The Young Alaskans on the Missouri
e Dick, at last, turning to his young companio
ho always was accepted as the next
n," said the latter, as the boys bega
, who always wante
d sweepers and buried stuff. Now, if she rides with bows high, she slips farther up, say, on a s
n't though
ding my Lewis and Clark Journal all over again. They speak of that very t
ar down by the bow, our stern motors won't
keel, but if she'll kick all right, keep her down all you can in front, for if we ever do ride a log,
ood deal of pride as he cast an eye over the long, racy hull of the Adve
boat, fifty-five feet long, with twenty-two oars and a big square sail. She drew three feet of water, loaded, and had a ten-foot deck forward,
e ours, a rangy river skiff, built of boards; certainly not lik
hey spell it. It was smaller, carrying six oars. T
l their names, those
th, far up the river. You see, they were a military party-there were twenty-nine on the official rolls as volunteers,
ly Book
hment
6th,
oyd, Ordway and Pryor, heretofore forming two messes each, shall untill further order
Floyd Sergt.
tes P
eal Geor
ass Geor
ields Jo
hompson J
an Joseph
ivet and
Peter C
elds Fran
elds Fran
Ordway Pat
es Des
Bratto
en Etienn
d (Soldier)
Willard Ch
ner Baptist
drich Pet
s and Pet
ll Jose
l. R
vin
iv
rt F
n B
n D
er Tut
ac
ntill further orders form the crew of the Batteaux; the Mess of the Patroon La Jeunesse will form
How many would it be, Rob-not forgetting the two captains and the
ounting, "or forty-four with the others added. That does not include
e name 'Francis Rivet and (French).' That would make forty-five if French were a man French and not a Fr
an overboard somewhe
gave him a good military trimming and expulsion, as we'll see later. But this I suppose we may call the ac
n awe as they read over the
ournal the very first sentence says the party was 'composed of robust, hea
your book is all wrong! Just look at the way the spelling
ite down," said Uncle Dick. "Yours must have been one of the rewritten a
o know something about those two young chaps, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
us," s
n his knee, as they all sat
fferson says he was not 'regularly educated.' He studied some months in astronomy and other scientific lines, under Mr. Andrew Ellicott, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with
who is about as funny as Josh Billings, though he certainly spelled his best. Of one thing you can be sure, whenever you see anything of th
book-and that little book disappeared for over one hundred years. It was found in the possess
fully to President Jefferson. Sometimes one wrote, sometimes the other, and often one would copy the other'
their return, they did try to make a connected book of it all, but no one valued that book, and they couldn't g
President Jefferson was getting anxious about it. By then, too, poor Lewis was dead, and Clark was busy at St
getting it ready for the press. This book did not get published until February, 1814, five years after Lewis died and eight years after they got back. By that
been issued. The best is the one that holds closest to Clark's spelling. That's the best. And
'Sioux' he wrote down as 'Cuouex'-which makes one guess a bit-and the 'Osages' are 'Osarges,' the Iowas, 'Ayauways.' His men got 'deesantary' and 'tumers,' which were 'dificcelt to cure.' He gives a dog 'som meet,' and speaks of a storm which 'seased Instan
beauty of nature. See here, where Clark writes on June 20th (his capitals are odd as his spelling): 'at Sunset the atmesphier presented every appeara
u see Will Clark, his tongue on one sid
ril,' where Clark spells it 'squarl,' and he spells hawk 'halk,' and hangs a
ould do better'n that my own self," said he, at last. "Why, wha
was a great man. He did all that writing after a hard day's work, in a wild and st
ls are always done in pen and ink. Clark did most of the work in the Journal, but Lewis
told, and they only had $2,500 to spend for the whole trip out and back, and to feed forty people two years. And at night the commanders made Gass an
of the simplest and most manly books ever written. As
t had to be rewritten a great deal. Up to 1851 there had been fifteen real and fake Lewis and Clark books printe
nts. The spelling we must forget-that day was different and schools were rare. But good minds and bodies they surely had
along. We're all ready, now? Well, let's be off, for now I see the wind is with us, and it's even more than William Cla
l the world, and on the trail of the grea
he oars. Jesse and John went ahead to trim ship. Rob gave a couple of turns to the flywheels of the two outboard motors and adjusted his feet to the special steering gear. The doubled motors began