Indians tinkling bells, bright colored calicoes, and such other gay novelties as quickly appealed to these Forest Children.

On the 14th of May, 1804, the exploring party departed from St. Louis to laboriously ascend the Missouri. For weeks they proceeded through a region inhabited on either side the stream by semi-barbarous tribes. They landed at frequent intervals to cultivate the good will of the Indians and to make observations of the land surrounding the river. Herds of buffalo, many snakes, wolves, a few elk and plenty of deer were seen. There was no lack of fresh meat and wild fowl were abundant.

Council Bluff takes its name from the fact that near the site of that present city, Lewis and Clark met with representatives of the Ottoes and Missouri Indians; smoked the pipe of peace and presented gifts in the name of the great White Father of the United States. This meeting took place on the 3rd of August, 1804.

By the 25th of that month, they had ascended the stream to within twenty miles of Sioux City. Here a great mound held their attention. They found the Indians regarded it with superstitious fears, believing it to be inhabited by spirits. It measured nine hundred feet in length, two hundred in width and rose by steep elevation to a height of seventy feet. In this vicinity they saw many buffalo, prairie dogs, wild turkeys and ducks.

The first of November found the cold of winter closing in upon them and it seemed best to prepare winter quarters. The site of their camp was three miles below Bismarck, in North Dakota. Around them were villages of Mandans-Indians whom certain authorities have claimed to bear affinity to the Jewish race. Their remote connection to the Lost Tribes of Israel has been advocated. The tribe today is nearly extinct. Next to the Sioux, they were at that time the strongest in the northwest, being able to muster one thousand fighting warriors. They were friendly to the Lewis and Clark party and aided as they were able. The winter was very cold-the mercury often hovering around forty below zero. The leaders spent the months investigating the country to the slight extent they were able-covered as it was by its snowy blanket. They studied the habits of the Mandans, whose immorality they thought

appalling; yet they themselves fared well among this nation, which was intelligent and thrifty.

April 7, 1805, they broke camp, sending back the keelboat to St. Louis with thirteen men. The rest began the ascent of the river in light canoes and skiffs. One important fact is to be noted: they engaged a French guide, Chaboneau, to accompany them. While he was cowardly and of slight use, his Indian wife, Sacajawea-Bird Woman—proved of invaluable assistance and time and again in his journal Lewis credits the success of the difficult passages to her instinctive guidance in discovering mountain passes and portages. Her child was born during the journey, she carrying him on her back during much of the way. She had been stolen from her own people and sold as a slave, having become one of the wives of this half-breed. While he continually complained about the difficulties of the way, never a murmur passed her lips and the little party found her undaunted courage and fearlessness inspiring.

By the 26th of April they reached the junction of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. Great Falls was reached by the 16th of June and the Fourth of July was celebrated by a great feast of elk and bear meat. By September 12th the site of the present town of Missoula was gained. The Shoshones inhabited this region. They were poor but honest, and Lewis found them entirely trustworthy. The abundance of fresh berries and plants had made the entire party ill and for a time they were obliged to recuperate. By the first of November they had descended the Columbia to within one hundred miles of Portland. Six days later they gained sight of the great ocean and in December went into winter quarters near Astoria.

Having exhausted their supply of salt fish, several men were occupied during the winter months in evaporating ocean water to extract the salt and thus prepare a stock of dried fish to maintain them during the homeward journey. This proved to be somewhat slow and laborious work.

Eager to start back, now that they had accomplished their purpose they broke camp in March, gratifying the Indians by dividing among them the huts they had constructed. On the 23rd they began to retrace their way, with faces set toward home; the expedition party reached St. Louis September 23,

1806, having covered a journey of 2555 miles to the ocean and the same distance in return.

So long a time had passed without a word from them that the party had been given up as lost. When their successful exploration was made known, great rejoicing throughout the Union followed and the journals of the men were read with tremendous interest.

Faint conception of this remarkable undertaking is conveyed by a perusal of these bare facts. No expedition has ever been fraught with greater dangers or filled with more absorbing interest. A little handful of men set out to traverse an unknown land. Uncivilized tribes might at any step prevent their passage and overcome them. Instead, with but few occasions when it was necessary to fire among them, they accomplished this long trip and added three states of today by right of discovery: Idaho, Washington, Oregon. Many a time their very lives were threatened by unforeseen catastrophes. Once in the mountains Clark and several of his companions stepped into a cave to await the passage of a shower. Suddenly there was a cloudburst and water in this apparently protecting cave arose many feet in five minutesforcing them to hurry for their lives. Only by reading their diaries can the numerous dangers of the way be conceived. Yet they reached civilization with the loss of but one member of the party, who died during the first part of the trip.

The Fair, held in Portland in 1905, commemorated this heroic and momentous expedition, particularly celebrating the discovery of Oregon and the great Northwest. It was the first exhibition to be held west of the Rockies and was the means of bringing a rich and resourceful district before the attention of those dwelling in the eastern and middle states. Even today the vast possibilities of this part of our country are unguessed by those most conversant with the Pacific Coast, and by the majority of American citizens they are not in the least realized.

The Lewis and Clark Exposition was not intended to rival the big fairs previously held in Chicago and St. Louis. In some respects it was more wonderful than either, but in others it did not even excite comparison. In the natural beauty of its location no exposition held away from the western coast could

rival it. The exposition grounds lay at the foot of Willamette Heights, on the outskirts of Portland and over a dark fringe of trees the eternal snows of the Cascades towered majestically. Land and water were amply included, a long bridge joining the mainland with a peninsula that reaches far into the water. It was merely a question of clearing away underbrush, and developing natural beauty bountifully provided by a prodigal nature. The government assisted only by its own exhibit-made in five buildings which were grouped on the peninsula. One of these buildings was devoted to irrigation the subject of such vital interest to the west. Only in recent years have the possibilities of irrigation been realized and the government has already expended large sums in reclaiming land that previously was regarded as valueless. It has now been conclusively proved that desert areas without fertilization can be made to blossom and yield fruit if they are but supplied with sufficient water. When the Federal government provided means for irrigation near Yuma, 105,000 acres of land, before a wilderness, were rendered arable and the yield since has been remarkable. Several other districts have been similarly dealt with and hundreds of thousands lie waste which will some day be converted into habitations for men. There is little doubt but that provision for saving the melting snow in Montana would supply adequate means for the cultivation of many of its present desolate regions.

For the first time in the history of expositions, irrigation was thoroughly displayed—dams, sluices, canals and irrigating ditches being shown in operation. This taught easterners more than volumes of wearisome treatises upon the subject could have ever done.

Foreign nations were invited to participate in this exhibition, their exhibits being shown largely in two buildings-the Foreign Exposition Building, devoted to European displays, and the Oriental Palace, in which several nations displayed their products liberally, but most completely were to be seen the products of Japan. It was said that the Mikado had not been satisfied with the exhibits made by his people at St. Louis and was determined that no effort should be spared to make their representation at Portland creditable.

No other structure excited greater interest than the For

estry Building-a typical Oregon creation. Excepting Old Faithful Inn, in the Yellowstone, it was the largest log building ever erected. 205 feet in length, 108 feet wide and 50 feet high, the fifty-two giant trees that, like columns, supported the roof were worthy examples of western primeval forest. Not a nail or bit of metal was used throughout; wooden pins joined together portions of the building. In galleries lining the interior, a large variety of woods, finished and unfinished, were ready for examination. All trees used in the structure were cut not very far from the exposition site, protected that their bark might not be bruised, branches lopped off and raised as they had recently stood for generations beneath the skies.

For the edification of those unacquainted with the lumbering industry, this exposition afforded a chance to see logging and manufacture of lumber in the doing.

Many states put up buildings on the grounds. Far-away Maine reproduced the birthplace of Longfellow. Inside was a Hiawatha Room and an Evangeline Room. No elaborate exhibition was provided, but the house constituted the headquarters for Maine guests. The legislature made no appropriation for this effort; instead, lovers of the poet throughout the state raised the money necessary by popular subscription.

Illinois reproduced Lincoln's log cabin, where as a boy he read such books as he could procure before the firelight by the hearth. More elaborate state buildings were visited less frequently than this-beloved by a whole nation.

The Lewis and Clark Exposition was regarded as thoroughly successful. It furnished an excellent opportunity for pioneers to rally and compare their early experiences, when the matter of traveling from one part of a state to another was a greater undertaking than traversing a continent to-day. It called the attention of Americans everywhere to the expedition of two brave men, who were not alone in being animated with the spirit of adventure but were typical of an age when exploration was the consuming interest of the courageous. While our histories have hitherto passed over the work of western pathfinders as of slight concern, it is probable that those written in the future will give western history more attention, while not lessening the importance of historical