Page:A History of the Pacific Northwest.djvu/78

 a Highway to the Pacific 55

ports concerning the iVmcrican party which was on its way to the Pacific.

Up the Missouri again. The Yellowstone. In March the thaw came, and soon the Missouri was once more free of ice. On the 7th of April, after starting the keel boat down the river, the eager travellers proceeded on their way rejoicing in the expectation of soon beholding the River of the West, and the great ocean which was the object of their search. Before the month closed they passed the mouth of the Yellowstone, where the plains were "animated by vast herds of buffalo, deer, elk, and antelope," usually so tame that they allowed the hunter to come very near them, " and often followed him quietly for some distance." Beaver, too, were especially abundant here. From Indian travellers Lewis obtained a good account of the Yellowstone, and the country through which it flows. Near its confluence with the Missouri was "a situation highly eligible for a trading establishment."

The grizzly bear. Other terrors. One form of game found in this region was rather tamer than the explorers desired it to be, the grizzly bears, with which they had many thrilling encounters. On one occasion, when he had just discharged his rifle at a buffalo. Captain Lewis discovered one of these terrible animals rushing furiously toward him, with jaws distended, ready to tear him in pieces. There were no trees at hand, and the captain had barely time to reach the river bank and leap into the water, when he was able