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8 The Conservative *
I
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE.
Wo are allowed to reproduce here
with the address which was delivered at
Sioux Oity , Iowa , on Memorial Day of
this year , by Hem. John A. Kasson , in
connection with the dedication of the
Floyd monument ; a picturesque and
scholarly presentation of the moment
ous happenings of one hundred years
ago. Mr. Kasson said :
Fellow Oiti/ous : The occasion which
has brought this great assembly together
ovok'es the memory of many important
events in our national history. To all
except the aged pioneer it seems impos
sible that only a century ago all the fair
land we look upon from your historic
bluff and all westward to the continental
range of moxmtains was a desert and
under the dominion of despotic Spain ;
that all the land eastward to the Missis
sippi , as well as all toward the setting
sun was at that time , and had been for
unrecorded ages , in possession of wild
beasts and of savages of the human
race.
Sergeant Floyd.
Only ninety - seven summers have
passed since a roving Indian standing
on this highland would have witnessed
a scone altogether new and strange to
him. A barge 55 feet long , having a
forecastle forward and a cabin aft , car
rying twenty-two oars and a square sail ,
drew near this shore on its passage up
the great river of the Missouri. It was
accompanied by two smaller open boats ,
and altogether they carried about forty
pale-faces , chiefly soldiers. A number
of the men landed at the foot of the
bluff and ascended it , bearing gently a
burden which they deposited in a grave ,
and marked the spot with a rude cedar
post. Upon its face was inscribed the
name of Sergeant Charles Floyd , of the
United States army , who had died that
day , August 20 , 1804. No priest's
prayer or blessing was heard ; but cer
tain simple honors of the military ser
vice broke the sad silence of the cere
mony. After this solemn act these pale
faces descended the bluff to the boats ;
and the barge with its pirogues moved
a mile up the river into the mouth of a
tributary stream , then thirty yards wide
where the company camped for the
night. The brilliant stars of this
western firmament drew their eyes and
their thoughts heavenward , whither
their brave companion had just depart
ed , and made the scene more beautiful
than the day. In honor to the dead
they dedicated to his memory both the
burial bluff and the little river in which
they were moored. Thenceforth for all
time these two objects in nature shall
preserve the name of their dead com
rade. So does a name a mere sound in
the air become more imperishable than
any structure of human workmanship.
Unaffected by flood or tempest , or war's
destrnotiveness , it is repeated from
father to son , for all generations.
Thus prematurely died and was buried
the courageous young Keutuckian. He
had enlisted for a long and adventurous
service which was expected to lead him
along many mighty rivers , among many
wild and strange tribes , and over un
known mountains , until his eyes should
finally rest upon that great and distant
ocean which washed the western shores
of the unexplored continent. Although
he perished in the earlier stage of the
enterprise this lonely burial , which cut
off his hopes and his career , has pre
served his name and memory among
mankind above that of his comrades
who continued the struggle to the end ,
and who returned to receive the rewards
voted by an appreciative congress.
Lewis and Clark.
President Jefferson had in the winter
of 1802-8 conceived the of
- plan an ex
ploring expedition up the Missouri and
across the mountains to the Pacific with
the view of scientific investigation and
of opening trade with the Indians ; and
also of finding a feasible route for the
limited commerce of that day across the
continent. He hoped also to divert the
fur trade of the northwest into the
hands of Americans. He obtained an
appropriation from congress of $2,500 ,
with which he proceeded to organize a
company under the leadership of Oapts.
Meriwether Lewis , his private secre
tary , and William Olark. The details
of that expedition are interesting , but
are already so well known that there is
no occasion to repeat them in this ad
dress. Its success was only accomp
lished by the exercise of all the virtues
known to the life of the frontiersman.
It required valor , perseverance , mutual
trust , self-confidence , vigilance , knowl
edge of the instincts and characteristics
of the savage , inventive resource , en
durance , continuous toil and unlimited
courage. The explorers loft their camp
opposite the mouth of the Missouri on
May 14 , 1804 , and sixteen days from
their departure saw the last cabin of the
white man , about 100 miles from the
mouth of the river. It was ninety-seven
years ago this day that they bade fare
well to these huts of semi-civilization.
Thenceforward for many , many weary
months , upward , along the endless
windings and shifting sand-bars of that
treacherous river , and through the
gorges and over the trackless ridges of
confused mountains , and down the un
known streams rushing to the Pacific
ocean , abandoning their old boats and
building new , in peril of starvation , in
peril of drowning , in peril of wild
beasts and of wily savages , they pushed
their way over flooding waters and
pathless forests to their desolate desti
nation on an uncharted ocean coast , in
the far region of the sunset. Every
morning found them ignorant of where
_ - .
their evening would be. The sun by
day and the stars by night were the
only familiar things of the visible uni
verse. When in the opening of a second
winter season they arrived on the bleak
and desolate ocean shore at the mouth
of a great river , it was only to encounter
the incessant cold rains of winter , the
increasing dangers of famine , and the
attacks of disease. After four tedious
months of waiting , beside the deserted
waters of the Pacific , hoping vainly for
sight of a vessel that should take their
homeward messages around Cape Horn ,
in the third spring of their expedition
they turned their steps again into the
continental wilderness on their return
( if God would permit it ) to the laud of
civilization and of expectant friends.
The Return Journey.
Again the weary hunt for wild food ,
again the endless tugging at the oars up
stream , again the nigged transit of
mountain ranges , once more the search
for new passes and new waters of nav
igation in the tangled web of mountains
until at last in the summer of 1806 their
boats were again launched upon the
Missouri. Then for the first time they ,
felt themselves truly "homeward
bound. " Now the swift current of the
great stream which was lately their
enemy became their friend. Every lap
ping wavelet now sang of the nearing
home. The stars , ever brilliant in that
clear atmosphere , now seemed to shine
with increasing lustre as they rose up
from the distant east , where anxious
friends were awaiting the long expected
tidings. Familiar scenes of old camp
ing places appeared as they swiftly de
scended the river. More cheerily than
on .the upward voyage they now leaped
into the stream to push their boat from
the ever lurking , ever changing sand
bars. Instead of fifteen or twenty
miles a day , as on their upward voyage ,
they now counted fifty , sixty , even
seventy miles a clay. There was little
halting on their homeward course. But
as they came by the bluff on which we ,
are now standing the strong magnet of
memory drew them to the shore. Once
more the expedition halted at the landing -
ing that they might visit the grave of !
their dead comrade. They restored it
to a condition of safety , and then bade
the sacred deposit a long farewell. Lit
tle did they know , not one of the toil-
worn heroes ever dreamed of a future
scene like that we look upon today.
They saw only a solitary grave-mound
in a vast desert region , far away from
the abodes of civilization. We behold
a splendid monument commemorating
the spot where they laid their comrade
in his last camping ground , while jubi
lant thousands celebrate the brilliant
deeds of the men who then sailed sadly
away from the shore. They looked up
stream and eastward upon a limitless
solitude , stretching far away to the