Christmas
At this
wonderful time of the year, remember those of the
past and present, loved ones and friends, God Bless
them all. We've given you a little history of what
was going on with the Corp of Discovery under the
direction of Lewis & Clark.
On Christmas
Eve, the temperature climbed above zero - and almost
above freezing. Fort Mandan was deemed officially
complete, and the captains handed out dried apples,
pepper, and extra flour for the next day's meal and
celebration.
Just before Christmas
dawn, the captains were awakened by the men, all if
them, Clark noted,
"merrily disposed."
December 25th, 1804.
We ushed [in]
the morning with a discharge of the Swivvel [gun],
and one round of Small arms of all the party.
Then another
from the Swivvel. Then Capt. Clark presented a glass
of brandy to each man of the party. We hoisted the
american flag, and each man had another Glass of
brandy.
The men
prepared one of the rooms and commenced dancing. At
10 o'c [lock] we had another Glass of brandy, at one
a gun was fired as a Signal for diner. Half past two
another gun was fired to assemble at the dance, and
So we kept it up in a jov[ia]l manner untill eight
o'c[lock] at night, all without the company of the
female Seck [sex].
Joseph
Whitehouse
The mandans
were asked not to visit the fort on Christmas
because, the captains explained, it was a "great
medicine" day for the expedition. But on New Year's,
the men celebrated with their Indian hosts.
___________________________________
New Year's Day
January
1st, 1806.
Our repast of
this day, tho' better than that of Cristmass,
consisted principally in the anticipation of the 1st
day of January 1807, when in the bosom of our
friends we hope to participate in the mirth and
hilarity of the day, and when with the zest given by
the recollection of the present, we shall
completely, both mentally and corporally, enjoy the
repast which the hand of civilization has prepared
for us.
Meriwether
Lewis.
Men were put to
work making candles, boiling ocean water for salt,
preserving elk meat in a smokehouse, and sewing
clothes from elk hides for the return trip home.
Clark labored
over a new map that would replace eastern
speculation with the hard facts of western
geography.
Lewis wrote
page after page of descriptions of animals and
plants unknown to science-from the giant sitka
spruce tree to the evergreen huckleberry; from
ring-necked ducks and whistling swans to small
smelt-the candlefish-that the men roasted and ate
whole.
In the next
life may we experience such an adventure, and may
God see us fit enough to handle the chore.
For a new year
it seems things are well with our early travelers,
fed and full of thoughts of returning home.
May you and
yours have a good New Year.
___________________________________
Easter
Checking the different
sources listed below, no entries where made on this
date, but we know that they where with at Fort
Mandan waiting for the ice to clear from the rivers.
Invoice of articles from
Fort Mandan to the President:
First box, skins of the male
and female antelope, with their skeletons;.... horns
and ears of the black tail, or mule deer;....
skeletons of small animals, or burrowing wolf of the
prairies, the skin having been lost by accident.
Second box, four buffalo
robes and an ear of Mandan corn.
Third box, skins of male and
female antelope, with skeletons.
Fourth box, specimens of
earths, salts and minerals; specimens of
plants;..... one tin box containing insects.
In a large trunk: one
buffalo robe painted by a Mandan man
representing a
battle which was fought eight years [ago], by the
Sioux and [Arikaras] against the Mandans and
[Hidatsas].
One cage, containing four
living magpies.
One cage, containing a
living burrowing squirrel of the prairies.
One cage, containing one
living hen of the prairies.
One large pair of elk horns,
connected by the frontal bone.
We know that by the end of
March the ice was no longer a problem on the rivers
and Lewis had sent a small detachment back to St.
Louis with the big keelboat, loaded with materials
for Jefferson: maps, lengthy reports about
populations and customs of the Indian tribes in the
Louisiana Territory and the prospects for trade, and
box after box of specimens they had collected from
the newest region of the now growing U. States.
April ?. At this moment,
every individual of the party are in good health and
excellent sperits; zealously attached to the
enterprise, and anxious to proceed; not a whisper of
discontent or murmur is to be heard among them; but
all in unison act with the most perfect harmoney.
With such men I have every thing to hope, and but
little to fear.
MERIWETHER
LEWIS
On April 7, 1805,
the Corps of Discovery headed west once
more...........
___________________________________
Memorial Day
By the way
being Memorial Day 1999, Let's take a look at what
our forefather's were up to on the Upper Missouri
1805.
________________________________________________________
Lewis's journal of
May 20, 1805, decribes
a "handsome river" which
the captains named Sacagawea, or Bird Woman's River.
May 20th. The
large creek which we passed..we Call Blowing fly
Creek, from the emence quantities of those insects
which geather on our meat in such nombers that we
are obledged to brush them off what we eate.
John Ordway.
May 30th. Many
circumstances indicate our near approach to a
country whos climate differs considerably from that
in which we have been for many months. [Clark names
the Judith River in honor of a young girl back in
Virginia he hoped to one day be his wife] The air of
the open country is asstonishingly dry as well as
pure. I found by several expeeriments that a table
spoon of water exposed to the air in a saucer would
evaporate in 36 hours...My inkstand so frequently
becoming dry put me on this experiment. I also
observed the well seasoned case of my sextant shrunk
considerably and the joints opened.
Meriwether
Lewis.
May 31st. We
passed some very curious cliffs and rocky peaks, in
a long range. Some of them 200 feet high and not
more than eigth fett thick. They seem as if built by
the hand of man, and are so numerous that they
appear like the ruins of an acinet city.
Patrick Gass.
May 31st. In
maney places...we observe on either Side of the
river extraodanary walls of a black Semented Stone
which appear to be regularly placed one Stone on the
other..[T]hose walls Commence at the waters edge &
in Some places meet at right angles.
William Clark.
May 31st. The
hills and river Cliffs 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...
The water in
the course of time in decending from those hills and
plains on either side of the river has trickled down
the soft sand clifts and woarn it into a thousand
grotesque figures, which with the help of a little
immagination...are made to represnt eligant ranges
of lofty freestone buildings, having their parapets
well stocked with statuary...
Meriwether
Lewis.
______________________________________
Many of the
brothers have made this trip from Ft. Benton passed
Judith Landing and further south on the Upper
Missouri, reading what has been stated almost 200
years before brings back fond memories of this land
and what we have all seen - then and now.
If you have
never made this trip please write it down as a "must
adventure to do", if you don't canoe (best way to
see it) there are float trips available. Be sure to
ask the US Forest Service for use of their "Guide
Book" while making the trip, it really adds to the
river with history and pictures, like Bodimer's,
etc. painted in the early 1800's, and the landscape
hasn't changed that much. Believe me you'll remember
this water venture for years, period or not take a
camera and a note pad - you'll make good use of
both.
___________________________________
Independence
Day
Fourth of July
Being Independence Day 1999, Let's take a look at
what our forefather's were up to on the Upper
Missouri 1805. With the portage behind them, the
Corps of Discovery celebrated their second Fourth of
July of the journey with a meal of beans, suet
dumplings, and heaping portions of buffalo meat, a
"very comfortable dinner," Lewis wrote.
We had no just
cause to covet the sumptuous feasts of our
countrymen on this day......... . We have conceived
our party sufficiently small and therefore have
concluded not to dispatch a canoe with a part of the
men to St. Louis as we had intended early in the
spring. We fear also that such a measure might
possibly discourage those who would be in such case
remain, and might possibly hazzard the fate of the
expedition................
MERIWETHER
LEWIS
July 4th. A
beautiful, clear, pleasant warm morning....It being
the 4th of Independence, we drank the last of our
Spirits.... The fiddle [was] put in order, and the
party amused themselves dancing all the evening
until about 10 oClock in a jovi[a]l manner.
JOHN ORDWAY
Their supply of
whiskey was running low, but the captains let the
men finish it off as "they continued their mirth
with songs and festive jokes and were extremely
merry until late at night".
They were was
behind schedule. And off in the distance, they could
now see the mountains that awaited them.
The mountains
to the N.W. and West of us are still entirely
covered [with snow], are white and glitter with the
reflection of the sun. I do not believe that the
clouds that pervale at this season of the year reach
the summits of those lofty mountains; and if they do
the probability is that they deposit snow only, for
there has been no p[er]ceptable diminution of the
snow which they contain since we first saw them. I
have thought it probable that these mountains migth
have derived their appellation of SHINEING MOUNTAINS
from their glittering appearance when the sun shines
in certain directions on the snow which covers them.
WILLIAM CLARK
I wonder how
many of the brothers of the AMM camped in the
Yellowstone area this year have seen these SHINEING
MOUNTAINS as did William Clark, Meriwether Lewis and
their group did a few years before !
___________________________________
At this time of
the year, remember those of the past and present,
loved ones and friends, God Bless them all. We've
given you a little history of what was going on with
the Corp of Discovery under the direction of Lewis &
Clark.
Thanksgiving
Remember that
this was not a Holiday as we know it now, that did
not happen until the next century and then 50 years
before becoming a National Holiday.
On
November 24 the captains called everyone
together. They had come 4,162 miles since leaving
the Mississippi, Clark estimated. But now a decision
was needed: where to spend the winter. Lewis and
Clark explained the options.
Staying near
the ocean meant they might yet meet a ship, get
provisions, and perhaps send a man or two back to
Washington by sea with word of their achievement.
And being near ocean water, they could also make
salt, which they would need for the return trip.
They could
remain on the north side of the Columbia River,
through the local Chinook I ndians charged what
Clark considered extravagant prices for everything
and there did not appear to be an abundance of game.
They could move
to the south side (in what is now Oregon). Some
Clatsops, who had crossed over there, promised
plenty of elk for food and clothing.
Or they could
head back upriver - perhaps halfway back toward the
Nez Perce - where they could count on drier weather.
Once again the
captains broke with protocol in reaching an
important decision. As military commanders -
especially as commanders now operating in territory
beyond the borders of the United States - Lewis and
Clark could simply have imposed their own choice.
Instead, the
Corps of Discovery would face this issue the same
way it had already dealt with the grueling portage
of the Great Falls, the deflating disappointment of
Lemhi Pass, the biting cold and near starvation of
the Bitterroot Mountains, and the rain-soaked gales
of the lower Columbia. They would face it together,
as a collection of diverse individuals who had
molded themselves into a cohesive unit that was
stronger than the sum of its particular parts.
E
pluribus unum.
One by one, the
name of each member of the Corps of Discovery was
called out. And each ones preference was recorded.
Clark's slave
York, was allowed to vote - nearly sixty years
before slaves in the rest of America would be
emancipated and enfranchised.
Sacagawea, the
Indian woman, voted too - more than a century before
either women or Indians were granted the full rights
of citizenship.
In the end, a
majority decided to cross to the south side of the
Columbia. There, together they would spend the
winter with all of North America between themselves
and their countrymen.
Capt. Lewis
Branded a tree with his name, Date, etc..... The
party all Cut the first letters of their names on
different trees.... I marked my name, the Day & year
on an alder tree.... William Clark. By Land from the
U. States in 1804 & 1805.
WILLIAM CLARK
Not as fancy a
November 24th as we have come to be accustomed to,
with large amounts of food, family and left overs,
but to them working as a unit and making that
crossing to be with the Clatsops, who had crossed
over there, promised plenty of elk for food and
clothing they had a wonderful day to be thankful
for.
"LEWIS & CLARK
/ The Journey of the Corps of Discovery" is the main
source where this information was gotten from,
Dayton Duncan & Ken Burns have done a wonderful
piece of work on these adventures of Lewis & Clark
and the Corps of Discovery members. A must have book
for anyone interested in the travels of this group
and the mapping of America.
___________________________________
Buck Conner
Aux Ailments de Pays!
GREAT
RESOURCES:
Original
Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804 -
1806., Reuben Gold Thwaites, Bernard De Voto,
Arno Press, Inc.
Journals of
the Lewis and Clark, Bernard De Voto, Houghton
Mifflin Company, Boston.
LEWIS &
CLARK / The Journey of the Corps of Discovery,
Dayton Duncan & Ken Burns. Alfred A. Knopf,
Publisher, New York.
Lewis &
Clark: Pioneering Naturalists, Paul Russell
Cutright, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and
London, Bison Books.
Only One Man Died -
The Medical Aspects of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition, Eldon G. Chuinard, M.D., Ye Galleon
Press, Fairfield, Washington.
_________________________________________________________
|