N3828

Lewis & Clark Expedition - Bicentennial

Fred's Anecdotal Note

Great Falls Portage/July 4, 1805

On June 13, 1805 Lewis wrote, "My ears were saluted with the agreeable sound of a fall of water...I saw the spralt arise above the plain like a column of smoke...a roaring too tremendious to be mistaken for any cause short of the Great Falls of the Missouri". He called them "the grandest sight I ever beheld." The next morning he discovered a second falls and then three more. The Indians had told of one waterfall - not five. The portage would now be about 18 miles over rough terrain. The men made wagons to carry the supplies and canoes. Wheels were sawed from a cottonwood tree with a 22-inch diameter. The grueling portage began on June 22nd at sunrise. The men pushed and pulled. Prickly pear cactus. Numerous breakdowns. Large hail. Hot sun. Cold rain. It took twelve brutal days to complete the portage, and Clark wrote. "...no  man complains all go cheerfully on."

July 4, 1805 was a work day as the Corps made ready to move on. That night, in celebration, the captains gave the men the last of the whiskey. It was noted in the journal that "some of them appeared a little sensible of it's effects." Private George Gibson had his violin out, and the men danced "very merrily." Private Hugh Hail from Pennsylvania liked to drink, and Clark called him one of the more "adventuresome " of the men. Private Jean Baptiste La Page, a French Canadian, was an experienced woodsman. Together they high-stepped to Gibson's fiddle until a 9 p.m. thunderstorm forced everyone into shelter. With the portage over and the whiskey working, the men "continued their mirth with songs and festive jokes and were extremely merry until late at night,"

The captains dined well on "beans and buffaloe beaf" and noted that "we had no just cause to covet the sumptuous feasts of our countrymen on this day." Havng observed the nation's 29yh Birthday in high spirits, the Corps of Discovery would awaken at dawn and continue wisward.