Along the Yellowstone
13/08/12 05:07
Captain William Clark needed to make a decision. He was in charge of nearly half of the Corps of Discovery and the men were antsy to get going. They didn’t want to wait much longer. Down the river was Missouri: civilization and home. The men didn’t want to risk having to spend another winter in the wilderness. They had endured the long cold winter with the Mandan alongside the winter. They had endured the damp winter out at the Pacific Ocean and the disappointment that no ship had come upon which they might ride home. They had traveled hard across the mountains, drawn by the promise of civilization.
From the time they had parted with the other half of the Corps, Clark had believed that Lewis would be first to arrive at the rendezvous point where the Yellowstone River flowed into the mighty Missouri. Lewis and his men were taking to the water. Clark and his group had to go overland for a distance that proved to be nearly 60 miles and then quite a bit farther before they finally found trees large enough to make dugout canoes. They called that camp “Big Timber.” From there they had been floating. The Yellowstone was broad and calm and except for a few exciting moments with rapids, the journey had been smooth. They anticipated smooth waters for the rest of the journey back to Missouri.
But Clark had expected Lewis to be ahead of him. Lewis’ group would have taken a few days to portage around the Great Falls of the Missouri and they wanted to explore one river that showed some promise of a water passage that led to the Pacific. It was rumored that there was a way to make a passage all the way across the continent by water, but on their way west they were forced to trek overland from the headwaters of the Missouri all the way to where the Snake River flowed into the Columbia.
Sacajawea, the woman they had met when they were with the Mandans, now the wife of Charbonneau, was certain that there was no way to get to the Pacific without going overland. She was a master of languages and had served ably as an interpreter. She had traveled boldly, even with the birth of her baby Pompey. She had also warned that Lewis shouldn’t go too far into the country of the Blackfeet. It was her warning that brought a chill to Captain Clark. In the back of his mind he knew that Lewis and his men were facing great risk. It is possible that they had all been wiped out by hostile natives. If this was the case, there was no reason for him to delay his departure any longer. The agreed-upon day had come and passed.
Yesterday we ate lunch alongside the Yellowstone River near the point where Captain Clark pondered his dilemma. We, of course, knew that Lewis and the rest of the Corps of Discovery did show up and that the reunited group made it home to Missouri that fall. Only one member of the Corps died on the exhibition, from acute appendicitis – and that had been in the late summer on the way west, shortly after they had met up with the first of the Dakota.
Where we stopped there were power lines and bridges and one had to look at the river at just the right angle to catch a glimpse of how it might have appeared to Captain Clark as he contemplated what to do next. But we could imagine what this land had looked like before the push of civilization came. In fact the area around the confluence of the Yellowstone and the Missouri has been an empty place for most of the years since Lewis and Clark passed this way.
It is not far from the crazy and hectic pace of the Williston Basin and the Bakken Oil Fields. From as far away as New Town, North Dakota, we began to notice the increase in truck traffic. By Watford City we were in the midst of heavy truck traffic. There were oil rigs planted in the midst of the wheat fields and “man camps” springing up at the edges of the pastures. Somewhere in the midst of all of the activity a rock from a passing tanker landed right in the middle of our windshield, leaving a chip that is probably too big to repair. And I had just replaced my windshield last spring. It’s first chip was the largest I’ve gotten in years.
We were amazed at the crush of people and vehicles. It is a crazy territory at the moment. There will be an area that they have cleared and covered in gravel where they place campers side by side to provide housing for the workers. In other places they have planted larger mobile homes in row after row. Cafes have sprung up in barns and other makeshift locations. You couldn’t tell it was Sunday. The crews work around the clock and the drilling never stops. Most workers are on a 13 days on, 7 days off schedule, working 12 hours a day. There is big money to be made in that country – most of it going to the oil companies, not to the workers, though their salaries are impressive.
Farmers are reporting that in places the dust is falling so thickly on their crops that the plants are dying. There will be no compensation for that kind of loss.
Some people say that the oil will last for another 20 years. Some people say less and others say more. Everyone knows that it will not go on forever. But right now there is money to be made and the rush is on.
So it was nice to get away from the traffic and sit alongside the river and remember the events of long ago. This land has seen great changes since it was acquired as a part of the great Louisiana Purchase. Of course the natives who claimed the land as their own never thought it was for sale. But they couldn’t stop the rush of history and the crush of people moving west. We won’t stop the rush of history, either. We can’t stop the lust for oil or the demand for energy.
Still it is nice to pause for a moment and remember a different time and the people who came before us. Hopefully, we won’t forget that ours is but a brief moment in history and there are those who will come after us. I hope we don’t leave too big a mess for them to inherit.
But Clark had expected Lewis to be ahead of him. Lewis’ group would have taken a few days to portage around the Great Falls of the Missouri and they wanted to explore one river that showed some promise of a water passage that led to the Pacific. It was rumored that there was a way to make a passage all the way across the continent by water, but on their way west they were forced to trek overland from the headwaters of the Missouri all the way to where the Snake River flowed into the Columbia.
Sacajawea, the woman they had met when they were with the Mandans, now the wife of Charbonneau, was certain that there was no way to get to the Pacific without going overland. She was a master of languages and had served ably as an interpreter. She had traveled boldly, even with the birth of her baby Pompey. She had also warned that Lewis shouldn’t go too far into the country of the Blackfeet. It was her warning that brought a chill to Captain Clark. In the back of his mind he knew that Lewis and his men were facing great risk. It is possible that they had all been wiped out by hostile natives. If this was the case, there was no reason for him to delay his departure any longer. The agreed-upon day had come and passed.
Yesterday we ate lunch alongside the Yellowstone River near the point where Captain Clark pondered his dilemma. We, of course, knew that Lewis and the rest of the Corps of Discovery did show up and that the reunited group made it home to Missouri that fall. Only one member of the Corps died on the exhibition, from acute appendicitis – and that had been in the late summer on the way west, shortly after they had met up with the first of the Dakota.
Where we stopped there were power lines and bridges and one had to look at the river at just the right angle to catch a glimpse of how it might have appeared to Captain Clark as he contemplated what to do next. But we could imagine what this land had looked like before the push of civilization came. In fact the area around the confluence of the Yellowstone and the Missouri has been an empty place for most of the years since Lewis and Clark passed this way.
Farmers are reporting that in places the dust is falling so thickly on their crops that the plants are dying. There will be no compensation for that kind of loss.
So it was nice to get away from the traffic and sit alongside the river and remember the events of long ago. This land has seen great changes since it was acquired as a part of the great Louisiana Purchase. Of course the natives who claimed the land as their own never thought it was for sale. But they couldn’t stop the rush of history and the crush of people moving west. We won’t stop the rush of history, either. We can’t stop the lust for oil or the demand for energy.