Great Falls

On June 2, 1805 The Corps camped opposite the mouth of a substantial river. The Mandans had not mentioned a substantial tributary before reaching the Falls. On June 3, the journal reads;

LEWIS June 3, 1805 "An interesting question was now to be determined; which of these rivers was the Missouri, or that river which the Minnetares call Amahte Arz Zha or Missouri, and which they had discribed to us as approaching very near to the Columbia river. to mistake the stream at this period of the season, two months of the traveling season having now elapsed and to ascend such stream to the rocky Mountains or or perhaps much further before we could inform ourselves whether it did approach the Columbia or not, and then be obliged to return and take the other stream would not only loose us the whole of this season but would probably so dishearten the party that it might defeat the expedition altogether."

The captains dispatched parties up both rivers to map them and determine their characteristics, and pondered much on the question. Lewis took the right hand fork. He came to a conclusion on the 8th

LEWIS June 8,1805 "The whole of my party to a man except myself were fully peswaided that this river was the Missouri, but being fully of opinion that it was neither the main stream or that which it would be advisable for us to take, I determined to give it a name and in honour of Miss Maria W..d. called it Maria's River. it is true that the hue of the waters of this turbulent and troubled stream but illy comport with the pure celestial virtues and amiable qualifications of that lovely fair one; but on the other hand it is a noble river; one destined to become in my opinion an object of great contention between the two great powers of America and Great Britain with rispet to the adjustment of the North westwardly boundary of the former...."

LEWIS June 9, 1805 "....today we examined our maps, and compared the information derived as well from them as from the Indians and fully settled in our minds the propryety of adopting the South fork for the Missouri.....Those ideas as they occurred to me I indevoured to impress on the minds of the party all of whom except Capt. C being still firm in the beleif that the N. Fork was the Missouri and that which we ought to take; they said very cheerfully that they were ready to follow us any wher we thought proper to direct but that they still thought that the other was the river...

And so they proceeded on. They were eagerly anticipating the falls, as this would prove their contention that they were still on the Missouri. At one point Lewis decided to scout ahead of the boats;

LEWIS June 13, 1805 "I had proceded on...about two miles...whin my ears were saluted with the agreeable sound of a fall of water....a roaring too tremendious to be mistakenfor any cause short of the great falls of the Missouri...."

He made camp and sent a message to Clark with the good news.

In the morning decided to continue his walk up the river.

The good news was that they had reached the great falls of the Missouri. The bad news was that it was not one cataract, but five significant waterfalls. He had one more adventure before the day was over. He shot a buffalo, and was waiting for it to expire, not bother to reload his rifle Before long he noticed a Grizzly bear 200 paces from him and approaching menacingly. With his unloaded rifle useless, he made a dash for the river, turned and faced the charging animal with rifle in one hand and his espontoon in the other...helpless. To his astonishment the bear stopped at the water's edge, whirled around and retreated rapidly out of sight. He never knew why.

Later on Clark proceeded up the river and discovered the giant spring.

CLARK June 18, 1805 "We proceeded on up the river a little more than a mile to the largest fountain or spring I ever Saw, and doubt if it is not the largest America Known, this water boils up from under th rocks near the edge of the river and falls imediately innto the river 8 feet and keeps its Colour for 1/2 a mile which is emencely Clear and of a bluish cast."

While in Great Falls, we took the opportunity to follow a self guided tour of the portage.

First we took a look at one of the falls that has been ruined by a hydroelectric dam.

We next proceeded to the take out point of the portage on Portage Creek, now Belt Creek

This is the incline they had to drag the canoes up

And these pictures are of a diorama in the interpretive center depicting that effort

This is the put in point 18 miles over land

Doc tried to get the scent of the grizzly that chased Clark into the river here.

The "Giant Spring"

And the shortest river America at 200 feet; the Roe

We passed this statue of our heroes on the way back to the motel.

Our next desination is Helena, Montana, with a stop for a boat tour of the "Gates of the Mountains"

The White Cliffs

On May 30th and 31st, 1805 the Corps floated through what is now known as the "White Cliffs." On July 5th, 2017 we floated through this section with a guide. We photographed the fascinating panorama of geological formations in the hope they would convey the awe and wonder generated by these visions. Not a chance, We include some of them here as a reminder, but actually, Lewis's description does a better job.

LEWIS May 31, 1805. "The hills and river Clifts which we passed today exhibit a most romantic appearance. The bluffs of the river rise to the hight of from 2 to 300 feet and in most places nearly perpendicular; they are formed of remarkable white sandstone which is sufficiently soft to give way readily to the impression of water; two or thre thin horizontal stratas of white freestone, on which the rains or water make no impression, lie imbeded in these clifts of soft stone near the upper part of them; the earth on the top of these Clifts is a dark rich loam, which forming a graduly ascending plain extends back from 1/2 mile a mile to a mile where the hills commence and rise abruptly to a hight of about 300 feet more. The water in the course of time in decending from those hills and plains on either side of the rier has trickled down the soft sand clifts and woarn it into a thousand grotesque figures, which with the help of a little imagination and an oblique view at a distance, are made to represent eligant ranges of lofty freestone buildings having their parapets will stocked with statuary; columns of various sculpture both grooved and plain, are also seen supporting long galleries in front of those buildings; in other places on much nearer approach and with the help of less immagination we see the remains or ruins of eligant buildings; some collumns standing and almost entier with their pedestals and capitals; others retaining their pedestals but deprived by time or accident of their capitals, some lying prostate an broken others in the form of vast pyramids of connic structure bearing a sereis of other pyramids on their tops becoming less as they ascend and finally terminating in a sharp point. nitches and alcoves of various forms and sizes are seen at different hights as we pass...As we passed on it seemed as if those seens of visionary inchantmnent would never have and end; for here it is too that nature presents to the view of the traveler vast ranges of walls of tolerable workmanship, so perfect indeed are those walls that I should have thought that nature had attempted here to rival the human art of masonry had I not recollected that she had first began her work..."

The beginning of our river trip.









The White Cliffs

The eight sisters

Snoopy

The debaters

The bison head

The white is sandstone and siltstone produced by sedimentation in the inland sea that once covered this area. The dark inclusions are said to be volcanic material which was forced upward and filled crevices in the stone. Some are called plugs, and the fence like forms, called dykes,  are formed by vertical cracks filled with hard volcanic material, then the softer stone weathers away. We are told that this is not the hard glassy matter which comes from melted rock, but is reddish material from the earths's core. That is said to be iron, so perhaps that acounts for the reddish color.

We also saw some wildlife

Can you pick out the deer?

Two immature bald eagles in a really scruffy looking nest

White pelicans taking off.  This one is for you, Jan.

The guide, Craig Madsen, brought along his wife and grandaughter, Mia. Mia is not quite 6,  and found the 102 degree heat a little enervating.

We are sorry our pictures do not adequately represent the grandeur of the White Cliffs, but we feel really lucky to have seen this scene that is exactly the way it was when the Corps passed by, and at a place that one can only visit in the way we did, in a 46 mile float down the Missouri River.

Our next destination is Great Falls.

Fort Benton, Montana

After seeing the confluence and driving by Fort Union, we drove through more different geography, saw some more horses.

Stayed in an old remodeled store, one of the oldest buildings in town, said to be upgraded to a very quaint style with lots of character...not.

But the town does have a whole lot of history. The Corps of Discovery camped here in 1804 going west and 1806 going back east. The Missouri River is right across street from the Motel.

After Lewis and Clark opened the area up to trading,  Fort Union, which we saw earlier was built in 1828, and others followed. Fort Benton was built in 1846, and named for Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. (Evidently not the poet?) It was not until the 1860s that people building a town around the fort.

So the Corps went right past this place going both ways. There is a replica of a keel boat adjacent to the motel.  It is not a Lewis and Clark keel boat, but one built for the movie "The Big Sky."

We are going to have to stream that movie when we get back.

 This sign describes the statue of Lewis, Clark and Sacajawea was placed here for the nation's bicentennial in 1976

It is very well done, and shows a lot of historically correct detail.

Gail liked the statue

 And the little park it inhabits.

 The most significant event of our stay in Fort Benton was an all day boat trip on the Upper Missouri River breacks through the White Cliffs.

After a pretty sunrise over the Missouri River, we gear up for the cruise and will tell you about that next time.

The Confluence

Something we have been looking forward to for some time is the confluence of the Yellowstone River and the Missouri. The Corps shared this anticipation.

Here are two maps, one historic and one modern which depict that confluence;

Lewis and four other men walked from the Missouri cross country to intercept the Yellowstone, then walked down the Yellowstone to meet Clark at the confluence.

April 24, 1805  LEWIS  "When we had proceeded on about 4 miles, I ascended the hills from whence I had a most pleasing view of the country, particularly of the wide and fertile valleys formed by the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, which occasionally unmasked by the wood on their borders disclose their meanderings for many miles in their passage through these delightful tracts of country. I determined to camp on the bank of the Yellowstone River which made its appearance about 2 miles south of me. The whole face of the country was covered with herds of buffalo, elk, and antelopes; deer are also abundant, but keep themselves more concealed in the woodland. The buffalo, elk and antelope are so gentle that we pass near while feeding without appearing to excite any alarm among them; and when we attract their attention, they frequently approach us more nearly to discover what we are, and in some cases pursue us a considerable distance apparently with that view." Later while he was making observations of Latitude and Longitude of the confluence, he heard several shots "which announced to me the arrival of the party with Captain Clark...after I completed my observations in the evening I walked down and joined the party at their encampment on the point of land formed by the junction of the rivers...."

 The Coast and Geodetic Survey have used Lewis's calculations and placed a marker at exactly that spot, and placed a marker at the spot.

This is that marker;

There are very few places along the Lewis and Clark trail where you can be absolutely sure you are standing exactly where they stood. Many things have changed, even the rivers have changed their course or been impeded by dams thereby flooding their actual path.

Doc was thrilled to be in one of those places.

  Here is a view of the confluence itself, with the Yellowstone, in the center of the picture, entering toward the viewer and joining the Missouri which is flowing from right to left.

            Photographer at work

There were, of course to Gail's delight, wild flowers at Fort Buford which was built later near the confluence.








Shortly after the Corps completed their journey, John Jacob Astor approached President Jefferson, asking his help in sending a group of his people to trace their route and make arrangements for a global fur trading enterprise centered around a United States presence on the west coast. Jefferson was enthusiastic , but informed Astor he had about worn out his welcome in the congress where money for westward expansion was concerned, but he would lend all the support the government could for this venture. Astor did follow through, and part of the organization he built was a trading for near the confluence called Fort Union. Astor hired James Fenimore Cooper to write the story of his employees journey. The book is titled "The Astorians."

 Fort Union











We are now staying overnight  in a small motel in Malta, Montana, and plan to drive to Fort Benton tomorrow.