 tons. The keelboat was like a large barge with sails; 55 feet long (longer than 3 and a half minivans) and much wider. It was propelled by rowing, poling, towing or sailing and they had to use all of these methods. In fact they needed to hire teams of oxen and horses from the farms around the Ohio River to pull the keelboat because the water was too shallow. The pirogue was a French word for a large dug out canoe. The pirogues were like shallow flat bottomed plank boats that carried 8 -9 tons each.


In December, 1803 they built a camp 14 miles north of St. Louis on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from the mouth of the Missouri River on the Wood River. Naming it Camp Dubois they imposed strict military regimen and preparation on these men called the Corps of Discovery. They learned about the wilderness they were going to explore by talking with fur trappers and traders of the area. Before they left they had a 7 page map of the the first 700 miles of the Missouri River. They departed from Camp Dubois which is now a suburb of St. Louis.


The Plains Indians were very susceptible to the European diseases, especially smallpox. In the 1740s there were 500 Missouria Indians; by 1785, because of smallpox, there were only 120. In the early 1800s the Missouria joined with the Otoe Indians to fight the Sioux. The Arikara squaws were farmers, the men hunted and traded and they numbered 30,000 . When the smallpox hit in 1780 - 1781 they only had 22,500 left. Lewis and Clark met these Indians at the beginning of their trip.


By the time winter came in 11/1804 they were at Fort Mandan. It was brutal, -40 degrees with snow drifts. When the river iced over, they had to stop. They constructed log homes with stone fireplaces. When they built a blacksmith forge, the Indians came to trade corn for the sharpening of their axes. With 50 men at the fort they ate 1 large buffalo or 4 deer each day. While they waited for the river to thaw, they visited local Indian lodges of the Hidasta and Mandan tribes. The Mandan tribes had 2 subtribes: Nupta and Nuptadi. The Hidatsa tribe has 3 subtribes: Hidatsa, Awalixa and Awaxawi. In 1804, the Mandan and the Hidatsa had a very large trading center which they controlled. They were the middlemen of this monopoly trade and profited greatly from it. They traded flint from the Knife River for things they needed. Their village was 50 foot above the Knife River. They had circular earthen structures with 1 opening and it held several families and their horses!!! Squaws used bullboats made of a willow frame with a large bull hide to paddle on the river. This bullboat was stored on top of the earthlodges to protect the smokehole from the wind. Lewis and Clark were impressed by their architecture. When the Corps of Discovery left on 4/7/1805, it is said the Indians played them a funeral song because they didn't expect them to survive.

They encountered bad storms and high winds across Montana. Lewis thought the Mandan Indians were telling tall tales when they described a grizzly bear; until he came upon one unexpectantly and almost didn't get away. They saw plenty of hawks, grizzlies, eagles and buffalo; but only found evidence Indians had been there before them. When Indians put up tepees, they weighted down the buffalo hides with rocks to prevent the wind from lifting it up. Lewis and Clark found these rock rings and where campfires had been; but no Indians. Lewis saw remnants of a camp with 126 tipi (tepee) rings around the Judith River.

The maps Lewis and Clark had were of the lower half of the Missouri River and just 100 miles of the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean; but nothing in between. Clark listed each bend of the river with a "course and distance" reading noted in his journal with compass bearings. To this day, it is still very accurate. Every night and day they noted the positions of the sun, moon, stars and planets.

On 5/31/1805 they needed to pull the boats(at least 1000 #) up against the force of water rapids. Lewis and Clark then dug huge pits to store supplies and equipment for their return trip. They carefully hid the site, covering it over with shrubs and rocks. Then they dumped the unused dirt into the river. They lined the sides and bottom with sticks, dry grass and hides for protection from the elements. Everything they put into the pit was packed in oil cloth, metal containers and barrels to prevent moisture from ruining it. On 7/4/1805 the Corps had a party for the 4th; then spent 2 weeks building an iron boat and drying and packing 600 # of buffalo meat. The boat sank as soon as it was placed in the river.

When they arrived at the fork of the Missouri River, they weren't sure which way was the origin of the Missouri. The Mandans told them it began where the waterfalls were. The river was surrounded by Stoney Mountains with white cliffs and rock escarpments. Lewis went alone on foot and saw on 6/14/1805 the Great Falls of the Missouri, now called Ryan Dam. But in the next 8 miles he found 4 more waterfalls. The Indians never mentioned more than 1 waterfall. At the last waterfall he found a large bubbling spring of fresh water- the largest in North America. This is called the Giant Springs now. It pumps out 200 million gallons of fresh water daily.

There was no way they could go up the river in the boats; so they had to portage them. Lewis figured it would take 1 day. Instead it took 2 weeks and 18 miles of blazing heat, rough terrain with the prickly pear cactus spines going through their double soled moccasins. On the way around the waterfalls a thunderstorm came with hail the size of lemons that broke the skin. They had no place to hide. They still had trouble with the mosquitoes, knats and the prickly pear cactus. The upper portage camp was on an island called White Bear because it had lots of grizzly bears.

Sacajawea met them here at Great Falls and was ill. After 2 bloodletting didn't help her, Lewis had found a mineral springs and gave some to her to drink. The next day she was fine. They named it Sulphur Springs. She must have felt really bad to be able to drink water that smelled like rotten eggs. At this point Sacajawea's baby is only 4 months old and a flash flood hits them. She lost the baby's cradle board but saved her baby. It is assumed she made another cradle board to carry the baby. It is common practice to keep the babies in cradle boards until they are 2 years old. They stayed for 1 month at Great Falls to rest up from the portage of the boats and to heal their feet.

They still have not seen any Indians, just evidence that once they were there. But, the Indians didn't usually come to the falls until fall and Lewis and Clark were there in the summer. The Falls were not spiritual to the Crow and Blackfeet Indians; they just vied for the hunting grounds.

After hiking for 4 days they arrived at the Big Belk Mountains where they found cutthroat trout and pelicans. The sheer vertical limestone rock walls towered above the river. They called these the Gates of the Rocky Mountains 20 miles north of now Helena, Montana. Clark went around on foot above the cliffs and ended up with sore feet from the cactus spines. On 7/25/1805 they came to 3 forks in the river. They named them the Jefferson, Madsion and Gallatin Rivers. At this point they called the area Three Forks, and now this is the town of Three Forks, Montana. They also saw 3 bighorn sheep for the first time. The Nez Perce Indians use their horns for bows. They soften the horns by boiling and straightening and sharpening them. Surprisingly, this was where Sacajawea was captured by the Hidatsa Indians when she was 10 years old. On 8/8/1805 she saw the large limestone rock that was shaped like a swimming beaver and remembered it. On 8/11/1805 Clark stayed at the camp with the boats to heal his feet and Lewis went ahead to explore. Lewis followed the rivers to see which one was the Missouri headwaters. He left a message on a freshly cut pole for Clark about which river was the correct one. But a beaver took the pole to use in its dam; so Clark never saw the note and, of course, went up the wrong river for 9 miles before he turned around.
Lewis saw some Shoshone Indian women gathering food on 8/15/1805 and presented them with gifts so they took Lewis to their village. When the 60 warriors saw Lewis they became upset; until the women showed them the gifts. Five days later Clark arrives with Sacajawea. When Clark and Sacajawea were introduced to the Shoshone Chief, Cameahwait, she realized he was her brother. So they had a party for this reunion and also it was Lewis' 31st birthday on 8/18/1805. He felt he had nothing to show for his life.
This was the end of the river; no more water trail to follow. They had a choice: turn around and go back with no water route to the Pacific Ocean or walk to the Pacific Ocean. They decided to walk and find some Indian tribe with horses to trade. In the distance they saw even more snow covered mountain ranges. They thought it was only one. This was depressing because they needed to get over the snowy mountains before winter set in. Lewis followed the rivers to find the origin of the Missouri River.
Because of Sacajawea's connections being the sister of the chief of the Shoshone Indians, they were treated well. The Lemhi Shoshone Indians believed the top layer of the earth (dirt) was the dust of their ancestors. They stayed for many days and traded supplies for horses so they could travel further west. There were no more rivers to follow and the Salmon River was impassable. They pack their supplies on horses and sunk their boats into the pond for safekeeping for their trip back home.