Search Party
Journal 2006 09 12
Search Party
Rivers in the early part of the 19th Century were the equivalent of our Interstate highways. No Oregon Trail yet existed and certainly no Northern Pacific Railroad to carry men and goods. Rivers were freeways. Canoes instead of Cadillacs. No yellow lines, concrete barriers or wide medians separating traffic on the river. Those traveling downstream met those traveling upstream. Every day for the past few days the Corps of Discovery encounters upstream traffic. Zebulon Pike, of Pike’s Peak, is among them. All parties coming upstream are glad to encounter our intrepid travelers. Rumors abound regarding how they may have met their end. Seeing the eastbound travelers all alive and well had to strengthen the hearts of those headed upstream. They could take genuine hope for success with them after seeing the Captains and their men alive and well.
Today the men met an old friend and a colleague on the River.
Sgt’s Ordway and Gass put the concern into the most human terms. Gass records, “He, and two Frenchmen who were with him had severally instructions from the government to make inquiry after our party; as they were beginning to be uneasy about us”. Ordway writes it this way, “Mr. McLanen informed us that the people in general in the united States were concerned about us as they had heard that we were all killed then again they heard that the Spanyards had us in the mines &C. Mr. Gravveleen & Mr Drewyong had orders to make all enquiries for us.”
Not a search party per se, but orders to investigate their welfare none the less. Robert McClellan was Captain Clark’s friend. He had been a soldier with him in war. McClellan would be buried on Clark’s estate in St. Louis in 1815 upon his death. Joseph Gravelines had been in the Indian camp when the men wintered there in 1804. He was one of the men who took the Chief of the Arakara’s to Washington, DC.
Both parties stopped for the rest of the day to update one another. Can you imagine the joy of the upstream party seeing the Corps of Discovery in good health and spirits? Like every upstream group of travelers, McClellan and Gravelines offered the men whatever they had. Ordway records, “Mr. McLanen gave our officers wine and the party as much whiskey as we all could drink.”
A celebration. Rightfully so. There was a lot to celebrate between these men who have been to the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans since the winter of 1804. And it appears that a whole nation had begun to worry “about that which was lost.”
“My son was dead and has come back to life. He was lost but has been found.' Then they began to celebrate.” (Luke 15:24 GW)
Ever thought you lost something only to find it later? Feels good doesn’t it? Ever lost anyone? Most of us have. Remember the joy in the finding? I do. My little special needs daughter and her little friend headed up the road after the runaway dog determined to corral him. Two blocks, several gray hairs and a near coronary later I found them hot on the dog’s path. I can’t describe the relief and joy in seeing them marching up the road.
William Clark’s famous line upon seeing the Pacific Ocean was repeated by Robert McClellan and Mr. Gravelines this day when they saw their friends. I bet they uttered some form of Clark’s famous words, “Oh the Joy!”
Proceed on.
Search Party
Rivers in the early part of the 19th Century were the equivalent of our Interstate highways. No Oregon Trail yet existed and certainly no Northern Pacific Railroad to carry men and goods. Rivers were freeways. Canoes instead of Cadillacs. No yellow lines, concrete barriers or wide medians separating traffic on the river. Those traveling downstream met those traveling upstream. Every day for the past few days the Corps of Discovery encounters upstream traffic. Zebulon Pike, of Pike’s Peak, is among them. All parties coming upstream are glad to encounter our intrepid travelers. Rumors abound regarding how they may have met their end. Seeing the eastbound travelers all alive and well had to strengthen the hearts of those headed upstream. They could take genuine hope for success with them after seeing the Captains and their men alive and well.
Today the men met an old friend and a colleague on the River.
Sgt’s Ordway and Gass put the concern into the most human terms. Gass records, “He, and two Frenchmen who were with him had severally instructions from the government to make inquiry after our party; as they were beginning to be uneasy about us”. Ordway writes it this way, “Mr. McLanen informed us that the people in general in the united States were concerned about us as they had heard that we were all killed then again they heard that the Spanyards had us in the mines &C. Mr. Gravveleen & Mr Drewyong had orders to make all enquiries for us.”
Not a search party per se, but orders to investigate their welfare none the less. Robert McClellan was Captain Clark’s friend. He had been a soldier with him in war. McClellan would be buried on Clark’s estate in St. Louis in 1815 upon his death. Joseph Gravelines had been in the Indian camp when the men wintered there in 1804. He was one of the men who took the Chief of the Arakara’s to Washington, DC.
Both parties stopped for the rest of the day to update one another. Can you imagine the joy of the upstream party seeing the Corps of Discovery in good health and spirits? Like every upstream group of travelers, McClellan and Gravelines offered the men whatever they had. Ordway records, “Mr. McLanen gave our officers wine and the party as much whiskey as we all could drink.”
A celebration. Rightfully so. There was a lot to celebrate between these men who have been to the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans since the winter of 1804. And it appears that a whole nation had begun to worry “about that which was lost.”
“My son was dead and has come back to life. He was lost but has been found.' Then they began to celebrate.” (Luke 15:24 GW)
Ever thought you lost something only to find it later? Feels good doesn’t it? Ever lost anyone? Most of us have. Remember the joy in the finding? I do. My little special needs daughter and her little friend headed up the road after the runaway dog determined to corral him. Two blocks, several gray hairs and a near coronary later I found them hot on the dog’s path. I can’t describe the relief and joy in seeing them marching up the road.
William Clark’s famous line upon seeing the Pacific Ocean was repeated by Robert McClellan and Mr. Gravelines this day when they saw their friends. I bet they uttered some form of Clark’s famous words, “Oh the Joy!”
Proceed on.
posted by @2007 Dick Cinkovich | 6:23 PM
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