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.
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"
1 comment:
Gail and John,
thank you for sharing your incredible adventure! This is the history lessons I never received in school...no one took cool photos....and I can't wait for the next stop!
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