The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-02-14

April, 1906, Bird Woman set her small
moccasiond feet In one Of the six ca
noes that were pushed out on the tur-
bid waters Of the Missouri. Two fiat
boats followed. Sails were hoisted,
flags unfurled, salutes fired. The In
dams and voyagers and trappers on
the bank cheered as the little banks
glided away on the muddy current.
Fow believed the brave explorers
would ever come back. But Bird
Woman's eyes were bright with hope.
She looked eagerly toward the setting
sun. She had set out on her long
flight homeward.
Now, as night came on she rested
In the canoe as q mother bird in q
swinging nest, and crooned to the
chubby, brown baby, who knew not
that he was to figure in the history
Of a great exploration that was to
open up an empire to the white man.
Within week the party had passed
the Little Missouri and reached the
Yellowstone river. Already they were
climbing the long slope toward the
mountains. Day by day the river mar
rowed and grew swifter. The men
could no longer row and the boats had
to be lowed, the pen and horses walk
ing at the base of steep banks. Hunt
ers constantly foraged for game. The
first mountain bears were seen, and
Bird Woman told the plainsmen the
tricks of mountain hunters in getting
bears, antelopes and highorns.
The Industrious and skilled little
!. woman made and mended moccasins
all day long, for the rocks and cactus
plants were out foot covering rapidly.
Breathing became difficult to every
one but Observation-Disclosures girl whose
feet grew lighter as she ascended
Late in May. from a cliff to which she
led him, Captain Lewis got his first
glimpse of the Rockies. the snow peaks
dazzling in the sunshine. ~
Now the water became still swifter,
plunging down in dangerous rapids be-
tween sheer walls of rock. Then
came a burst of glory above the plains.
1t was the Great Falls-a plume of
spray eighty feet high between lofty
cliffs. The boats had to be carried
around these falls for distance of
twenty miles. Bird Woman te1d how
to make the carriages, with wheels of
cross sections of cottonwood trees, on
which the boats were set. Trappers
from Canada had taught the mountain
tribes how, to make them.
Here were buffaloes. bears, antelope,
bighorn sheep. Bird Woman knew
how to open gopher holes and find the
wild artichokes that were as good as
Potatoes. She warned them not to
drink the water of alkaline springs.
She found goose eggs in the tree nests,
currents and service berries. She
made ointment for sore feet and for
mosquito -bites-mad everyone COM
Portable with her feminine ingenuity,
Through the Gates Of the West.
And then on July Is she became
guide as we'll as counselor and friend
to the party. They had entered the
gates Of the Rockies and reached the
three forks of the Missouri. At the
meeting of the waters her eyes lit up
with recognition and she led the way
up the South Fork over the old Sho-
shone trail to the mountain pass.
Bird Woman now went on ahead
with her husband and Captain Clark
to find horses, since the boats were NO
longer of any. use. Straight as a bird
flies she made for the old home of the
Snake Indians. One day in the middle
of August she saw several Indians on
ponier. She stopped, gasped a little
with delight, then began dancing run
forward toward the tepees of vil7
lage hidden By spur. s
When the others came up with her
she was embracing the Indian women
and children. In the chief, Cameah-
wait, she found her own brother.
New guides were found now who knew
The way to the great Sea Water, and
Bird Woman and her French husband
remained for the inter. guests Of her
tribe. Z, .5,s, g .,.,,,s 4
/ The next summer. they returned
with Clark and Lewis to the Dakotas.
TIE Expisrer's Trih.te.
He left Der and her husband behind
with regret. but was glad y he could
give them $500, q large sum in: those
days out, ON the plains. It made them
rich In ponies. and horses. and built
them 4 comfortable cabin. Bird Wom-.
an! refused to let her celebrated baby
60 to WASHINGTON to be, educated, say
ing: 81. 1. M