Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-01-19
Then and Now.

days ago, a brief account of the tri,
made by Lewis and Clark, in 1906
with an account of their camp in NORTH
Dakota. This is interesting now K
those who live in the region where they
camped. The Forum says:
1.-THE place in North Dakota on thu
Missouri river which they selected fol
wintering wa where Washburn is now
some thirty miles above Bismarck, and
1000 miles from st. Louis. There find.
ing timber to build cabins, and prospect
of game, they set about building huts, oil
the cottonwoods and elms. Fort Man.
dan. as they named their winter quarters,
was of four considerable huts, two by
two forming a right angle, and then they
stockaded the other two sides of the
square to make themselves secure from
the redskins. OF these there were five
villages near representing three tribes,
the Mandans, M~innetarees and Ahnah-
Always. They took much pains to get on
good terms with the Indians, making
them presents, trading with them, play.
ing the doctor to their sick, visiting and
smoking with them, and doing many
other things to amuse and aid them. At
times a part of the men would 20 to an
Indian village with the violin of one of
the Frenchmen, and dance, to the great
d%electation of the untutored savages.
The Indian women would bring corn,
squashes, pumpkins, berries meat and
other food, which afforded a pleasant re.
lief from their usual fare of game killed
about them.
SPENT up in such a place, these mon
had some royal sport hunting, though at
tt mes the sport took the rather stern
phase of attempt to furnish meat to
keep them from biting hunger. The
redskins also were ont, a party of them
killing a hundred antelope, which the
expedition lists called goats. They did
this by driving them into a pen made of
b ushes gradually narrowing to a trap.
During November great numbers of
geese we're seen flying over, but too high
to shoot. A party of these hunters re-
turned from about the region of Bis.
marck and Mandan, having killed thirty.
two deer, eleven elk and a buffalo.
These they hung up in a smoke house.
A large share of the party went out one
day to see the Indians kill buffalo, and
Captain Clark was one of them. The
redskins would encircle a herd, ride
horseback among them, and selecting
one, usually a COW, would shoot it with
arrows until satisfied it would die, then
go after another. Captain Clark him
self killed ten, and a day or two after
wards eight more. They appeared to
darken the plains, 30 numerous were
they, as they migrated as late as Decem-
Der 10th. Gradually the game was
driven away by so much hunting, and in
order to secure enough for the men, they
had to go far below with teams on the
ice, on n trip their horses being stolen
by some wandering Sioux, from farther
south still.
"The reports Of the weather seem IA
miliar to North Dakotans. Thus, along
the earlier part of November, as they
we're building their. huts it grew colder
and colder until on the fourteenth and
fifteenth ice began running in the river,
and the boat a distance below was
ordered up to the fort, lest it should be
carried away. On the twenty ninth the
N came thirteen inches deep and the
river closed. By December 9Th it was -
degrees below zero; on December 18th it
fell to 81 degrees, while the next day it
was 80 degrees below. The men out
hunting we're badly frost bitten IN some
cases, but an Indian caught out slept all
night with but a slight blanket to cover
him. December 18th brought the Their
mometer down to As degrees, below,
which was the coolest day Of their stay.
Following that was a week of much
warmer weather, the register being "a
degrees above zero. New Years day,
1905, the mercury rose to "a degrees
above zero, and some rain fell and the
northwest winds alternated with the
s%outherly, just as now, to bring sharp
freezes and moderate days. January 9th
and 10th gave a cold wave, touching 40
degrees below, and a whole week was
much the same. Those in North Dakota
these times can recall similar changes.
Then, as now, northwest winds brought
the cold, southeast ones warmer days'
Use Our Ice. D
Bismarck is just at present, as usual,
enjoying pretty fair health within it's
limits, thank you. Down in Fargo and
Grand Forks, however, people are not
so lucky, and in the latter city a serious
epidemic is raging. Pure drinking water
is n thing which is necessary to the
maintenance of good health in any COM
munity, and that Bismarck has. DR..
Capehart of Fargo, suggests in an article
in the Forum, q means of securing good
water to the people there. He y "An
imnortonf oonifovu rooor.,o c-...l