Journal 2005 09 20
Clark and his advance party press on and descend to the plain seen from a perch high on the mountainsides. Here they find three Indian boys who, in fear, hide from them. Clark leaves his rifle with his men and finds two of them. He gives them ribbons and sends them to their village. Shortly after, a man cautiously comes to meet them. He is a member of the Nez Perce tribe. Clark and his men are conducted to a great lodge (tipi) of their chief. However, once again, good fortune meets the Corps as they learn that the chief and all his warriors left three days ago to war on a neighboring tribe and won’t return for about two weeks! Clark is greeted by a few old men and great numbers of fearful and apprehensive women who bring them dried buffalo meat, dried salmon, soup and bread made of camas roots. Clark and the men “eat hartily” and Clark gives them a few small trinkets he is carrying. Clark and his recon team are then taken to a second village two miles west where they “were treated kindly and continued with them all night.”
Meanwhile, the main party arrives at the hanging horse and note left by Clark. The horsemeat “made a hearty meal…much to the comfort of our hungry stomachs.” Lewis learns that one of the horses bearing many of his valuables and all of his winter clothing is missing. Lewis dispatches two of his best woodsmen to go back and find the horse.
Have you ever eaten too much too fast after a fast? The consequences can be tough, especially if the food is a type your body is not familiar with. Clark’s last entry in his journal this day reads, “I find myself feeling verry unwell all evening from eateing the fish & roots too freely.”
My guess is that his stomach was rumbling, gurgling and acting like a small version of Mt. St. Helens!
Yet no matter their conditions, the Captains fulfill the work of their mission. Clark’s maps are detailed and Lewis makes detailed notes of several new species of birds this very day. It is true, isn’t it, that the calling of our work can many times help us move through hardship.
If ever there was a motto for the Corps of Discovery it has to be “Proceed On!” Through all things the men set their hearts on the Pacific Ocean by land and were unshakable in their pursuit. So far they have proceeded on more than a thousand miles against the current up a mighty river, through a long cold winter, a month long portage around not one, but five, great waterfalls, through rattlesnake infested cliffs and now to the end of the most dangerous portion of their journey. Portages, hard work upstream, hunting, self-sufficiency and traversing hills were all expected. They never expected the height and breadth the Rocky Mountains presented. Yet they proceed on daily and exit them still living. As we pause to consider their work, I am mindful that still no one has died and they have been met with caution, kindness and generosity at just about every turn.
Proceed on, press on, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed in us.”
