The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-11-19


mont's ascent of bold peaks and eXplora-
ton of mysterious passes barely half IA cen
tury ago. In fact today it is but Il short
march from the trail of the iron horse to
the haunts of aboriginal darkness, and but
little over q year has passed since an army
was marShaled within sight of the domes
and spires of the magnificent creations of
mans highest art to beat down the tiger
ish impulse of savagcdom. Between Den
yer and the Bad Lands. what II gap, and
between Denver and the l'rem ont era. what
n contrast! But go back forty years from
Fremont to Lewis and Clark. who in
1S0l-6 crossed over mountain and plain on
the courses of the Missouri and Columbia
rivers. Then the Mississippi was the west
ern border, the Pacific known only to mar
liners, and all between ras n savage wild
The Lewis and G. lrk expedition was set
on foot by President Jefferson while nego-
tiations were pending for the purchase of
the vast empire from France. The official
instructions to the leader, Lewis, iutimatcd
that the party must expect to fight rs well
rs explore, and the members were chosen
with that contingency in view. Fourteen
soldiers OF the regular army and nine young
Kentuckians volunteered for the adven-
ture. These, with two Frenchmen-a hunt
er and an interpretcr-and the leaders,
Lewis and Clark made up the band that
was to penetrate 1000 miles of trackless
wilderness swarming with red men. Can't
Mcriwether Lewis, the leader, was of a
fighting and adventurous race. He was Il
Nrginian, descended from soldiers of the
Indian wars and the Revolution While IA
lad of eight and ten years he would pass
whole nights in the mountains hunting
with the hounds, and ut twenty turned out
with the militia to put down an excise re-
1gl1
i'll the regular army. His colleague on the
expedition, William Clark, was II civilian,
brother of Gen. George Rogers Clark.
The party set out from ST. Louis in May,
1904 with one large boat for sail and oars
and two small rowbOatS. They carried II
freight of ammunition and presents OF
rich dresses and ornaments for the Indians
without whose good will they could not
proceed. The summer was passed on the
river without adventure, and when the ice
began TO block the chuDrcl winter camp
was established near the site OF bismarck
among the Mandan Indians, 1909 miles
from the mouth of the Missouri The
Mandans We're enemies Of the Sioux,
through whose country the explorers had
passed in reaching that of the Mandans,
and the latter suspected that the strangers
were on mischief bent, and that the fort
they had built for winter quarters was II
preparation for war, i'll which the Sioux
and the white men would unite against
the Mandans. One day news reached TIN,
fort that some Of the Sioux had attacked a
roaming body of Mandans, killed one and
wounded others, besides running off their
horses. Capt Lewis thought that ac-
lions would go further than words in
proving the true colors of his band and the
company was mustered to n man under
Capt. Clark and led to the Mandan vii
lage. After quieting the alarm raised by
the sudden appearance of his party in war
like trim the captain asked the chiefs to
assemble their warriors and join the whites
in an attack on the Sioux to avenre the
latest outrage. The chiefs begged off, be-
cause they said the snow was too deep and
the weather too cold for war, but they nc.
cepted the will for the deed, as it was in
tended they should, and no longer doubted
the good faith of their white neighbors
The incident taught the explorers that the
surest way to impress the redskins was to
put on a bold front.
The danger Of broils with the savages
being over, the party had to face trouble of
another Kind. BY the middle of December
the thermometer ranged from 90 to &C
ueSs. below zero within one week. The
hunters who went out to supply II winters
stock OF meat were often frost bitten and
compelled TO return To camp without
game. The middle of the winter found
them without provision, for they lived
wholly upon the country. The buffalo had
disappeared from the region, and the In.
dams were short of grain. 4 curious cir.
cufnstance rescued the party from suffer
ing ana perhaps starvation. One of their
number was u Yankee Tubal Cain. a cum
ming worker in metals, and his skill at the
forge so astonished and pleased the natives
that they gladly went hungry and sold
their corn 10 the blacksmith payable in
trade The Indians got The worth of
their barter in amusement alone, watching
the cunning white man fashion new to,na-
hawks arrowheads and cooking pans for
them and tinker up their old ones to be as
good as new.