Corps of Discovery
Great Falls, MT
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Wind and Fire Not New

2/21/2022

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          We were aroused late at night by the Sergt. Of the Guard and warned of the danger we were in from a large tree that had taken fire and which leant immediately over our lodge (tipi).  We had the lodge removed and a few minutes after a large portion of the top of the tree fell on the place the lodge had stood.  Had we been a few minutes later we should have been crushed to attoms (very curious choice of words).
          The wind blew so hard that notwithstanding the ledge was placed 50 paces – 250 feet – distant from our fire, it sustained considerable injury from the burning coals which were thrown on it.  The party was also much harassed by this fire which spread to a collection of fallen timber and could not be extinguished.
                            Lewis – May 17, 1805
 
          The Corps of Discovery was lucky they saw the fire when they did.  That area is known for times of high winds and wind-driven fires that get out of control.
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Lancaster Rifles Continued

2/16/2022

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         In all my perusing of Jackson’s Letters I could not find any reference to Lewis having rifles made or purchasing any rifles in Lancaster, other than the Jefferson letter to Paul Allen written in 1813, ten years after the time Lewis was in Lancaster preparing for the expedition.  Specifically, I read #57 which is a Summary of Purchases in Philadelphia.  I also read #55 which is a list of each purchase and the payment for them and to the firm or person.  No mention of any rifles or muskets are made in either document. 
             Lewis wrote to Jefferson from Harper’s Ferry when he arrived there July 8, 1803.  He reported having made the arrangements for shipping his purchases from there to Pittsburgh.  He also said that he shot his rifles and examined the other equipment made there.  They were all well executed.
              I did, however, find Stephen Ambrose wrote in Undaunted Courage in 1995, that Lewis purchased additional rifles in Lancaster while he was there working with Ellicott.   He did not cite any reference.
           Over the last twenty years here has been considerable research and discussion trying to determine exactly what guns were used on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  Included are discussions on what the military men brought with them, pistols and who had any, rifles vs muskets, what model rifles and muskets were used, air gun and who made it, etc., etc.  But I have not heard of nor have I read any considerations of any weapons being purchased or manufactured in Lancaster for the expedition beyond Barbour’s article written in 1964.
              As a result of the research I have done, and finding no supporting documentation other than a passage in a letter written ten years after the fact, I must conclude Lewis did not purchase any rifles at Lancaster.  Since there is no evidence to prove he did not, but all the evidence points that way, I leave it open in the event that at some future day more evidence is found.  But until such time I am satisfied he procured all his rifles at Harper’s Ferry.
            I suspect that when Jefferson wrote his letter to Paul Allen he was confused, or just misspoke himself due to the passage of time and about what he took as an insignificant detail.  Jackson wrote in a footnote to that letter pointing to another error Jefferson made.  He said that Lewis and Clark arrived in Washington DC in the middle of February when Congress was in session.  Jackson corrected that to show Lewis got there in December and Clark arrived several weeks later.
           I think further, that Cutright did not complete his research in 1966, possibly because the documents we now have available in Jackson’s Letters were not known to him.  As a result, he took Jefferson at face value.
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Lancaster Rifles -- pt 1

2/9/2022

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​         What happened to the rifles Capt. Lewis obtained in Lancaster, Pennsylvania?  How many did he get?  Do we know how much he paid for them or who made them?
             I had cause to read once again “Contributions of Philadelphia to Lewis and Clark History”, a publication of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation written by Paul Cutright and printed in 1982.  I was reading Part I of this publication which had first appeared in “The Bulletin”, a publication of the Missouri Historical Society, in 1966.
          Cutright wrote, “Several years later Jefferson wrote a memoir of Lewis.  In this he included a statement often overlooked, that Lewis, while in Lancaster, attended to ‘the fabrication of the arms with which he chose that his men should be provided.’  Just who produced the arms here is unknown, but they must have been, according to an authority on guns [William R. Barbour, writing an article in Gun Digest titled The Guns of Lewis and Clark] ‘the typical long barrel Kentucky rifles, whose manufacture centered in the region around Lancaster.’”
           Cutright cited Coues 1893 edition of The History of the Expedition Under the Command of Lewis and Clark as his source for the Lancaster rifles quote.
           Not having a copy of the Coues edition at hand, I went to Jackson’s Letters of Lewis and Clark and found the quote had originated from a letter Jefferson wrote Paul Allen giving him some requested biographical background of Lewis for inclusion in the first printing of the Journals we know as the Biddle Journals.  This letter is dated August 18, 1813.  It has become the famous Jefferson’s memoir of Meriwether Lewis that also included the term “of courage undaunted.”
            A review of Lewis’ timeline during early 1803 as he prepared for his upcoming expedition shows he left Washington DC bound for Philadelphia via Harper’s Ferry and Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  His first stop would be in Harper’s Ferry to order equipment that was to be made there.  He carried with him a letter from Secretary of War Dearborn to the Superintendent of the arsenal asking him to make the items Lewis wanted.
              Lewis stayed at Harper’s Ferry a month, finally arriving at Lancaster April 19.  In part because he was so long in Harper’s Ferry, the day after he arrived in Lancaster, he wrote to Jefferson explaining his delays.  His iron boat needed more time and work to get built than what had been   first planned by Jefferson.  He said that his rifles, tomahawks and knives were being prepared.  He was sure they would be ready in time. 
          After spending about 3 weeks in Lancaster learning from Ellicott, Lewis went on to Philadelphia for further learning from Rush, Barton, Wistar and Patterson.  He also purchased most of the other supplies and equipment he would take on the expedition.  That accumulation of supplies and equipment weighed about 3,500 lbs. and is well documented by a “shopping list” Lewis made of what he wanted and invoices showing where they were obtained from.  Of particular interest is that his list shows 15 rifles.  The shopping list and invoices from the Philadelphia area sources are found in Jackson’s Letters.  Tragically, fire at Harper’s Ferry has destroyed records there for that period of time.  Consequently, we cannot confirm what Lewis got there, only what he wanted. 
      Continued next week
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Two Kinds of Boats

2/2/2022

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         Captain Clark, unknowingly, conducted his own boat experiment on the Yellowstone River.  Although it was not planned, it was more extensive than the earlier experiment that had been undertaken with the iron framed boat at the great falls of the Missouri.
            During the winter at Fort Clatsop the two Captains had developed their plans for exploring other areas of Montana on their return trip from the Pacific Ocean in 1806.  The plan called for Clark to take a group to the Yellowstone River by horse then build canoes and navigate the river.  They would rejoin Lewis at the Missouri.  This sounds straightforward, but it didn’t work out to be that simple.
            When Clark reached the Yellowstone, he found no trees large enough to make canoes from.  He required a tree about 3 feet in diameter and at least 20 feet long.  They needed two such trees at least since his group consisted of eight adults and one child.
            Clark had no choice but to continue down the river searching for trees large enough to make his canoes from.  He wrote, “The river and creeks abound in cottonwood trees though none of them sufficiently large for canoes and the current of the Rochejhone is too rapid to depend on skin canoes.  No other alternative for me but to proceed on down until I can find a tree sufficiently large to make a canoe.”
            Clark traveled 100 miles along the Yellowstone over 5 days before he found two trees that they made into canoes.  Just to be sure he sent two men down the river another 12 miles to see if they could find any better trees, which they didn’t.
            The two canoes were smaller around but longer than what he wanted.  By fastening them together, like a catamaran, they were adequately stable to use.
            After traveling a few miles, they encountered a riffle where the canoes took in a great deal of water.  They were forced to stop and dry things out.  Clark also had them fasten a buffalo skin on the canoes to prevent the water from splashing in again.  Clark mentions other times they had problems with wind blowing so hard they “made but little way” or they had to land and take shelter from the storm.
            On the 30th of July they ran into shoals that the canoes had to be taken down by hand so they would not be smashed on the rocks.  He lamented that a pirogue or large canoe would safely pass through them.  These kinds of encounters were common throughout the Corps of Discovery’s travels, so Clark viewed them with indifference.
            By contrast, consider Sergt. Pryor’s plight when he and his companions were left on the prairies with no means of transportation, thanks to the Crows relieving them of their horses.  They set off on foot the short few miles to the Yellowstone River.  They had very little equipment with them and certainly nothing they could use to cut down a large cottonwood tree to make into a canoe.  So, they had no choice but to craft a bullboat like they had seen at the Mandan Villages.  In concession to the unknown river ahead, although they only required one boat, they made two.  Pryor and his three companions made their way down the Yellowstone in them without incident, joining Clark where he waited for Lewis to catch up.
            Pryor traveled the same river Clark did and reported none of the problems Clark had.  Pryor told Clark “They passed through the worst parts of the rapids and shoals in the river without taking a drop of water and waves raised from the hardest winds did not affect them.”
            Bullboats were used by a variety of Plains Indian groups, mostly for quick temporary water transportation.  When the task for which they were built was completed they were simply discarded with no real loss of resources.
            Was Clark too locked into his wooden canoe paradigm?   Would he have been better off making some bullboats rather than taking the time to search for a hundred miles along the river then taking four more days making dugouts that later slowed the trip when they encountered rough water or bad weather?

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    written by:
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