Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1813-07-02
Arieora., sixty persons in number, all

Aricoras, sixty persons In NUMBER, Oil
on foot, except the partners OF the com
pany. In this situation they proceeded
for FIVE days, having crossed 10 that TINE
Iso considerable streams which Joinec
the Missouri below the Aticoras, when
finding AN inland tribe of Indians, calling
themselves Shawhays, but known a"ong
.he whites by the arpe!lation OF Cheyh>
mes, ,hey procured from these peopi1
an accession Of :or,y horses, which en-
at,,e,i the gentlemen to furnish horse
for every two men Steering shout w.
S. w. they passed the small branches
Of Big River, the Li.tle Missouri above
its forss, and several of tho tributary
streams of Powder River, one Of which
Following up, they feund bana OF the
Absaraka, or Crow nalou, cncanpcd All
its banks at the foot oil the Big Horn
mountain.
For ammunition and some small arti-
cles, they sXeh,nged all their lame tor
sourd h'rses with ,hrse savngcs; but
although that this hand has been allowed.
BY every one who knew them, to be b,v
FAR the best behaved of their tribe, 1t was
only by tha, unalterable determination OF
the g.nllemen to avoid jeopardiz'ng the
safety Of the party, without at the same
moment submitting To intentional IN
salts. that they left this camp mot pos
sessing greater force than the whites)
without coming to blows.
The distance from the Aricoras to this
mountain is about 458 miles, over an
extremely rugged tract, by no means
furnishing a suficlent supply Of water ;
but during the twenty -eight days they
were getting TO the base Of the noun
tain, they were only in a very few in.
stances without abundance Of buffaloe
meat
Three days took them over to the
plains of Mad river (thc name given the
Big Horn above this mountain) ~hicl,
following Tor number Of days thcy left
it whe,e it was reduced to thirty ya'ds
in width, and The same evening reached
the bar&s Of TIE Colorado or Spanish
river Finding focks of bufaloe at the
end Of the thira days travel on TN,
stream, the party passad'a week N dry
ing buHalse meat for ths residue Of 'he
voyage, as in iii probability tho,e were
the last an!mals Of The KIND they would
meet wish. Ft"m TINS camp. in one day,
they crossed the dividing monD.a,n snd
pitched ,l.ic ,eHts Oh R0a>ck's Fo,k Of
Mao river, sherc !, "s nc,r $50 teet
broad, AID II s:9 ! days mofe having
passed several superior; ridges, they
encarnprd in 'ae Vicinity o. &c esta-
blishmeut made by Mr.. iierry III The
fall of 1910, or fork about seventy
Yards wide, bearing the nan.c ii that
gentleman; having trayslied ON the
main Missouri about 900 Miss In So
days.
Here aban6oning toeir horses, the
party constructed canoes, and descended
the Snake or K eye nem river (made
by the junction of Mad rive, south of
Henry's iork) 400 mics. IN the course
Of which they were obliged BY tic inter
ven,ion Of impss sable rapids to make
number of pnrtages, till at 'entsth they
found the river confined between gloomy
prlripices at least 200 feet pcrpendicu-
lar, hose banks for the most part were
washed ny this turbulen, stream, which
for so niias was a continual succession
of fails. e,c.c.es ard rapids. Mr. Cooks
canoc mad split aud upset IN the middle
of rapid, by which one man was
druwneo NAMED Antonio Clappin, and
that gentleman saved himself only by
extreme exortieu in swimming: From
the repeated losses by the npsetting OF
canoes cur stock If provisions were now
reduced to bare efficiency for five
DAYS, totally Ignorant OF the country
where they were, end unsuccessful III
meeting any of the natives from whom
they could nope tor information,
Unable to proceed by water, Messrs.
MKenz,e, Mcclellan and Reed, Set cut
in different directions inciinlng down
the river, tor the purpose OF finding In
dians and buying horses. Mr. Cooks
with few men retnrred 10 Hen.y's FORK
for those they rad left, white Mr.. Hunt
remained with the main body # The men
in trapping beaver for their support
Mr.. c. finding the distance much great
or by land than they had contemplated
returned at the end Of three davs, where e,
waiting Eve more, expecting feI.ei fro"
below, toe near approach OF Mlnter
made them satermine on dSpositing all
superhuous articles and preceding on
foot. Accordingly on the 10th OF No
yen,ber, Messrs. Hunt and Crooks st
out each with Is men, one party on the
north and the other on the south SIDE of
the river.
Mr.. Hent was fortunate in finding In.
dams with abundance Of salmon aud
some horses. but Mr. Crooks saw but
lew, and in general too miserabiy poor
to afford his party much assistance;
th;r,e.n dave ,raye! brought the latter