sculptured ruins, and having the appearance of being the productions of art. Of these objects of natural scenery they give a most glowing description. On the 3d of June the expedition reached a junction of two branches of the river, when they were at a loss to determine which was the true Missouri river. Parties, one under Captain Lewis and the other under Captain Clarke, proceeded to explore both branches by land. The party under Captain Lewis, on the 13th, reached the Great Falls of the Missouri on the I southern branch, which determined the question. One of the men was sent to inform Captain Clarke of the discovery. The explorers give a vivid description of the wonderful and beautiful scenery which is here presented. In the vicinity of the falls they saw a herd of at least a thousand buffalo, one of which they shot. Here Captain Lewis himself had an encounter with a large brown bear, from which he escaped by plunging into the river. Mention is made of grasshoppers at the mouth of Medicine river, about twelve miles above the Great Falls, in such multitudes that the herbage on the plains was in part destroyed by them. At that point the Missouri is described as being three hundred yards wide, and Medicine river one hunhundred and thirty-seven yards wide. The party remained here until the 15th of July, examining the surrounding country, constructing canoes, and making general preparations for continuing the journey. On that day they again embarked with eight heavily loaded canoes, encountering many difficult places for navigating, owing to the rapids. Toward the latter part of July they reached a point where the Missouri is formed of three branches, one of which they called Jefferson, one Madison, and one Gallatin. Here the party divide and explore the several branches, partly for the purpose of finding the Shoshones, the Indians that were known to inhabit that region. On the 11th of August they encountered a single Indian on horseback, who proved to be one of that tribe or nation. Captain Lewis, who had continued his course up the Jefferson, or principal branch forming the sources of the Missouri, reached a point where it had so diminished in width that one of his men in a fit of enthusiasm, with one foot on each side of the rivulet, thanked God that he had lived to bestride the Missouri. A few miles further on they reached the point where issues the remotest water—the hitherto hidden sources of that river, which had never before been seen by civilized man. They sat down by the brink of the little rivulet, and quenched their thrist at the chaste and icy fountain, which sends its modest tribute down to the great ocean thousands of miles away. Crossing over the the dividing line between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, at a distance of three-quarters of a mile, they stopped to taste for the first time the waters of the Columbia, here a stream of clear, cold water flowing westward. On the same day Captain Lewis succeeded in gaining a friendly interview with the Shoshones. Captain Clarke, with a part of the expedition, was at this time at the junction of the three branches of the Missouri, and Captain Lewis engaged a number of the Indians, with about thirty of their horses, to transport their merchandise and outfit to the Shoshone camp.

The Shoshones are described as being a small tribe of the nation called the Snake Indians, an appellation which embraces the inhabitants of the southern parts of the Rocky Mountains and of the plains on either side. During the summer the Shoshones resided about the headwaters of the Columbia, where they lived chiefly on salmon. In their journal the explorers give a long and interesting account of the habits, traditions, and manner of

life of this people. They found them honest, friendly, and ready to render them all assistance in their power. After purchasing twenty-nine horses from the Shoshones, the party on the 30th of August resumed their journey toward the Pacific. On the 4th of September, after many difficulties in finding a practicable route, they came to a large encampment of Indians who received them with great cordiality. The pipe of peace was introduced and a council held. They represented themselves as a band of a nation called Tushepaws, a numerous people then residing on the headwaters of the Missouri and Columbia rivers. The Indians shared their berries and roots with the strangers and received some presents. Several horses were purchased from them. On the 6th they reached a stream to which they gave the name of Clarke river, Captain Clarke being the first white man who ever visited its waters. The route was a rugged one, and in many places almost impracticable, and to add to the difficulties of the situation, snow had been falling, so that on the 16th it. was six or eight inches deep. The difficulty of procuring game or other subsistence made it necessary for them to kill several of their horses on this part of their journey, for food. They had a little of what was called portable soup which they used by melting some snow. This, and about twenty pounds of bear's oil, was their only remaining subsistence. They were now in a region where their guns were of little service, for there was scarcely a living creature to be seen in those mountains. Captain Clarke and siv hunters searched the mountains all day for game but found none, and 91. night encamped on a small stream to which they gave the name of Hungry Creek. Their only refreshment during the day was a little of the portabl soup. On the 26th, Captain Clarke and his hunting party encountered three Indian boys, and sent them forward to the village with some presents. An Indian came out to meet them, and conducted them to a large tent in the village, which was the residence of the great chief. After some introductory ceremonies by signs, the Indians set before the strangers some buffalo meat, dried salmon, berries and several kinds of roots. This, after their long abstinence, was a sumptuous treat. One of the chiefs conducted them to another village, two miles away, where they were received with great kind ness and passed the night. These Indians called themselves Chopunish, or Pierced-Nose (Nez Perces). With a few articles Captain Clarke chanced to have in his pockets he purchased some dried salmon, roots and berries and sent them by one of his men and a hired Indian back to Captain Lewis. The main body with Captain Lewis had been so fortunate as to kill a few pheasants and a prairie wolf. As soon as it was known in the villages that the wonderful strangers had arrived the people crowded in to see them. Twisted Hair, the chief, drew a chart or map of the country and streams on a white elk-skin, which was of great service in guiding them on their course. From these Indians as many provisions were purchased as could be carried on their horses. After proceeding down the river some distance, they determined to continue their journey in canoes, which they set about constructing. By the 7th of October the canoes were launched and loaded. The horses were branded and left with the Indians to be kept until their return. Accompanied by some of the Indians down Lewis river, the expedition finally reached the Columbia on the 16th, having stopped at a number of villages on the way. The Columbia at the mouth of Lewis river they found to be 960 yards wide, and Lewis river 575 yards wide. Here they found themselves among a nation who called themselves Sokulks, a

people of a mild and peaceable disposition. Fish was their principal article of food. On the 18th they resumed their journey down the Columbia in the presence of many of the Sokulks who came to witness their departure. They passed many different tribes who inhabited the borders of the Columbia, all of whom they visited in their villages and encampments, learning their condition, habits, history and mode of living. Wherever they halted large numbers of Indians gathered to see them, and generally manifested the greatest kindness and hospitality. All of them had pierced noses.

On the 22d of October the party reached the Great Falls of the Columbia. Many Indians inhabited this portion of the country, and some of them assisted the party in unloading the canoes, transporting the goods around the falls, and in bringing down the canoes. At one place it was necessary to haul the canoes over a point of land to avoid a perpendicular fall of seventy feet. Some distance below the falls they came to a village of another tribe, or nation, called the Echeloots. Here they found the first wooden houses they had seen after leaving the settlements near the Mississippi. They were made of logs and poles, with poles for rafters and covered with white cedar, kept on by strands of cedar fibres. The inhabitants received the strangers with great kindness, invited them to their houses, and came in great numbers to see them. They were surprised to find that these Indians spoke a language quite different from that of the tribes above the Great Falls. Some of their customs, however, were the same. Like the tribes they had recently visited, they flattened the heads of their children, and in nearly the same manner. Among the mountain tribes, however, this custom was confined to the females almost exclusively, whereas the Echeloots subjected both sexes to the operation. On the 18th they came to another tribe where they saw a British musket and several brass tea-kettles which the Indians prized very highly. In the interview with the chief he directed his wife to hand hin his medicine-bag, from which he drew out fourteen forefingers, which he said had belonged to the same number of his enemies whom he had killed in battle. These fingers were shown with great exultation, after which they were carefully replaced among the other valuable contents of the medicine-bag. This was the first instance in which the explorers had observed that any other trophy than the scalp was ever carried from the field in Indian warfare.

On the 2d of November the party passed the rapids which form the last descent of the Columbia, and tide-water commences. On this part of the Columbia they began to meet with tribes who had some knowledge of the whites, and from articles in their possession, it was observed that they had maintained some sort of trade or barter with the whites. The Indians here also began to be troublesome and were disposed to pilfer whenever an opportunity offered, showing that in their intercourse with the whites they had contracted some vices that they are free from in the absence of such intercourse. On the 16th of November, 1805, the expedition encamped in full view of the Pacific Ocean, at Haley's Bay, as laid down by Vancouver. Their long, tedious and eventful journey to the Pacific having ended, they made preparations for going into winter quarters. Some distance below the mouth of the Columbia, three miles above the mouth of a little river that empties into the bay, in a thick grove of lofty pines, they formed their winter encampment. Game was exceedingly plenty, and during the winter they were visited by a large number of the Indians inhabiting the coast region. They called the place Fort Clatsop, from the tribe of Indians inhabiting the imine

diate vicinity. Here they remained until the 23d of March, 1806, when they commenced their return, by the same route.

Before leaving, Captains Lewis and Clarke posted up in the fort a note to the following effect:

"The object of this is, that through the medium of some civilized person, who may see the same, it may be made known to the world that the party consisting of the persons whose names are hereto annexed, and who were sent out by the government of the United States to explore the interior of the continent of North America, did cross the same by the way of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, to the discharge of the latter into the Pacific ocean, where they arrived on the 14th day of November, 1805, and departed the 23d day of March, 1806, on their return to the United States, by the same route by which they came out."

It is somewhat singular that this note a short time after fell into the hands of a Captain Hill, while on the coast near the mouth of the Columbia river. It was delivered to him by some Indians, and taken to Canton, China, from whence it was brought to the United States in January, 1807. On the 23d of September, 1806, the party reached the mouth of the Missouri, and decended the Mississippi to St. Louis, arriving at 12 o'clock. IIaving fired a salute, they went on shore, where they "received a most hearty and hospitable welcome from the whole village."

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This is but a very partial and hasty review of that romantic and extraordinary expedition-the first exploration by authority of the government of the United States, of that wonderful region which of late years has attracted so much attention. It gave to the world the first authentic account of the upper Missouri and its tributaries, and of the rivers that flow from the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains and seek the Pacific Ocean through the great Columbia. It imparted to civilized man some definite knowledge of the strange tribes whose homes were on the borders of those rivers; of their habits, traditions and modes of life; of the fauna and flora of a region hitherto unknown, and of natural scenery not surpassed in grandeur and sublimity by that of any other part of the world. Other explorers have since revealed a portion of the hidden treasures of that part of our national domain, but the pioneer expeditien of Lewis and Clarke, so successfully accomplished, will always possess a peculiar and thrilling interest.

SKETCH OF CHICAGO.

First White Visitors-The Name-Jean Baptiste-John Kinzie-Ft. Dearborn-EvacuationThe Massacre Heroic Women--Capt. Heald-Capt. Wells-Scalping the Wounded-Ft. Dearborn Re-built-Illinois and Michigan Canal-Chicago Laid Out-Removal of Indians City Organization-Pioneer Religious Societies-Public Improvements-Location of City-Growth-The Great Fire-Rise of the New Chicago.

THE history of so great a city as Chicago, like that of London, or Paris, or New York, by reason of its commercial, financial and other relations to the world at large, is a history of world-wide interest. Not that Chicago inay yet be compared in size, population or wealth with the great cities named, would we mention it in connection with them, and yet, considering its age, it is greater than either of them. In its ratio of increase in population, commerce, and general progress, it is to-day outstripping them. In what civilized part of the globe is Chicago not heard of, read of, and known?