Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-05-28

on it. The main expedition never
reached a point higher up the river
than Council Bluffs. in Iowa. One
hundred soldiers died of sclIrvy. and
hundreds more suffered severely from
The disease. Criminal incompetence on
the part Of the military authorities
brought the project to a disgraceful
and tragic end.
The curious steam craft mentioned
above. built to resemble a water non
ster with Il view to frightening the
Indians. was named the Western En-
gineer, and is said TO have been the
first stern-wheel steamboat ever built.
1t was seventy-five feet long. thirteen
feet beam and drew nineteen inches of
water. In a sense it was typical of
the childishness and folly with which
the whole enterprise was managed.
Congress Probes Contract
II was well known at the time that
keel boat transportation up the Mis-
souri, was the practical method of
transport for a big party of men. It
was known that with these boats the
march to the mouth of the Yellowstone
could be made in q single season with
ease. Rur the officials at st. Louis
felt that so great an enterprise must
be conducted with becoming state.
Steamboats, only were appropriate to
the occasion. They therefore con
tracted with one Colonel James John
son. without competition on his part,
TO build five steamboats, at an exorbit-
ant price. He built them. but three
were entirely unable to enter the Mis-
souri, because Of deep draft. while the
other two got only as far as Cow
Island. barely out of the confines of
the present state of Missouri. return
ing to st. Louis the following spring.
The affair was so scandalous that con-
gress investigated it the next year.
Colonel Johnson. it was reported. was
paid $685. 900 for his wholly inadequate
vessels.
As soon as the expedition set out it
became evident that the management
was hODpleSslv weak. The whole sum
rner was spent on the lower river and
the farthest point reached was Council
Bluffs. where IL camp for the winter
was established. This was swept by
disease and death. The military part
of the expedition was in command of
Colonel Henry Atkinson, an excellent
officer. who was hampered in every
thing he tried to do by his srprriors
and by civilian interference. Major
Stephen II. Long had charge Of the
SClpntlflt part OF the pIoltti, HdNiIs
under him biologists. biologists. natur-
alists. artists and topographers. Re
ports of the wild extravaganza and
hopeless Encouragement OF the excur-
sion So disousted congress- that it was
broken up in the spring Of 1920. Ma
ior Long. with two junior officers,
seven enlisted men and seven civilians,
was ordered to go to the source of the
Platte river. which they did.
Buffalo Range Only
The only definite accomplishment of
this expedition was the scaling Of
Pixies Peak, for the first time, by
three of the party. Another towering
mountain peak was named after Major
Long, and it forms one of the cOnspicu-
Gus landmarks of Colorado scenery
that tourists see annually today. Little
of geographical Importance was
learned.
As if the accomplishments of the
Yellowstone expedition were not suffi-
GENTLY disappointing, Major Long made
an entirely misleading report on the
prospective value to the nation of the
great western region, whi6a has de-