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Most Honest and Sincere People

By: Phil Scriver, LC200 Historian

When the Corps of Discovery finally left the Falls of the Columbia the Captains, especially Lewis, must have breathed a big sigh of relief. They were at last free of the troubles that had plagued them for what probably seemed like forever, but was actually several days. Lewis was greatly bothered by the Indians stealing from them; they managed to make off with at least seven tomahawks, knives and spoons, while several other attempts had been thwarted. Add to that the Expedition’s inability to trade for enough horses for the Expedition to be able to travel overland instead of by canoe as Lewis wanted and the generally high prices being demanded for food they traded for.

Lewis admitted the frustrations were getting to him and it showed in several of his actions. He discovered one Indian taking a small metal object of little value or use, but Lewis still “gave him several severe blows.” He then told the Indians he would shoot anyone attempting to take anything that belonged to the Expedition. To further register his frustrations, he made sure to burn all the extra firewood and anything else that could be used for fires before the Expedition set out on their journey on April 21, 1806.

To put this all into perspective, the Indians were not in the best of times either. It was early spring, a time when most of the winter’s food supply was gone and before the spring salmon run brought fresh supplies. The Indians of the area were competing for the limited resources available and somewhat begrudgingly accepted the Expedition. They were seen as more competition. Lewis was probably correct in his assessment that on several occasions only the number of people in the Expedition prevented the Indians from doing them harm.

The Expedition camped the night of April 21st below the mouth of the Deschutes River then continued on the next day to camp near present day John Day Dam. Camp for the 23rd was at Rock Creek near an Indian village. Although Lewis wanted to make an overland trip from the Falls, the Expedition could not get enough horses so they had to settle for packing their baggage on the horses they had. A few of the men brought the two remaining canoes upriver while the rest of the men walked. This arrangement lasted three days until they reached the Rock Creek village and were able to get several more horses and trade off their canoes. They also met a Nez Perce Indian who was taking his family back upriver who agreed to accompany the Expedition. He was the same Indian who had found a bag of gunpowder the Expedition had dropped and returned it to them while at the Falls of the Columbia.

The journey continued with the route following along the Columbia River. The Expedition stopped at most of the villages they came to since they were very dependent upon the Indians for food. Lewis had insisted that the Expedition build a supply of dried elk to last them until they reached the Weippe, but it would have to be supplemented with food they got from the Indians along the way.

On April 27th they were met by Chief Yellept of the Walla Walla Indians. He was the Chief the Expedition had hurried by the fall before, promising to stop and visit on their return trip. The Expedition camped with the Chief at his village at the mouth of the Walla Walla River for the next two days with Captain Clark tending to many medical needs of the Indians. Captain Lewis was able to gain a considerable amount of geographical information because the Walla Wallas had a Shoshone woman captive who translated with Sacajawea. Chief Yellept told Lewis about a good road overland to the Clearwater River. The Captains immediately agreed upon this route since it would shorten their trip by 80 miles, cutting the trip to the Clearwater almost in half.

When the Corps of Discovery left Chief Yellept they had 23 horses, all in pretty good shape. They spent the next five days on the overland trip, reaching the mouth of the Clearwater River the morning of May 5, 1806. Their route took them across southeastern Washington by present day Waitsburg, Marengo and Pataha City.

During their trip from the Falls Lewis noted three animals new to science. However these brief accounts were nothing like the precisely defined extensive descriptions he had done during the days at Fort Clatsop.

Shortly before reaching the Clearwater the Expedition met a Nez Perce Chief that Lewis called The Bighorn Chief. Lewis recognized him as having been very helpful to the Expedition the fall before. He said it had been this chief’s influence that had caused the Indians of the area to be friendly and helpful. (This chief was the grandfather of Chief Looking Glass, a prominent figure in the 1877 Nez Perce war).

May 5th was spent by Captain Clark tending to many medical needs of the Indians in the area of Spalding, Idaho, the village of Chief Cut Nose, a major Nez Perce chief. They remembered Clark’s medicine while the Expedition was at Canoe Camp the fall before and he was now looked on as a hero. Since meeting Chief Yellept at the Walla Walla River, the Captains frequently traded medical treatments for food. Lewis was careful to note however, “we take care to give them no article which can possibly injure them.”

While Clark was doctoring the Indians Lewis learned through another Shoshone prisoner that some of the Indians thought the Expedition was going to kill them. He was able to explain what the Expedition was doing and satisfy everyone’s fears. After that the Indians became much friendlier.

When the Expedition left the Spalding area they had an Indian guide, Twisted Hair’s brother, who had agreed to take the Expedition to his brother’s village. Travel was starting to get more difficult as the level plains were giving way to mountain foothills. They traveled for two days reaching a recently deserted village on May 7th. Here Lewis determined to spend some time hunting since the deer were abundant and the Expedition was out of food. From this camp Lewis could see mountains in the distance that were still covered with snow. The Indians told him that travel over those mountains would be impossible until early June; others said even later than that.

While the hunters were having moderate success, Lewis was able to get a revised map of the rivers in the area we now know as Idaho. The new map made corrections to the information the Captains already had.

When the Expedition left this camp they traveled only four miles before meeting Twisted Hair, the Nez Perce who was caring for the Expedition’s horses from last fall. After successfully refereeing a dispute between him and two chiefs, the Expedition continued on to Twisted Hair’s village where they stayed until most of their horses were gathered and brought to them. They then traveled on to Chief Broken Arm’s village just south of present day Kamiah. He was the most important of the four main Nez Perce chiefs. When the Expedition arrived at his village he was proudly flying the American flag Lewis had given him the fall before. They stayed camped with Broken Arm until they moved a short distance to wait for the snow in the Rockies to melt.

While the Expedition was at Broken Arm’s village the other three main chiefs came to visit; this included Cutnose, One Eyed Chief, and Red Grizzly (Lewis did try to phonetically spell each chief’s Nez Perce name, but it came out different almost every time he used one). Chief Red Grizzly was still alive during the 1840s and talked about having met “Lewis and Clark.” Legend says this chief’s sister had a son by Clark.

Lewis seized the opportunity of having these four chiefs together to hold council and tell them about the Expedition wanting to establish trade with the Indians and to get the Indians to make peace with each other. These chiefs agreed to what was said and remained friendly to “white men” until Chief Joseph’s flight across Idaho and Montana in the 1870s. While Lewis was counciling with the chiefs, Clark was doctoring a variety of ailments among the Indians who were gathered at the village. On May 12, he administered eye wash treatments to 50 people. The next afternoon, May 13, the Expedition moved five miles north and east of Broken Arm’s village and established “Camp Chopunnish” where they would stay until June 10th.

The area of eastern Washington and western Idaho has been home to the Indians the Expedition encountered for centuries. A number of archaeological digs show areas of inhabitation going back as far as 11,000 years in some places and 8,000 years in many others. The more recent settlements in central Idaho in the area of Canoe Camp had been inhabited for 3,000 years. These Indians were not like those nomads on the plains east of the Rockies. These people were more sedentary, moving from winter to summer villages as they fished the rivers or gathered roots and berries. They did a limited amount of hunting, but did not have the horses or weapons needed for much success with big game animals. Unlike the more sedentary tribes in the Mandan, North Dakota area, these people did not cultivate crops to augment their food supply. They did supplement their food through an extensive trade network all along the Columbia Basin.