Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/402

396 396 ANDREW T. LEWIS. "not only lose the traveling season, but probably dis- "hearten the men." The river from the north Lewis named Maria's River, in honor of his cousin, Maria Wood. On proceeding up the river Clark took charge of the boats, and Lewis, with four men, went by land. On the 13th he heard the sounds of the Great Falls seven miles away. Lewis's description of the falls of Missouri is ac- curate, and is considered at this time a fine description. Lewis was filled with admiration of Nature at the falls. He was impressed with the grandeur of the scenery, the magnitude of the falls, the great herds of buffalo, and the great number of grizzly bears. Nowhere in the Journal is shown his power of description to better advantage. In the distance of ten miles from the first to the last fall, the total descent of the river is 41 2^ feet. The port- age around the rapids was eighteen miles. The clearing of the long path was one of the many examples of hard work done by the explorers. They were about twelve days making the portage. Here they made light canoes to continue their voyage beyond the falls. They passed through a canyon they named "The Gates of the Rocky Mountains," and on to the head of the Missouri, where they found three rivers, as Sacajawea had described them; Lewis named them the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin. They proceeded up the Jefferson, and on the 30th of July arrived at a place Sacajawea pointed out, where, tive years before she was captured by the Minnetarees. They were nearing the summit of the mountains, water transporta- tion would soon end, and with it possibly the further progress of the expedition. Lewis took Drewyer, (Drou- illard), Shields, and McNeal, and left Clark and the party not to return until he found the Shoshone Indians. On the morning of the 12th day of August, 1805, they found an Indian road along the banks of a stream which gradually became smaller, until one of the men, with one