第106章

That night the weather was so cold that water froze in a basin to a thickness of three-quarters of an inch, and the grass around the camp was stiff with frost, although the month of July was nearly a week old.

The boats taken from the cache were now loaded, and the explorers were divided into two bands, one to descend the river by boat and the other to take the same general route on horseback, the objective point being the Yellowstone. The story is taken tip here by the journal in these lines:--"After breakfast [July 10] the two parties set out, those on shore skirting the eastern side of Jefferson River, through Service [-berry]

Valley and over Rattlesnake Mountain, into a beautiful and extensive country, known among the Indians by the name of Hahnahappapchah, or Beaverhead Valley, from the number of those animals to be found in it, and also from the point of land resembling the head of a beaver.

It [the valley] extends from Rattlesnake Mountain as low as Frazier's Creek, and is about fifty miles in length in direct line; while its width varies from ten to fifteen miles, being watered in its whole course by Jefferson River and six different creeks.

The valley is open and fertile; besides the innumerable quantities of beaver and otter with which its creeks are supplied, the bushes of the low grounds are a favorite resort for deer; while on the higher parts of the valley are seen scattered groups of antelopes, and still further, on the steep sides of the mountains, are observed many bighorns, which take refuge there from the wolves and bears.

At the distance of fifteen miles the two parties stopped to dine; when Captain Clark, finding that the river became wider and deeper, and that the canoes could advance more rapidly than the horses, determined to go himself by water, leaving Sergeant Pryor with six men to bring on the horses. In this way they resumed their journey after dinner, and camped on the eastern side of the river, opposite the head of Three-thousand-mile Island. The beaver were basking in great numbers along the shore; there were also some young wild geese and ducks.

The mosquitoes were very troublesome during the day, but after sunset the weather became cool and they disappeared."

Three-thousand-mile Island was so named by the explorers, when they ascended these streams, because it was at a point exactly three thousand miles from the mouth of the Missouri. But no such island exists now; it has probably been worn away by the swift-rushing current of the river.

The route of Captain Clark and his party, up to this time had been a few miles west of Bannock City, Montana. As the captain was now to proceed by land to the Yellowstone, again leaving the canoe party, it is well to recall the fact that his route from the Three Forks of the Missouri to the Yellowstone follows pretty nearly the present line of the railroad from Gallatin City to Livingston, by the way of Bozeman Pass. Of this route the journal says:--"Throughout the whole, game was very abundant. They procured deer in the low grounds; beaver and otter were seen in Gallatin River, and elk, wolves, eagles, hawks, crows, and geese at different parts of the route. The plain was intersected by several great roads leading to a gap in the mountains, about twenty miles distant, in a direction E.N.E.; but the Indian woman, who was acquainted with the country, recommended a gap more to the southward.

This course Captain Clark determined to pursue."

Let us pause here to pay a little tribute to the memory of "the Indian woman," Sacajawea. She showed that she was very observant, had a good memory, and was plucky and determined when in trouble.

She was the guide of the exploring party when she was in a region of country, as here, with which she was familiar.

She remembered localities which she had not seen since her childhood.

When their pirogue was upset by the carelessness of her husband, it was she who saved the goods and helped to right the boat.

And, with her helpless infant clinging to her, she rode with the men, guiding them with unerring skill through the mountain fastnesses and lonely passes which the white men saw for the first time when their salient features were pointed out to them by the intelligent and faithful Sacajawea. The Indian woman has long since departed to the Happy Hunting-Grounds of her fathers; only her name and story remain to us who follow the footsteps of the brave pioneers of the western continent.

But posterity should not forget the services which were rendered to the white race by Sacajawea.

On the fifteenth of July the party arrived at the ridge that divides the Missouri and the Yellowstone, nine miles from which they reached the river itself, about a mile and a half from the point where it issues from the Rocky Mountains. Their journey down the valley of the Yellowstone was devoid of special interest, but was accompanied with some hardships.

For example, the feet of the horses had become so sore with long travel over a stony trail that it was necessary to shoe them with raw buffalo hide.

Rain fell frequently and copiously; and often, sheltered at night only by buffalo hides, they rose in the morning drenched to the skin.

The party could not follow the course of the river very closely, but were compelled often to cross hills that came down to the bank, making the trail impassable for horses. Here is the story of July 18 and 19:--"Gibson, one of the party, was so badly hurt by falling on a sharp point of wood that he was unable to sit on his horse, and they were obliged to form a sort of litter for him, so that he could lie nearly at full length.

The wound became so painful, however, after proceeding a short distance, that he could not bear the motion, and they left him with two men, while Captain Clark went to search for timber large enough to form canoes.