Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 20.pdf/9



XX

Near the central part of Lewis county, Tennessee, in a lonely wooded spot which is rarely disturbed by any sound save the mournful dirge of the forest trees or the bark of the hunter's hounds, is an old and neglected grave. The place is marked by a marble monument, standing more than 20 feet in height, which was erected in 1848 by the state in which it is located. Centuries before the sod was turned for this grave a great Indian highway ran near by, and this, in time, became a military road known in history as the "Natchez Trace." It was here that Meriwether Lewis, the first white man to look upon the waters of the Snake river, at early dawn October 11th, 1809, at the age of 35 years, yielded up his brief but eventful life. Marching events have long since consigned the "Natchez Trace" to oblivion but human interest in that grave will continue to increase with time, for Meriwether Lewis played a leading role in one of America's greatest political dramas.

The opening scene of this drama was in what is now known Lemhi pass of the Rocky Mountains, situated between Armstead, Montana, and the Salmon river in Idaho. The time was the afternoon of Monday, August 12, 1805. Speaking of the source of the Missouri river the Lewis and Clark notes contain the following lines:

"They had now reached the hidden sources of that river,