Lewis and Clark Reaches the Rockies

Three days afterward, when they were in sight of the Rocky Mountains.

Continuing The Lewis and Clark Expedition,
our selection from an essay published in Great Events by Famous People, Vol. 15 by Robert Southey published in 1905. The selection is presented in 6.4000000000000004 easy 5 minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in The Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Time: 1805

The captains upon this occasion, with a proper reliance upon their own judgment, and a not less proper respect to the opinions of the men, determined that Captain Lewis should ascend the southern branch by land, till he reached either the falls or mountains, which would decide the question. And here, to lighten the labor as much as possible, they resolved to leave one of the pirogues and all the heavy baggage they could spare, together with some provisions, salt, powder, and tools. The boat was drawn up on the middle of a small island and fastened to the trees. The goods were deposited in a cache, which, like the Moorish matamore, is a subterraneous magazine, widening, as it descends, from a very small aperture, the mouth being a circle of about twenty inches in diameter; in this the goods were laid upon a flooring of dry sticks, which were also placed round the sides; they were covered with a dry skin, on which the earth was trodden, and lastly the sod was replaced over the opening so as not to betray the slightest marks of an excavation; the earth as it was dug up having been carefully removed.

On the third day’s march the sound of falling waters was heard, and a spray which seemed driven by the high southwest wind rose above the plain like a column of smoke and vanished in an instant. The sound soon became too tremendous to be mistaken for anything but the Great Falls of the Missouri, and having travelled seven miles after first hearing it he reached a scene which had never before been beheld by civilized man. The river forms a succession of rapids, cataracts, and falls for about seventeen miles; at the Great Fall it is three hundred yards wide, for about a third part of which it falls in one smooth even sheet over a precipice of eighty-seven feet; the other part, being broken by projecting rocks, “forms a splendid prospect of perfectly white foam two hundred yards in length,” with all that glory of re fracted light and everlasting sound and infinity of motion which make a great waterfall the most magnificent of all earthly objects.

There is another fall of fifty feet where the river is at least a quarter of a mile in breadth. In the midst of the river, below a third fall of about twenty-six feet, is a little island well covered with timber, where an eagle had built its nest in a cottonwood tree, amid the eternal mists of the cataract. The Indians had particularly mentioned this striking object. About a mile below the upper fall, and about twenty-five yards from the river, a spring rises which is said to be perhaps the largest in America, but its size is not otherwise described. The water, which is extremely pure and cold, “boils up from among the rocks and with such force near the center, that the surface seems higher there than the earth on the sides of the fountain, which is surrounded by a handsome turf of green grass.” It falls into the river over some steep irregular rocks, with a sudden ascent of about six feet in one part of its course: and so great is the quantity of water which it pours forth that “its bluish cast” is distinguishable in the less transparent Missouri for half a mile, notwithstanding the rapidity of the river.

They had seen no Indians from the time they left their encampment; but now, upon renewing their way, they came to a very large lodge, which they supposed to be a great council-house, differing in construction from any which they had seen. It was a circle of two hundred sixteen feet in circumference at the base, composed of sixteen large cottonwood poles, about fifty feet long, the tops of which met and were fastened in the center. There was no covering; but, in the center, there were the ashes of a large fire, and round about it the marks of many leathern lodges. Three days afterward, when they were in sight of the Rocky Mountains, they passed about forty little huts framed of willow bushes, as a shelter against the sun, and the track of many horses; they judged them to have been deserted about ten days by the Shoshones, or Snake Indians, of whom they were in search; the same day they came to another lodge, constructed like the former, but only half the dimensions, with the remains of fourscore leathern huts, but which seemed to have been built the preceding autumn.

On July 17th they reached the place where the Missouri leaves its native mountains: the river was deep, rapid, and more than seventy yards across, the low grounds not more than a few yards wide, but allowing room for an Indian road to wind under the hills; the cliffs were about eight hundred feet above the water, of a hard black granite, on which were scattered a few dwarf pine and cedar trees. The navigation was now very difficult. Red, purple, yellow, and black currants were growing there in great abundance, and much exceeding in size those in the Eastern gardens. The sunflower also grew plentifully. The big-horned animals, as they called them, were seen here in great numbers, bounding among precipices, where it seemed impossible that any animal could stand, and where a single false step would have precipitated them at least five hundred feet into the water. The prickly pear, at this time in full bloom, was one of the greatest beauties of the country, but they complained of it, with good reason, as one of the greatest inconveniences also. They were so abundant that it was impossible to avoid them, and the thorns were strong enough to pierce a double sole of dressed doeskin.

James Davie Butler began here. Robert Southey began here.

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