Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-03-31
PIONEER TRIP IN BATEAUX
.a TOOK TWENTY-FIVE DAYS

Lewis and Clark were the first
white men to navigate the Snake
river in Washington. and after them
the fur traders, but Thomas j.
Beall, a veteran of the regular army,
who was with Steptoe as .packmas-
ter when that officers little column
Of one hundred men narrowly es-
capped total humiliation at the hands
of 1000 Infatuated Indians, who
hemmed them into the little valley
of Pine Creek, believes that he was
the first white man TO attempt its
navigation after the fur traders had
had their day. says the Spokesman
Review.
In July, 1860, Mr.. Beall was en-
gagged by the Indian agent for the
Nez Perces at Lapwai to take charge
of two bateaux at old Fort Walla
Walla, on the Columbia, load them
with supplies and work them against
the current up the Columbia to the
Snake, up the Snake to the Clear
water and up the Clearwater to the
agency. He had for crew eighteen
Nez Perces Indians and an inter
prefer.
I'VE launched the bateauX," writes
MIR. Beall. "They were 81 feet long,
pointed at each end, about seven
feet beam. There was a mast and a
square or lug sail in each, together
! with eight sets of oars TO be used in
crossing and recrossing the river in
| case there was no wind to use the
SAIL
The two boats carried fourteen
/ tons OF supplies. and the laborious
| voyage from old Walla Walla to
Lapwai consumed twenty-five days.
II told these Indians that some day
/ they would see a steamboat (Ollo-
| heinli-esh) on this river. and they
asked Inc what that was, as they
had never seen one" said Mr.. Beall.
II told them what it was and about
how big it would be, and how ii was
! exclaimed "Mu-shan-m me" (you are a
| liar)
well, sure enough, the little
steamer Colonel Wright, under COM
! mand of Lem White and our veteran
| steamboat captain, Eph. Baughman
pilot and mate, assembled the Snake
river in May, 1861. They told me
that when they came to the vicinity
of Indian villages on the river they
would blow the whistle an3 all the
Indian men, squaws and Nchildrer
would break for the high country"
Discovery of gold in the Clear
| water region was the magnet that
drew this pioneer little steamboat
! into the very mountain heart oi
Idaho. On her first voyage, the
Wright worked her way to within a
few miles of the forks OF the Clear
! list itanltA 10
goldseekers, Adventures, professional
men seeking a new and inviting field
of trade, packers, gamblers and non
descripts. An adventurous merchant
! named Slater was aboard with q
small stock OF merchandise. and when
the Wright could go no further he
/ and his goods were put ashore and
with prompt enterprise he started a
town in the wilderness ard named IL
4 Statewide.
On the second trip of the Wright,
/ Captain White stopped at the mouth
! of the Clearwater, but messenger
| from Slater asked him to come on to
I Statewide and take his outfit. as he
/ had decided TO establish his store at
the confluence OF the Snake and the
! Clearwater. The trip was made in
! safety, and Slater opened the first
mercantile establishment in what is
now the very substantial and pros
1 porous city of Lewistown.
First and last these swift rivers
have been a strong factor in the coun-
/ try's settlement and the development
of it's industries. As a means of ac-
cess to the interior those pioneer
tsteamboats would now seem a crude
and tedious method of transportation;
but in their day they We're looked
] upon as the acme Of slRedy and lux