Part 3

As the maps and books were wet, the soldiers had to camp two days. They put the maps and the books and the compass in the sun. When these were dry, they went on again. Ten days after, they came to a river that no white man had seen before. Captain Lewis wrote in his book, "It is a handsome river about 50 yards wide." They did not know the Indian name for it. The captains were so glad Sacajawea had saved their things that they named it for her. They said, "We will call it the Sacajawea or Bird-Woman's River." This river is still running. Look on a map of Montana. Do you see a stream named "Crooked Creek?" That is the stream Lewis and Clark named Sacajawea's River. Which do you think is the prettier name? Which do you think we should call it?

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THE FIRST SIGHT OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

Going up the Missouri, the party had to drink the river water. It was not good and it made them ill. The sand blew in their eyes. The mosquitoes bit them all the time. But still the soldiers were happy. They carried their goods in boats. They walked when they wished to. They hunted buffalo and elk on the plains near the river. They had all they wanted to eat. One day in May, Captain Lewis was out hunting. He went up a little hill. Then far off to the West he saw the Rocky Mountains high and steep. Captain Lewis was the first white man to see these mountains. He wrote in his book that he felt a great pleasure on first seeing them. He knew they would be very hard to cross. They were all white with snow. But he was ready to go on so as to get to the West. He went back to the boats and told the others about the mountains. The men were happy and worked harder to get near them.

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SACAJAWEA IS ILL.

Going up the Missouri, Sacajawea fell ill. She could not eat. She grew worse each day. Captain Clark gave her some medicine. It did not make her well. The soldiers had to camp until she could go on. They could not go on without her. They wanted her with them to make friends with her tribe. One day the soldiers found a hot sulphur spring. They carried Sacajawea to this spring. The water made her well. In a week she could go on.

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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.

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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.

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THE CACHE NEAR THE FALLS OF THE MISSOURI.

To make a cache, the soldiers made a ring on the ground. They took up the sod inside the ring. They dug straight down for a foot. They put dried branches on the bottom and at the sides of this hole. They put dried skins over the branches. Then they put their goods into the hole, or cache. They put dried skins over the goods. Then they put the earth in. Then they put the sod on. The ring did not look as if it had been dug up. The Indians would not think to look there for goods.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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