Part 22 (1/2)
About ten o'clock we had an alarm of fire on board: the upper deck had been set on fire by the iron pipe of the chireat cabin
We ier was soon over, which, however, was not inconsiderable, as we had ot over this trouble, when another arose; the current of the swollen river was so strong, that we long contended against it to no purpose, in order to turn a certain point of land, while, at the saether threw the vessel back three times on the south coast The first shock was so violent, that the lower deck gallery was broken to pieces Our second attempt succeeded no better; part of the paddle-box was broken, and carried away by the current We were now obliged to land forty men to tow the vessel, for which purpose all on board voluntarily offered their services, even the two Blackfeet overcaerous place, we took on board the hunters e had sent out They were covered fro killed two elks The effect of the current and the wind upon our vessel continued for a long tiainst the alluvial bank, so that the deck was covered with earth, and the track of our vessel clearlythe clayey sand bank After four o'clock we stopped at a narrow verdant prairie in front of the hills, to fell wood: several pretty plants, areen, were found here The cat bird, the wren and blackbird anireat curlew (_Nue elk horn of twelve antlers had been found; a number of them lie about in all the forests and prairies, of which no use is made In the afternoonin the prairie of the north bank a large grizzly bear, and immediately sent Ortubize and another hunter in pursuit of him, but to no purpose Soon after o other bears, one of a whitish, the other of a dark colour, and our hunters, when they returned, affirest Harvey had shot an elk, and brought the best part of it froreat distance, and with considerable exertion, to the river Frorey bear became more and more coe says, it is not found below the [pg 184] Mandan villages, but this is not quite correct Near the prairie wherethe bears, is the mouth of White Earth River, called by Lewis and Clarke, Goat-pen River[347]
Here we crossed the Missouri, and lay to for the night on the south coast, where some of our people landed to set traps for the beavers
Harvey had the good fortune to catch, during the night, a young beaver, which he brought on board alive, on the following s of the little beaver, and with all our care we could not keep it alive The surrounding country on the banks of the Missouri, which is here very broad, again showed the singularly forular hills flattened at the top like tables: several pretty prairies, in which the white arterew, extended at the foot of the eminences, on the declivity of which the buffalo berry and the creeping juniper were common; henceforward the clay cones were partly burnt as red as bricks, which was a clear proof of their origin Many of the a little, of harder sandstone strata, which had resisted the influence of the elements more than the inter to, about eleven o'clock, near a wood on the south bank, we suddenly perceived on the north bank some Indians, who immediately called to us They were the first assiniboins that we hadfor the boat which Mr Mc Kenzie sent to them After a short pause they caa (le brecheux), ell known to Mr Mc Kenzie, with seven of his people of the branch called by the French, Gens des Filles[348] The chief, a robust, thick-set man, rather above the middle size, wore his hair tied behind in a thick queue, and cut short in front; he had bound across the crown a slip of whitish skin; in his ears he had strings of blue and white glass beads; round his neck a collar of bears' claws; the upper part of his body rapped in a red woollen shi+rt; his legs were quite bare, but he had a pair of handsoins which he put on when his people left the vessel He rapped in a buffalo robe, and had in his hand afor a fan Another robust man had smeared his face, about the eyes, hite clay The rest of these Indians were neither well for in disorder about their heads; sos were ins One of thenomy, wore a white wolf skin cap Some of them were marked with two parallel tattooed black stripes from the neck down the breast; the upper parts of their bodies were naked, but they rapped in buffalo robes
Most of theuns, and all, without distinction, bows and arrows, the latter in a quiver or bag made of skin, to which also the case for the bow is attached, as shown in the woodcut[349]
As the assiniboins are a branch of the Sioux, Ortubize was able to act as interpreter They were reat cabin, and the pipe circulated; they likewise [pg 185] received abundance of food, which seemed to please them much They said that since they ca, they had sufferedscarce They intended shortly to leave this part of the country, but the chief wished to go with us to Fort Union, which we allowed him to do After they had been shown about the vessel, the steah they suppressed any rove on the north bank
After dinner, we proceeded along the side of a prairie, where we heard the note of the great curlew The valley of the river was bounded on both sides by very reular spots of red clay, and bushes in the ravines; at their feet was the prairie, covered with pale green artes of the Missouri, there were fine poplar groves, with an undergrowth of roses in full bloom, buffalo-berry bushes, and ain saw naked rounded cones of earth, as if they had been thrown up by moles, and, on the tops of some of them, a little turret, or cone, while their sides were rounded by the rain water, or marked with parallel perpendicular furrows
On our further progress up the river, , for the first tihorn, or the Rocky Mountain sheep, the _Ovis ists A rahest hill, and, after looking at our steamer, slowly retired These animals are not frequent hereabouts, but we afterwards reat numbers We here took on board so posts had eet ready for the stea, we found the banks wooded, and beyond the thickets were the chain of hills, in the middle of which were strata of the colour of red bricks Cones of that colour, and soures, with a red base, crowned the heights Many varied colours showed that these eht o'clock we came to the mouth of Muddy River (the White Earth River of Lewis and Clarke), which issues from a thicket on the north bank[350] In this partsmoke on the bank, and, soon afterwards, some assiniboins, one of whom fired three shots to attract our attention: others soon came up, and we took theh cheek-bones, well dressed, all in leather shi+rts, their legssmooth about their heads; one of them took off the leather case of his bow, and wrapped it round his head like a turban, so that a little tuft of feathers, at one end of it, stood upright Following the nus of the Missouri, from one chain of hills to another, we reached, at seven o'clock in the evening, the mouth of the Yellow Stone, a fine river, hardly inferior in breadth to the Missouri at this part It issues below the high grey chain of hills, and its mouth is bordered with a fine wood of tall poplars,thickets
The two rivers unite in an obtuse angle; and there [pg 186] is a sudden turn of the Missouri to the north-west; it is not wooded at the junction, but flows between prairies thirty or more miles in extent
Herds of buffaloes are often seen here; at this time they had left these parts: ever, ht hand, we had a fine prospect Gentle eht verdure, forroves, andthickets on the bank of the river, whose dark blue waters, splendidly illuh the prairie A little further on lay Fort Union, on a verdant plain, with the handso in the azure sky, while a herd of horses grazing animated the peaceful scene[351]
As the steamer approached, the cannon of Fort Union fired a salute, with a running fire of musketry, to bid us welcome, which was answered in a similar manner by our vessel When we reached the fort, ere received by Mr Ha the absence of Mr Mc Kenzie, had performed the functions of director,[352] as well as by several clerks of the Coeurs_), of lishmen, Germans, Frenchmen, Russians, Spaniards, and Italians, about 100 in number, with many Indians, and half-breed women and children It was the seventy-fifth day since our departure from St
Louis, when the assiniboin cast anchor at Fort Union
The Yellow Stone, being one of the principal affluents of the Missouri, receives several considerable streahorn River (_La Grosse Corne_)
2 The Little Bighorn River (_La Petite Grosse Corne_)
3 The Tongue River (_La Riviere a la Langue_)
4 The Powder River (_La Riviere a la Poudre_)
The Yellow Stone is called, by the Canadians, La Roche Jaune Warden calls it Keheetsa, but I do not knohere he got this naiven it by nify Elk River[353]
FOOTNOTES:
[335] Knife River, called by the French Riviere de Couteau, and by the Indians Minah Wakpa, is a prairie strea the Missouri in Mercer County, North Dakota The town of Stanton is now on the site of the third village, Ai--ED
[336] See p 361, for illustration of a Blackfoot musical instrument--ED
[337] This fort of Pilcher, built for the Missouri Fur Company about 1822, was about eleven miles above theprofitable, it was maintained but a short time See another mention in our volume xxiii, chapter xxiii--ED
[338] See article by O D Wheeler, in _Wonderland_ (1904), on the recent developnite coal area of North Dakota--ED
[339] It was a custom of the Minitaree, e each winter for a spot where fuel was convenient, and there build log-cabins, very warm and secure, as winter quarters They thus preserved both the fuel supply, and the gahborhood of their summer home--ED
[340] Miry Creek appears to be the present Snake Creek, in McLean County, North Dakota, the one which Maxi a sinal Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_, i, p 291--ED