Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806 printed from the original manuscripts in the library of the American Philosophical Society and by direction of its committee on historical documents |
 | XXVII. |
| XXVIII. |
| XXIX. |
| XXX. |
| XXXI. |
| XXXII. |
 | XXXIII. |
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Saturday 20th Septr. 1806 |
 | Chapter XXXIII Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806 |  |
Saturday 20th Septr. 1806
as three of the party was unabled to row from the State of
their eyes we found it necessary to leave one of our crafts and
divide the men into the other Canoes, we left the two Canoes
lashed together which I had made high up the River Rochejhone,
those Canoes we Set a drift and a little after day light
we Set out and proceeded on very well. The Osage river [is]
very low and discharges but a Small quantity of water at this
time for so large a river. at meridian we passed the enterance
of the Gasconnade river below which we met a perogue with
5 french men bound to the Osarge Gd. village. the party being
extreemly anxious to get down ply their ores very well, we
saw some cows on the bank which was a joyfull Sight to the
party and caused a Shout to be raised for joy at [blank in
MS.] P M we came in Sight of the little french Village called
upon their ores and we soon landed opposit to the Village.[21]
our party requested to be permited to fire off their Guns
which was alowed & they discharged 3 rounds with a harty
cheer, which was returned from five tradeing boats which lay
opposit the village. we landed and were very politely received
by two young Scotch men from Canada one in the employ of
Mr. Aird a Mr. [blank space in MS.] and the other Mr. Reed,
two other boats the property of Mr Lacomb & Mr. [blank
space in MS.] all of those boats were bound to the Osage
and Ottoes. those two young Scotch gentlemen furnished us
with Beef flower and some pork for our men, and gave us a
very agreeable supper. as it was like to rain we accepted of
a bed in one of their tents. we purchased of a citizen two
gallons of Whiskey for our party for which we were obliged
to give Eight dollars in Cash, an imposition on the part of the
citizen. every person, both French and americans seem to
express great pleasure at our return, and acknowledged themselves
much astonished in seeing us return. they informed us
that we were supposed to have been lost long since, and were
entirely given out by every person &c.
Those boats are from Canada in the batteaux form and wide
in perpotion to their length. their length [is] about 30 feet
and the width 8 feet & pointed bow and stern, flat bottom
and rowing six ores only the Skenackeity [Schenectady] form.
those Bottoms are prepared for the navigation of this river, I
beleive them to be the best calculated for the navigation of this
river of any which I have Seen[22]
. they are wide and flat not
are on this river. the American inhabitants express great
disgust for the govermt. of this Teritory. from what I can
lern it arises from a disapmt. of getting all the Spanish Grants
Confirmed[23] . Came 68 ms day.
For an account of this last white settlement upon the Missouri, see our vol. i,
pp. 28, 29. La Charette was founded early in the Spanish regime (probably about
1766), and for many years maintained a precarious existence. When Brackenridge
passed (1810), there were thirty houses. The site has long since been engulfed in the
river. It was near the present Marthasville, Warren County. As evidence of the
rapid increase of settlement, the travellers of 1810 found pioneer outposts nearly up
to Fort Osage, two hundred and seventy-five miles above La Charette. See Thwaites,
Early Western Travels, v, vi.—Ed.
Schenectady boats were almost exclusively used on the Canadian waterways.
See "Long's Voyages," in Early Western Travels, ii, p. 213. Stoddard, Sketches
of Louisiana, p. 303, compares favorably the efficiency of these craft with the usual
Missouri keel-boats.—Ed.
The Spanish grant question was difficult to adjust. In the latter years of the
occupancy by Spain (after 1795), inducements were held out to American immigrants.
Large grants were made to them without surveys, and with but the written
or verbal permission of the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Louisiana; complete titles
could be obtained only at New Orleans. As most of the settlers were too poor to undertake
this expensive journey, probably not one-fourth of the land was held by perfect
titles. After the rumor of French domination began to spread (1800), large numbers
of fraudulent grants were made (see report of Major Stoddard, in American State
Papers, "Public Lands," i, pp. 173, 177); whereupon Congress (in the act of
March 26, 1804), in organizing the newly acquired territory, declared all grants of
public land after the treaty of San Ildefonso (1800) null and void, with, however, a
proviso to protect bona fide settlers. The dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of Upper
Louisiana found expression in a petition to Congress, January, 1805 (American State
Papers, "Miscellaneous," vol. i, pp. 400–406). Two months later, Congress passed
an act providing for a commission to adjust titles and take evidence upon claims.
The President appointed to this duty John B. C. Lucas, Clement B. Penrose, and
James Lowry Donaldson—the last-named being superseded by Frederick Bates—which
commission met for the first time in St. Louis on the very day Clark penned the
above observation on the existing discontent. The commission continued its work
until 1812, when a report was made to Congress, adjusting many hundreds of titles.
For this report see American State Papers, "Public Lands," ii, pp. 388–603.—Ed.
| Chapter XXXIII Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806 | |