Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/185



ground them to atoms. The channel and shores were daily changing.

The progress of the party was slow as the men toiled at the oars through the day and went into camp at night in the dense forests along the shores. It was the 8th of July when they reached the mouth of the Nodaway River which they found navigable for several miles. As they passed up along the west shore of Iowa they describe the country as a vast prairie, the great valley of the Missouri broadening out on the Iowa side into immense meadows, many miles in width, and level as a floor, covered with a dense growth of tall waving grass. Beyond could be seen a high range of steep bluffs, often treeless, broken into sharp points and deep ravines. Roaming over the prairies were large herds of buffalo, elk and deer. Their record says:

“The greatest river merging its waters with the Missouri from the west is the Platte, which rises among the mountains of the great Rocky or Snowy Range in about longitude 112'. It winds through the Great American Desert to its union with the Missouri. Its sources are on the Spanish frontier not far distant from those of the Rio del Norte, which traverses the kingdom of New Mexico and empties into the Gulf of Florida. It is six hundred yards wide at its mouth, and is not more than six feet in depth, and from its rapidity and the great volume of sand it carries down, it is not navigable for boats larger than Indian canoes.”

On the 22d of July the explorers camped on the east shore of the river ten miles above the mouth of the Platte to hold an interview with the Indians. The commanders had determined to cultivate the friendship of all Indian tribes they should meet on their journey through an unknown country and far beyond the reach of aid in any danger they might encounter. The regions they were to explore were known to be peopled with some of the most powerful and warlike Indian nations of America. It was realized that the success and safety of the little company of but forty-five must depend upon the establishment of friendly relations with the natives.

President Jefferson fully realized the perils likely to be