Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1917-05-16

explorers. i uuNt u SOuu DidChSIuiIu.
Shields. and Bill Bratton is another
blacksmith Either can tinker gun,
II need be. Then have John Coalter,
an active. strapping chap. and the two
Fields boys. whom know to be good
men. and Charlie Floyd. Nate Pryor
and couple Of others Warner and
Whitehouse. We should get the rest
at the forts around st. Louis. want
to take my boy York along. A negro
is always good natured under hard
ship. and laugh now and then will
not hurt any of u.s.
Lewis nodded assent. ....
Your Judgment Of men is as good
us mine. VIII. But, come. it is Sep
TENDER. and the leaves are falling.
All my men have the fall hunt in their
blood They will start for any place
at any moment. Let us move. Sup
pose you take the boat on down and
let me 20 across. horseback. to Kas-
kaskia. I have some business there,
and I will try for few more recruits.
We must have fifty men,"
The day was but beginning for the
American republic. All the air was
eibrant with the passion Of youth and
romance. Yonder in the west there
might be fame and fortune for any
man with courage to adventure. The
world had not yet settled down to in
exorable grooves Of life from which no
human soul might fight its way out
save at cost of sweetness and content
and hope. The chance Of one man
might still equal that of another-yon-
der, in that vast new world along the
Mississippi, beyond the Mississippi.
more than hundred years ago.
Into that world there now pressed a
lowing, seething, restless mass, new
population seeking new avenues OF
hope and life, of adventure and oppor-
tunity. Rihemen, axmen, fighting men.
riding men, boatmen. plowmen-they
made ever out and on, laughing the
Cossack laugh at the mere thought of
any man or thing withstanding them.
There were three flags aaoat here or
there in the western country then, and
none knew what land rightly belonged
under any Of the three. Indeed. over
the heart of that region now foated all
the three banners at the same time
that of Spain, passing. but still proud.
for generation actual governor If not
actual owner~o of all the country beyond
the Mississippi so far as it had any
government at all; that of France.
owner Of the one great seaport. New
Orleans. settler Of the valley for gen
Grafton, and that Of the new republic
only just arriving into the respect OF
men either of the east or the west. a
republic which had till recently exacted
respect chiefly through the stark dead
liness of its fighting and marching men.
1t was splendid game in which
these two boys, Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark-they scarcely We're more
than boys-now were entering. And
with the superb Inconsistencies and
self trust of youth they played it with
dash and confidence. never doubling
their success.
w
the less came true. In this matter of
flags autocratic Spain was not disposed
to yield. De Lassus. Spanish comman-
dant for so many years, would not let
the young travellers golbeyond st. Lou
Is, even so far as Charette. He must
be sure that his country. which by
right or not he had ruled so long. had
not only been sold by Spain to France.
but that the cession had been duly con-
frmed, and Furthermore he must be
sure that the cession by France to the
United States had also been concluded
formally.
Traders and trappers had been pass
ing through from the plains country.
yes: but this was different matter
Here was a fotilla under third flag
1t must not pass. Spanish official dig
nifty was not thus to be shaken. not to
be hurried. All must wait until the
formalities had been concluded.
This delay meant the loss. of the en-
tire winter. The two young leaders Of
the expedition were obliged to make
the best of it they could.
Clark formed an encampment in the
timbered country across the Mississippi
from St. Louis and soon had his men
comfortably ensconced in cabins of
their own building. Meanwhile he
picked up more men around the ada
cent military posts-Ordway and How
ard and Frazer of the New England
regiment, Cruzatte, Labiche, Lajeu-
nesse. Drouillard and other voyagers
for watermen. They made hardy
and efficient band.
Upon Captain Lewis devolved most
of the scientific work of the expedition.
It was necessary for him to spend
much time In st. Louis to complete his
store of instruments, to extend his
own studies in scientific matters. Per-
haps, after all, the success Of the ex-
petition was furthered by this delay
upon the border.
Twenty-Five men they had on the
expedition rolls by spring-forty-fve
in all, counting assistants who were
not officially enrolled. Their equip
ment for the entire journey out and
back, of more than two years in dura-
ton, was to cost them not more than
$500. A tiny army, meager equip
ment, for the taking of the richest
empire Of the world!
But now this army of score and
half of men was to witness the lower
ing before it Of two Of the greatest
40 RI hn l..
ready had seen the retirement of that