The Pioneer Boys of the Columbia; or, In the Wilderness of the Great Northwest

by St. George Rathborne

  NOTES

  NOTE 1 (PAGE 5)

  When the vast territory then known as Louisiana was purchased from theFrench Nation for fifteen million dollars, in the nineteenth century,no one knew what its extent was. It took in the country west of theMississippi, from the Gulf below New Orleans; but what really lay tothe far northwest was merely a conjecture.

  President Jefferson was determined to know just what was included inthis Louisiana Purchase, and it was mainly through his individualefforts that an expedition was organized with the purpose of exploringthe country as far as the Pacific; for, of course, it was understoodthat the ocean bounded the land on the west.

  His private secretary, Meriwether Lewis, was put in command of theparty, with a military second, Captain Clark. What wonderful thingsthey accomplished history has recorded. It was in the spring of 1804that the expedition left St. Louis, and two years and a half expiredbefore they returned to that border post, having successfully carriedout their undertaking.

  NOTE 2 (PAGE 22)

  In those early pioneer days flint and steel were commonly broughtinto service when a fire was needed. So expert did the settlers andborderers become in the use of these that they thought little more ofaccomplishing the end they had in view than a Boy Scout of to-day doeswith the match. All they asked was a handful of dry tinder, and theready spark quickly had a blaze going.

  It was not so easy when the question of firing their guns wasconcerned. The flint was fastened to the heavy hammer, and, in falling,was supposed to strike the steel plate provided for this purpose, whena spark might be looked for. This, falling into the powder placed inthe little cavity known as the "pan," brought about the explosion.But, frequently, this small amount of powder would be jostled from itsreceptacle, and this would cause a failure at perhaps a most criticaltime. Many a settler in those days lost his life by just this accident;and frequent disappointments during a hunt for game could be traced tothe same cause.

  NOTE 3 (PAGE 44)

  Contact with the natives made the early settlers quite proficient indeciphering Indian picture writing, so they were able to read fairlywell many communications passing between parties of those who possiblymight be reckoned their deadly enemies. This method of using crudedesigns to convey the sense of a communication, or even the historyof a tribe or family, was often carried out by fanciful picturesdecorating the skin of which the teepee was made. In such fashionmany of the gallant deeds of the chief or warrior to whom the wigwambelonged were perpetuated.

  Really, little common sense alone is needed to decipher most of thesepicture writings. Once the key had been found, they become as plain asprint. Smoke stands for fires; the sun is easily seen on the horizon,or high above it, though toward the west, it may be; horses; deer withantlers; men walking, running, or crawling; and similar designs becomeplainly decipherable; and in this manner the story that is intended tobe conveyed can be traced out.

  It is an interesting study, and many who belong to Boy Scout troopshave found considerable entertainment in pursuing the fascinating work.

  NOTE 4 (PAGE 50)

  Among all the Indian tribes found upon the North American Continentwhen the pioneers surged toward the setting sun, none has interestedthe historian so much as the Mandans, sometimes called the "WhiteIndians," because their skins differed so much from that of othertribes. All sorts of wild theories have been offered as an explanationof the wide difference existing between this tribe and others. It istrue that they buried their dead as did the rest of the tribes westof the Mississippi, using scaffolds that the wolves might not get tothe bodies; and there were many other habits that stamped them trueIndians. At the same time historians, who had lived among them, find asimilarity in many of their words and customs to the Welsh people; andit has always been believed by many that, long ago, a boat containingWelsh sailors was wrecked in the Gulf of Mexico after a tropicalhurricane, and that, ascending the mighty river, the whites marriedinto some Indian tribe, so that eventually the Mandans came intoexistence.

  There have been other speculations, and it is very interesting toread about these various theories, and try to guess which one of themcan be the true explanation; for that there must have been somethingremarkable about the origin of this tribe no one can deny. They werenot as warlike as some of the tribes with whom they came in contact,such as the fierce Sioux; but at the same time it appears that theyheld their own in the numerous wars which followed an invasion by onetribe upon the hunting grounds of another.

  Unfortunately the Mandans were utterly wiped out in later years by thegreat scourge of smallpox, which possibly may have been one of theunwelcome gifts brought to them by the palefaces.

  NOTE 5 (PAGE 64)

  In crossing the great plains that lie between the valley of theMississippi and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, it is in thesedays difficult to realize the tremendous changes that have taken placethere during the last fifty or sixty years. Especially is this truewith regard to animal life. Where to-day herds of long-horned cattlegraze, or vast fields of nodding grain tell of the prosperous farmer,in those times uncounted numbers of great shaggy bison roamed.

  According to many of the accounts that have come down to us fromauthentic sources, the sight of such a herd rolling past, as far asthe eye could see, and for hour after hour, must have been a mostimpressive spectacle.

  Where have they all gone? Up to then the needs of the Indians and thedepredations of wild animals had made no impression on the incrediblenumber of the herds; although the red men often drove hundreds of thebig animals over some precipice, and took nothing but the tongues, tobe dried as a delicacy.

  The first serious inroad among the buffaloes occurred when the railroadwas being pushed across the plains, and men like Cody, afterwards knownas Buffalo Bill, were employed to slaughter the beasts in order toprovide sufficient food for the thousands of workers. Then it beganto be the thing for parties to set out and kill for the sake of theslaughter. The robes were also brought into use for sleighing and otherpurposes. But the advent of the repeating rifle signed the real deathwarrant for the bison of the plains. Then they rapidly dwindled toalmost nothing. In place of the millions that once galloped north andsouth in the seasons there are to-day but one or two small herds, inthe National Yellowstone Park or in private preserves. Like the oncenumerous wild pigeons called the passenger pigeons which existed inuntold numbers, the buffaloes have had their day.

  NOTE 6 (PAGE 194)

  In the cabin of every pioneer family could always be seen rows ofdried herbs fastened to the rafters. These as a rule were intended formedicinal purposes, most of them being brewed into tea, when sicknessinvaded the household, which was not often, since the active outdoorlife, and the primitive food of the early settlers, made them anexceedingly hardy race.

  Most housewives knew how to make ointments for sprains and healing bya clever admixture of these strong decoctions with bear's fat, or, ifthey chanced to have it, pork lard, though in most cases pigs wereunknown to frontier life, while a bear was always a possibility.

  Many of those old remedies were fully as satisfactory as those of themodern druggist. They were pure, to begin with, and calculated not toserve as "cure-alls," but each intended for a specific purpose. Indeed,it would seem as if in those days they counted on Nature's takinghold and lending a helping hand. A simple remedy to break a fever wasresorted to, and then careful nursing, as well as a good constitution,did the rest.

  Before the Armstrong boys set out upon their trip it was only naturalfor their mothers to see that in their ditty bags they carried a supplyof several of these standard remedies.

  NOTE 7 (PAGE 233)

  From the accounts that have been handed down to us, written by CaptainLewis himself, it appears that the explorers were awed and inspired bythe wonderful scenery that lay before them on their way to the GreatDivide. Rugged mountains were there, brown, steep, hemlock-clad. Deepgame trails led through the tangled meshes of the forest, and in thesparkling rivulets the trout
jumped at the floating gnats and otherinsects. Gorges and canyons had to be passed, where the howling watersraced in an apparent agony, and flute-like came the sound of thesnow-cold water against the pebbly bottoms.

  At night the scream of the mountain lion echoed across the silentvalleys, while the bleat of the antelope could be heard upon the vastplains near the river-bed. Eagles soared above, peering disdainfully atthe black specks of men beneath; and sage hens craned their necks atthem, when they tramped from the river in search of game. Over all wasthe clear, pure air of that vast mountain plateau, which invigorates,stimulates, and makes one feel as if he had the strength of ten.Inspired and stimulated by the thought that they were making history,it is no wonder those men pressed steadily on, determined to view thegray waters of the fog-sheeted Pacific in the end.

  NOTE 8 (PAGE 268)

  One of the first things noticed by the members of the expedition,when they began to encounter the tribes living near the Rockies,was the fact that every warrior or chief who was looked up to as abrave man wore a necklace of terrible bears' claws. This proved thatthe possessor had by his own individual prowess, and usually in anencounter at close quarters, succeeded in slaying one of those monsterdenizens of the wilds, afterwards known as grizzly bears.

  There can be no doubt that this beast is by all odds the most savageand dreaded wild animal of the Western World. Indeed, there are thosewho say they would much rather meet a lion or a tiger in its nativecountry than the grizzly bear. When an Indian, with his primitiveweapons, and at the risk of his life, was able to take those claws, andstring them about his neck, none could dispute his right to the titleof a valiant man.

  Those who have hunted big game under every sun are frank enough to saythat if a grizzly bear could climb a tree like a panther, and get overground as fast as a lion, he would stand without a peer as the mostfeared game to be found. In these modern days of the repeating rifle oflarge bore, and the exploding bullet, it is not very difficult to killthe monster; but every one who has seen a grizzly bear in his nativehaunts is willing to hold in honor those red hunters of the earlytimes, who, armed only with hatchet and knife, deliberately sought anencounter, bent on proving their right to the name of warrior.

  NOTE 9 (PAGE 300)

  The Indians took toll of the big silver-sided salmon as they made theirway up the Columbia to spawn. They used as a rule a primitive fishspear with which they were very expert.

  There were always salmon to be found at the foot of the fall, or inshallow creeks that emptied into the big river, but, when the springfinally came, the fish would pass in from the sea in multitudes beyondreckoning, all eager to get up to the shallow waters where they couldspawn.

  Eye witnesses of undoubted veracity have described the scene where, inplaces, the multitude of these big fish was so great that they filledthe stream with a solid mass.

  Of course those days are past. In these times, when numerous canneriesare operating along the river, and millions of tins of fish are putup every season, it could hardly be expected that the supply wouldcontinue in unlimited quantities. Though as yet there has been noserious inroad made, thanks to the action of the Federal Government,and the work of the active Fish Commissioners, who see to it thatthe fish wheels, by means of which catches are made, are regulatedaccording to law. Still the sight of the untold numbers that greetedthe eyes of the explorers on that early spring of 1806 has passedforever.

  NOTE 10 (PAGE 305)

  The fear sometimes felt by the explorers that the Indians were usingpoisoned arrows was not unfounded, since it was well known that some ofthe tribes resorted to this fiendish practice, with the flint-tippedweapons intended for war purposes.

  Their usual way of making the arrows deadly was to find a healthylooking rattlesnake, and provoke him by thrusts from a long stick. Whenthe reptile had become sufficiently furious, and was lunging madly, apiece of raw meat would be fastened to the end of the pole, and this hewas coaxed to strike again and again, until it was well saturated withthe green virus from his fangs.

  When this infected meat had become a mass of poison, arrows were dippedin it, and allowed to dry. Once these entered the flesh of an enemy, asa rule his death was certain. Of course an entirely different lot ofarrows would be used for hunting purposes, the deadly sort being keptonly for war.

  History however does not record many deaths from this source, soit must be taken for granted that, as a rule, the Indians dislikedresorting to such a severe measure of defense. Possibly it did notappeal to them as exactly fair, and they were more than ready tomeasure their tomahawks and knives and spears, as well as theirordinary arrows, against the guns owned by the white men. Certainly noone of the Lewis and Clark party suffered from poisoned arrows duringthe long journey across the western country.

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