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The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: Part 14

TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

The party went down the Columbia River in canoes.
It was a hard trip.
It rained all the time.
Each day the men were wet to the skin.
They had to carry their goods around some rapids.
They could not be very cheerful.
One day it stopped raining for a little time.
The low clouds went away.
The party saw that the river was very wide.
They rowed on.
Then they saw the great ocean lying in the sun.
They became very happy.
They cheered and laughed and sang.
They rowed on very fast.
Captain Lewis wrote in his book:
“Ocean in view! O! the joy! We are in VIEW of the Ocean, this great Pacific Ocean, which we have been so long anxious to see. The noise made by the waves breaking on the rocky shores may be heard distinctly.”

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Supplementary Reader for First and Second Grades

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: part 13

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Supplementary Reader for First and Second Grades

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: part 12

Vocabulary

• heard            
• must            
• tonight            
• slipped

THE INDIANS TRY TO LEAVE THE WHITES.

When they were in the mountain tops, Sacajawea overheard some Indians talking.
They said: “We do not want to go across the mountains with the whites.
We want to go down to the plains and hunt buffalo.
We are hungry here.
On the plains are many buffalo.
We must hunt them now for our winter food.
We do not care for the white men’s goods.
Our fathers lived without their goods.
We can live without them.
We will go off to-night and leave them.
They will meet death in the mountains.
In the Spring we can come back and get their goods.”

Sacajawea went to Captain Lewis.
She told him what she had heard.
He called the chiefs together.
They smoked a pipe together.

Sacajawea slipped a piece of sugar into Cameahwait’s hand.
As he sucked it, she said, “You will get this good thing from the white men if you are friends with them.”

Vocabulary

• gone                
• land                
• word              
• keep                
• promise        
• yes

Then Captain Lewis said, “Are you men of your word?”

The Indians said, “Yes.”

He said, “Did you not promise to carry our goods over the mountains?”

The Indians said, “Yes.”

“Then,” he said, “why are you going to leave us now?
If you had not promised, we would have gone back down the Missouri.
Then no other white man would come to your land.
You wish the whites to be your friends.
You want them to give you goods.
You should keep you promise to them.
I will keep my promise to you.
You seem afraid to keep your promise.”

The chiefs said, “We are not afraid.
We will keep our promise.”

They sent out word to all their men to keep their promise.
Captain Lewis thanked Sacajawea.
If she had not told him, the Indians would have gone off in the night.
The whites would have been left in the steep Rocky Mountains with no
horses and no way of getting food.

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Supplementary Reader for First and Second Grades

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: part 11

SACAJAWEA’S BROTHER.

The party went with Sacajawea’s people to their camp.
Captain Clark was taken to the chief’s house.
The house was made of a ring of willows.
The chief put his arms about Captain Clark.
He made him sit on a white skin.
He tied in his hair six shells.
Each one then took off his moccasins.
Then they smoked without talking.
When they wanted to talk, they sent for Sacajawea.
She came into the house and sat down.
She looked at the chief.
She saw that he was her brother.
She jumped up and ran to him.
She threw her blanket over his head.
She cried aloud in joy.
He was glad to see her.
He did not cry nor jump.
He did not like to show that he was glad.
Sacajawea told him about the white men.
She said they wanted to go across the Rocky Mountains to the Big Water
in the West.
She did not know the way across the mountains.
The Indians could help them.
They could sell them horses and show them the way across the steep mountain tops.

Sacajawea said the white men had many things the Indians would like.
If they found a good way over the mountains, the white men would send
these things to the Indians each summer.
Sacajawea said the white men were kind to her and her baby.
If they had not taken care of her when she was ill, she would not have
seen her brother again.
Her brother said he was glad that the white men had been kind to her.
He would help them over the mountains.
He would talk to his men about it.
He said to Captain Clark: “You have been kind to Sacajawea.
I am your friend until my days are over.
You shall own my house.
You shall sit on my blanket.
You shall have what I kill.
You shall bear my name.
My name belonged to me only, but now it is yours.
You are Cameahwait.”
After that, all this tribe called Captain Clark “Cameahwait.”

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Supplementary Reader for First and Second Grades

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: part 10

AT THE SOURCE OF THE MISSOURI.

When the canoes were ready, the party started up the river above the Falls.
As they reached the mountains, the river grew narrow.
It was not deep, but it was rapid.
The soldiers had to pull the canoes with ropes.
The river did not run straight.
One day the men dragged the canoes twelve miles.
Then they were only four miles from where they had started.
They had to walk in the river all day.
Their feet were cut by the rocks.
They were ill from being wet so much.
It was hot in the day and cold at night.
They had no wood but willow.
They could not make a good fire.
But they had enough to eat.
Then the river grew very narrow.
The canoes could not go up it.
The soldiers put the canoes under water with rocks in them.
They made another cache.
In it they put skins, plants, seeds, minerals, maps, and some medicines.
Captain Lewis and some men went ahead.
They were looking for Indians.
They wanted to buy some horses.
After a time the river grew so narrow that a soldier put one foot on one bank and his other foot on the other bank.
Then he said, “Thank God, I am alive to bestride the mighty Missouri.”
Before this, people did not know where the Missouri began.
A little way off was the beginning of the mighty Columbia River.
The soldiers reached this place in August.
Captain Lewis was very happy as he drank some cold water from the
beginnings of these two rivers.
Captain Clark and the other men were coming behind.
Sacajawea was with them.
They had all the goods and walked slowly.

Vocabular

• anise
• grease
• pound
• bread
• mixed
• powder
• hungry
• mush
• roasted
• tastes
• umbrella
• yamp

SACAJAWEA FINDS ROOTS AND SEEDS.

Far up on the Missouri, Sacajawea knew the plants that were good to eat.
The captains and soldiers were glad that she did.
They had only a little corn left, and there were not many animals near.
Sacajawea told Captain Clark all about the yamp plant, as her tribe knew it.
It grew in wet ground.
It had one stem and deeply cut leaves.

Its stem and leaves were dark green.
It had an umbrella of white flowers at the top of the stem.
The Indian women watched the yamp until the stem dried up.
Then they dug for the roots.
The yamp root is white and hard.
The Indians eat it fresh or dried.
When it is dry, they pound it into a fine white powder.
The Indian women make the yamp powder into a mush.
Indian children like yamp mush as much as white children like candy.
It tastes like our anise seed.
The soldiers liked the yamp mush that Sacajawea made.
Sacajawea also made a sunflower mush.
She roasted sunflower seeds.
Then she pounded them into a powder and made a mush with hot water.
She made a good drink of the sunflower powder and cold water.
She mixed the sunflower powder with bear grease and roasted it on hot rocks.
This made a bread the soldiers liked very much.
Without Sacajawea the soldiers would have been hungry.
They did not know the plants.
Some plants would kill them.
But Sacajawea knew those good to eat.

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Supplementary Reader for First and Second Grades

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: part 9

AT THE TOP OF THE FALLS.

After the men had carried all the goods to the top of the Falls, they
made canoes to take them up the river.
They were camping at the top of the Falls on the Fourth of July, 1805.
Captain Lewis wrote that they had a good dinner that day.
He said they had as good as if they were at home.
They had “bacon, beans, buffalo meat, and suet dumplings.”
After dinner a soldier played the fiddle.
Captain Lewis wrote: “Such as were able to shake a foot amused
themselves in dancing on the green.”

THE CLOUD-BURST.

One day Captain Clark took Sacajawea and her husband with him to look
over the top of the Falls.
Sacajawea’s baby was in his basket on her back.
Captain Clark saw a black cloud.
He said, “It will rain soon.
Let us go into that ravine.”
They sat under some big rocks.
Sacajawea took off the baby’s basket and put it at her feet.
All the baby’s clothes were in the basket.
Sacajawea took the baby in her lap.
It began to rain a little.
The rain did not get to them.
It rained harder.
Then the cloud burst just over the ravine.
The rain and hail made a big wave in the little ravine.
Captain Clark saw the wave coming.
He jumped up and caught his gun in his left hand.
With his right hand he pushed Sacajawea up the bank.
The wave was up to their waists.
They ran faster and got to the top of the bank.
Then the wave was fifteen feet high.
It made a big noise as it ran down the ravine.
Soon it would have caught them and carried them over the Falls.
It did carry away the baby’s basket and his clothes, and Captain Clark’s
compass.
The next day a soldier found the compass in the mud.

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Supplementary Reader for First and Second Grades

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: Part 8

GRIZZLY BEARS.

After many hard days, they got all the goods to the top of the Falls.
The party saw many grizzly bears near the Falls.
They were the first white men to see the grizzly bear.
They found it a very large and very fierce bear.
One day Captain Lewis was out hunting.
He had killed a buffalo for dinner.
He turned around to load his gun again.
He saw a big bear coming after him.
It was only twenty feet away.
He did not have time to load his gun.
There was no tree near.
There was no rock near.
The river bank was not high.
Captain Lewis ran to the river.
The bear ran after him with open mouth.
It nearly caught him.
Captain Lewis ran into the river.
He turned around when the water was up to his waist.
He pointed his gun at the bear.
It stopped still.
Then it roared and ran away.
Captain Lewis did not know why the bear roared and ran, but he was glad
to be safe.

One day six of the soldiers saw a big bear lying on a little hill near
the river.
The six soldiers came near him.
They were all good shots.
Four shot at him.
Four balls went into his body.
He jumped up.
He ran at them with open mouth.
Then the two other men fired.
Their balls went into his body, too.
One ball broke his shoulder.
Still he ran at them.
The men ran to the river.
Two jumped into their canoe.
The others hid in the willows.
They loaded their guns as fast as they could.
They shot him again.
The shots only made him angry.
He came very near two of the men.
They threw away their guns and jumped down twenty feet into the river.
The bear jumped in after them.
He nearly caught the last one.
Then one soldier in the willows shot the bear in the head.
This shot killed him.
The soldiers pulled the bear out of the river.
They found eight balls in him.
They took his skin to show the captains.
They said he was a brave old bear.
They named a creek near-by for him.
They called it “The Brown-Bear-Defeated Creek.”

One day a grizzly bear ran after a soldier.

The soldier tried to shoot the bear.
His gun would not go off.
The gun was wet because he had been in the river all day.
He ran to a tree.
He got to the tree just in time.
As the soldier climbed, he kicked the bear.
The grizzly bear can not climb a tree.
This grizzly sat at the foot of the tree to wait until the soldier would
come down.
The soldier called out loud.
Two other soldiers heard him.
They came running to help him.
They saw the man in the tree.
They saw the bear at the foot of the tree.
They shot off their guns and made a big noise.
The grizzly grew frightened.
It ran away.
Then the soldier came down from the tree.
He was glad that his friends had come to his help.

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Supplementary Reader for First and Second Grades

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: part 7

HOW SACAJAWEA CURED RATTLESNAKE BITES.

Near the Falls of the Missouri, the party met many rattlesnakes.
The snakes liked to lie in the sun on the river banks.
Some times they went up trees and lay on the branches.
One night Captain Lewis was sleeping under a tree.
In the morning he looked up through the tree.
He saw a big rattlesnake on a branch.
It was going to spring at him.
He caught his gun and killed it.
It had seventeen rattles.
Sometimes the soldiers had to go barefooted.
The snakes bit their bare feet.
Sacajawea knew how to cure the bite.
She took a root she called the rattlesnake root.
She beat it hard.
She opened the snake bite.
She tied the root on it.
She put fresh root on two times a day.
It cured the snake bite.
The root would kill a man if he should eat it, but it will cure a snake
bite.

GOING AROUND THE FALLS.

The party had to go up a high hill to get around the Falls.
It would take too long to carry the canoes on their backs.
They could see only one big tree on the plains.
It was a cottonwood.
The soldiers cut it down.
They cut wheels and tongues from it.
The cottonwood is not hard enough for axles.
The soldiers cut up the mast of their big boat for axles.
They began to go up the hill.
In a little time the axles broke.
They put in willow axles.
Then the cottonwood tongues broke.
Then the men had to carry the goods on their backs.
It was very hot.
The mosquitoes and blow-flies bit them all the time.
The prickly pear hurt their feet.
It hurt them even through their moccasins.
If they drank water, they were ill.
One day it hailed hard.
The hail knocked some of the men down.
At night the grizzly bears took their food.

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Supplementary Reader for First and Second Grades

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: part 6

HOW THE INDIANS HUNTED BUFFALO.

On the plains of the Missouri there were many buffaloes.
Sacajawea told the soldiers how the Indians hunted them.
An Indian put on a buffalo skin.
The buffalo’s head was over his head.
He walked out to where the buffaloes were eating.
He stood between them and a high bank of the river.
The other Indians went behind the buffaloes.
The buffaloes ran toward the man in the buffalo skin.
He ran fast toward the river.
Then the buffaloes ran fast toward the river.
At the high bank the man ran down and hid in a hole.
The buffaloes came so fast that they could not stop at the bank.
They fell over the bank on to the rocks near the river.
Many were killed.
Then the Indians came around the bank.
They skinned the buffaloes.
They dried the meat.
They dried the skins to make blankets and houses.

Vocabulary

• June
• wonderful
• draw
• picture
• spray
• write
• cache

THE FALLS OF THE MISSOURI.

One June day Captain Lewis was walking ahead of the boats.
He heard a great noise up the River.
He pushed on fast.
After walking seven miles, he came to the great Falls of the Missouri.
He was the first white man to see these Falls.
He sat down on a rock and watched the water dash and spray.
He tried to draw a picture of the Falls.
He tried to write about it in his book.
But he said it was so wonderful that he could not draw it well nor
picture it in words.
When the men came up, they could not take their boats near the Falls.
The Falls are very, very high.
The highest fall is eighty-seven feet high, and the water comes down
with a great rush.
So the soldiers had to go around the Falls.
That was a long, long way.
It would be hard to carry all their things around the Falls.
The captains said, “We will make a cache here.
“We will put in the skins and plants and maps.
“We can get them all again when we are coming home.”
The soldiers made two caches.
In these they hid all the things they could do without.
Without so much to carry, it would not be so hard to go around the
Falls.

The Bird-woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Supplementary Reader for First and Second Grades