Laurel outlook., 1945-09-12

CLAhA
The Great American Odyssey
A Condensed Story of
the Historic EXpedi-
ton of 1S04-6.
Copyright 1915, Walter Meacham)
CHAPTER 16
Captain Lewis Has Scrap With
Minatarees.
After leaving the main party,
Captain Lewis and his men proceed
ed north, passing the present Mis-
soula, Mont, on Hellgate river, now
Clark's Fork. Here they staged the
second Fourth of July observance
in the state of Montana. Their
route led up the Big Blackfoot river,
called by the Indians Caka-lah-ish-
kit driver of the Road to the Buff
falo). They followed up this river
northeast and, on July 7, 1906, pass
ed over the Rockies through an
early pass (Lewis and Clark pass
and on to the headwaters of the
Dearborn river, a tributary of the
Missouri. Continuing northeast,
they camped that night on the
Medicine (Sun) river. The Mis-
souri, was reached on July II and
was crossed the following day,
where camp was made at White
Bear islands.
After several days spent around
the Great Falls, Captain Lewis,
with Drewyer, Reuben and Joseph
Fields, three of his most depend
able men, cut across country and
crossed the Tansey (Teton) river,
reaching Maria's river on July IS.
The northern limits of the river
were reached four days later. After
they had turned and were headed
south, they ran onto a party Of
eight Minartarees. This was a very
unwelcome surprise, but the men
made the best of it, camping with
the Indians that night.
Early in the morning the savages
tried to steal the white mems guns
and ran off their horses. 1t was a
desperate situation and required
drastic action. Reuben Fields stab
bed one Indian to the heart and
Captain Lewis sshot and killed
another.
A shot fired by the stricken Indi-
an grazed Captain Lewis heat
This was their first and only fight
with the Indians. In their hurry
to get away, the natives left sew
eral horses, a gun and some bows
and arrows. They were probably
as anxious to get away from the
locality as Captain Lewis was.
Lewis lost no time in departing
from the scene, for he feared that
the Indians would soon be on his
trail with a large number of var
riors bent on avenging the deaths
of their comrades. Lewis rode with
little rest to the mouth of Maria's
river, where, to his joy, he found
Sergeants Gass and Ordway and
their men. They then built canoes
and proceeded down the river to
meet Captain Clark's party at the !,
mouth of the Yellowstone. On !,
Aug. IL Captain Lewis was shot
accidently in the left thigh by
Cruzatte, while out hunting. Cruz
ate had but one eye and that was
not a very reliable one. The wound
was serious enough to lay the cap
tain up for some time.
After Captain Lewis had depart
ed on his mission, Captain Clark
and his party, with so horses, fol-
lowed up the west bank of the Bit
t%erroot, past the sites of future
Florence, Victor, Hamilton and OAR
by. He crossed the west fork above
Conner, thence to and across the
east fork of the Bitterroot. Null
tiple crossings of streams were
often difficult and the baggage was
frequently wet. They did not for
get the Fourth of July, but had no
means of celebrating it.
A Flathead trail was followed up
a gentle slope across the Rockies.
On July 8 the forks of the Jeffer-
were reached, near the present
On their journey to the
vest they had made a cache here of
of their goods. The men Gag
erly uncovered it in search of chew
ing tobacco, a luxury, or was it a J
necessity, they had been deprived of
it for some time. Five days later {
they were at the three forks of the S
Missouri. There Sergeant Ordway C
and nine men took to the canoes n
and started down the Missouri to
meet Captain Lewis at the Great v
Falls. S
Captain Clark and party, now re- v
iuced to 10, proceeded eastward and
on the future site of Logan. e
Following a buffalo road, they pass n
ed through an easy gap in the
mountains (Bozeman pass) between t
he Yellowstone and Gallatin rivers. n
The route passed the future site of v