On the twenty-fifth of April, the explorers believed, by the signs which
they observed, that they must be near the great unknown river of which
they had dimly heard as rising in the rocky passes of the Great Divide
and emptying into the Missouri. Captain Lewis accordingly left the
party, with four men, and struck off across the country in search of
the stream. Under the next day's date the journal reports the return of
Captain Lewis and says:--
"On leaving us yesterday he pursued his route along the foot of the
hills, which he descended to the distance of eight miles; from these
the wide plains watered by the Missouri and the Yellowstone spread
themselves before the eye, occasionally varied with the wood of the
banks, enlivened by the irregular windings of the two rivers, and
animated by vast herds of buffalo, deer, elk, and antelope. The
confluence of the two rivers was concealed by the wood, but the
Yellowstone itself was only two miles distant, to the south. He
therefore descended the hills and camped on the bank of the river,
having killed, as he crossed the plain, four buffaloes; the deer alone
are shy and retire to the woods, but the elk, antelope, and buffalo
suffered him to approach them without alarm, and often followed him
quietly for some distance."
The famous water-course, first described by Lewis and Clark, was named
by them the Yellow Stone River. Earlier than this, however, the French
voyageurs had called the Upper Missouri the Riviere Jaune, or Yellow
River; but it is certain that the stream, which rises in the Yellowstone
National Park, was discovered and named by Lewis and Clark.
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