The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-06-19
RECALLING LEWIS AND CLARK

In placing markers on the trail
| followed by Lewis and Clark
around the rapids, of the Missouri
River in the neighiborbood Of Great
Falls, Mont, the people of that
| region are paying tribute to one
OF the greatest adventures In
American history. What Great
Falls has done should be done all
along the line Of the explorers
march, so that those who come af-
ter may be reminded of the men
who blazed the first trail. Fortu
nately, a full and detailed account
OF their route is to be found in al
most any good library. for the
journals of Lewis and Clark are
beginning to receive the attention
which they deserve. Not that the
volumes possess unusual literary
merit. Clark appears to have been
a matter-of-fact writer, recording
little more than bare observations.
whereas Lewis was given to
elaborate descriptions Of scenery
and adventures, more interesting
for their information than for the
manner Of telling. Yet the record
which these two men left makes
most stories of the wild West
seem "stale, fiat and unprofitable.'
The volumes may be opened almost
anywhere at random and are Ger
tain to yield material Of interest.
Lewis's entry for June Ia, 1905,
for example, tells how he set forth
on foot to examine the rapids of
the Missouri and was enchanted
to come upon a great falls, and
above it long cataract. From a
reighboring hill he was able to
look out over a vast plain stretch
ing to the foothills. On it roamed
great herds of buffalOes. Near by
the Missouri spread out into "a
smooth, even and unruffled sheet
Of water of nearly mile in width
bearing on it's watry bosOme vast
fOcks of geese which feed at pleas
ure in the delightful pasture on
either border" Near by he shot a
buffalo. and had hardly discharged
his gun when a Large white or
rather brown" bear crept up on him
and started to charge him. He
had not time to load, and the near
est tree was 300 yards away He
started to run, was followed by the
bear, and SO decided to take to the
water, where he and the bear
stopped to look at each other.
whereupon the latter turned tail
and fled.
In the afternoon, while returning
| to camp. he spied an animal that at
first he took for a wolf; but as he
approached, it Crouched like a cat
| about to spring. When he shot it.
| disappeared into burrOw. After
examining the tracks he decided it
| was "Of the tiger kind" Some
moments later he was charged by
three bull baffaloes, which, how
ever, like the bear. turned and ran
when they got near him. This
| concluded his encounters with ami
mails for the day-apparently more
| exciting than usual, for he re-
marked that they "wore the i'm
preston on my mind of inchant-
ment."
Although it is clear that Captain
Lewis had good imaginative and
descriptive powers, and that his
days record was full of adven-
lures, it is also plain that he was
not a naturalist even by accident.
To him animals represented adven-
lures rather than specimens.
Otherwise he would not have been
content to describe a bear as
white or brown" when it was
either grizzly or one of the small
er brown bears, nor would he have
pictured an animal as like wolf
or one of the cats so loosely that
his modern editor surmises it may
| have been a cOugar-mOre famil-
iarly known as mountain lion
which is practically never seen in
the plains, and is rarely found by
a burrow.
Why quarrel with him on this
score? His story is fascinating
and told with that vividness which
inheres in all true records of ad-
venture. To be sure, his spelling
is more convenient than correct.
and his use of capitals distinctly
individual II felt myself much
fortiegued," he wrote at the end of
his days narrative on that June IA,
119 years ago. "but eat a hearty
supper and took a good nights
rest, the weather being warm l
had left my leather over shirt and
had woarn only a yellow flannin
one" 1t is only nescessarwy to
know how many helpings of buffalo
steak he had at supper to live
with him through his entire day
New York Times.