Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1900-04-26
The Northern Pacific Publishes an
Interesting and Elegant
Book.
Concerning the Great Region Known
As the New North
West.
Historical Sketch of the Lewis and
Clark Expedition. The First
White Pioneers.

The publication of Wonderland, for
1900, is the most ambitious and credlt:.
able effort the Northern Pacific has
made in it's literary ventures. The
book contains over 127 beautifully il
lustrated pages, crowded with histor-
ical and descriptive matter of special
interest to the people of the northwest
and to those who take journey over
the railway which runs through the
great region truly called the "Wonder-
land"
Today it is the home of a thirty
ing civilization and-a vigorous popula-
tion, and toread the story of the Lew
is g. Clark expedition, made less than
100 years ago, through the same re-
gion, inhabited only by wild animals
and wild Indians, makes the change
seem the delineation Of fiction; rather
than facts.
The greater portion of the 1900 Won
derland is given over to the historical
and descriptive account OF the Lewis
& Clark explorations of the northwest,
in 1S04-1S06.
Thomas Jefferson, the third presl-
dent took a special interest in this
expedition and, in accord with his
great character as a man who desired
the welfare of all the people and the
spread of human knowledge, he fos-
tered the plan of the expedition ana
gave Captain Lewis a letter OF credit
to all concerned and the government
paid the cost of outhtting, the estl-
mate of which was $500. AT the
time President Jefferson authorized
the expedition, the country to be tray
ersed was possession Of France. Ma
poleon. in orderto prevent Great Brit
ain getting possession of it, almost
gave it to the United States, and AFTER
the expedition had started the LOU
isiana purchase" became part OF the
new republic. 1t is larger in area than
Great Britain, France, Spain, Portu-
gal. Germany and Italy combned.And
it's natural characteristics are such
that the people born and bred in this
region, may some day play the most
important part in preserving the I'D
critics and institutions OF the great re-
public from the imperial designs OF
the old world monarchies which was
the actuating motive with Napoleon
when he thrust the vast country on
the young nation for small compen-
satiOn.
The Northern Pacific railway has
done it's patrons and the public a great
service in collating and putting IN
such accessible form the history of the
Lewis & Clark explorations. The de-
tails of that noteworthy event can
never lose interest to those who have
visited some of the historic places.
The expedition ascended the Missouri
river from it's mouth, through a Will
derness given over to fur traders, TO
the buffalo and other wild beasts, and
to Indians whose disposition and in
tents were always uncertain. OCTOBER
q, 1904, the little party OF some az
men in three bOatS-One large Datteau
and two smaller boats-passed the
mouth of the Heart River near where
Mandan and Bismarck now stand and
came to landing for the winter
about 60 miles north, at F't. Mandan,
near the Knife River where they built
a fort of logs. The records of the eX
pcdition mention the "bluff OF coal'
there to be seen. There were then a
number of Mandan Indian villages
near by the fort. Two years later,
when returning from the Pacific ocean
the stakes of the Fort were alone
to be seen. In April, 1905, the expedi-
tion again started up the Missouri to
traverse wilds never visited by white
men. Ten of the party returned to
St, Louis in the batteau, with speci-
mems and curios collected during the
winter. On April Ii, the journal OF
the expedition reports seeing large
tiocks OF swans and geese and that the
latter nested in the tops of trees.
After leaving the Nandans the ex-
plorers, although in Indian country
never saw an Indian until they reach
ed the Continental Divide near the
headwaters Of the Columbia river.
April 26 the Yellowstone river was
passed, and on June 16, Great Falls OF
the Missouri reached. To cure the
,<o, Oor< Toxyis in absence Of