Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-14
"GRANDEST SIGHT EVER BEI1EL.D,"
SAID CAPTAIN LEWIS OF BIG FALLS
OF MISSOURI RIVER, III YEARS AGO

1t was a June time, long age, wher
the wide plains and the virgin forests
of the great northwest were q treasure
land of unexplored beauty. waiting fol
the revealing hand that should carry
knowledge of them to the world out
side. The lure of far and new lands
is as old as time and it functioned
strongly for that crusader, Captain
Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and
Clark expedition, who with the yea!
of a scientist and the heart of the
romancer, marveled at the grandeur o.
the Great Falls of the Missouri III
years ago Tuesday.
The story of this discovery and that
of the finding Of the Rainbow falls
on June IA, 1905, is graphically and
fascinatingly told in the diaries Of
Lewis and Clark. But it is to the
former that Montana and the north
west owes it's biggest debt of graft
tude, and in reading this story of LONG
ago, one is grateful that it fell to the
lot of Captain Lewis to take the route
that led him to the discovery of these
natural wonders. For in the sight of
them ne saw not primarily the fame
that would be his personal reward, but
a gem of nature that would in future
years delight the eyes of man
Lewis Was Optimist
Lewis and Clark kept accurate and
careful account of their trip up the
Missouri river, but the former could
not resist the temptation to tell of
the rolling plains, the towering noun
tains, the turbulent streams, the sing
ing birds, and the flowers, that he
encountered along his way. Clark de-
votes much space to telling of the i'll
ness of his men and writes to great
length of the sickness of the Indian
woman guide, Sacajawea. Even of the
illness of Captain Lewis, he writes
more than Lewis did himself. Tumors,
toothache and felons find a place in
his narrative, which is colorless and
brief as compared with the accounts
Of Captain Lewis.
Through the medium of Lewis pen
it is an easy and a pleasant task for
one to go back to 1905 when these
intrepid explorers made their way up
the Missouri in their search for the
most direct route to the Pacific. The
residents of Great Falls and of Cas-
cade county should thrill to the pic
ture of their homeland as it is de-
scribed in Lewis journal, in which is
unfolded so humanity the story of the
JCuiuOy ibtU q hC" GUILTY.
(Which Is the Missouri"
Opening the journal at Monday. June
3. 1905. one finds the expedition camp
ed at the junction of two large riv-
ers." In fancy one can hear the dis
pute about the campfire as the all
important question. Which is the
Missouri" is argued.
Lewis gives complete descriptions of
tests that are made to determine this
issue. He tells of the thick, muddy.
boiling water of the one stream and of
the transparency of the other. For
good measure he throws in a para
graph in description Of the wide
stretching plains that end at the foot
of lofty mountains. He peoples these
plains with "innumerable herds of buff
falo. attended by their sheperds, the
wolves" The wild roses are a fea-
ture of his journal throughout, as he
to have had great delight from
them. He describes them as a forest
of blossoms, now in full bloc"
With the exception of Lewis and