The mirror., 1923-12-13

OEcdklnS HIS SHouiucI3 IctdiuCu Ills uoIou
for moment; but before they could re-
load he was so near that they were obliged
to run to the river, and before they
reached it he had almost overtaken them.
Two jumped into the canoe; the other
four separated and, concealing themselves
in the willows, fired as fast as each could
reload. :. The bear was within few
feet of the hindmost when. one of the
hunters on shore shot him in the head
and finally killed him. They dragged
him to the shore and found that eight
balls had passed through him in different
directions"
Indians were everywhere. Upon them
the explorers often depended for shelter,
food and guides. Lewis and Clark were
greatly aided by Sacajawea, wife of a
French trapper; for she was able to guide
them to her own tribe to the west of the
Rockies; but Lewis on his way back was
obliged to attack and kill two of the
Blackfeet, and that act sowed enmity with
them that lasted for many years. The
Blackfeet were the bravest and cruelest
of the Northwestern Indians, as many a
poor trapper learned to his cost. In the
Southwest the Comanches were the most
dreaded. On the Missouri River the
Aricaris, who have long since disappeared,
did not hesitate to attack the armed boats.
In dim way the Indians understood that
after the explorers had passed settlers
would come and stay, and that the poor
Indian would be pushed to destruction.
Everybody noticed their romantic names,
often taken from the first object that met
the eyes of the father of the newborn
babe; for example: Beautiful Bird, Rain
that Walks, Big Horse, Half Man, Hit by
Pawnee and Tuttasuggy, which means
wind. The wild Indians, who had never
seen white people before, were much
amazed at their white skins and still more
amazed at the negroes, who occasionally
were members of exploring parties and
whom the Indians supposed to be painted
that dark tint. All the explorers became
acquainted with the sign language, which
was used among the tribes that could not
understand one another's words.
To reach the farthest West the explorers
naturally followed the rivers, which were
liquid roads, up into the high mountains.
Hence the narratives are full of the Incl
dents of boat travel on the Missouri, the
Columbia, the Platte, the Arkansas and
the Yellowstone. On the Missouri the
standard craft was the keel boat, as much
as seventy-fve feet long and eighteen feet
beam. They used sails when they could,
but depended on polling or towing the
boats with the "cordelle," or towrope.
Another craft, but leaky and uncertain
one, was the "bull boat" made of buffalo
hide stretched on framework of poles.
Travellers also built canoes made of planks
or tree trunks; the birch-bark canoe was
not used in the Northwest.
after 1920 steamboats, ran up the Mis-
souri, River to Fort Benton, not far from
the continental divide; but they found it
hard work to get over the bars and avoid
the concealed snags and sawyers-trees or
trunks of trees under water that might
punch a hole in the hull. The Platte
River was the despair of the explorers
"a thousand miles long and six inches
deep" they called it; and it was hard
work to navigate the Usage and the Kan
sas and the upper Arkansas.
A large part of the journeys had to be
made by land, and explorers depended on
riding horses and pack animals; for west
of the Missouri the country abounded in
wild horses. 1t was an art to pack loads
on horses so that they should stand the
hard and rocky roads. BY 1880 wagons
drawn by horses mules or oxen were used,
and with their round canvas tops they
resembled the Conestopa wagons used in
the Appalachian Mountains. The great