After travelling all day they reached camp about five o'clock in the
afternoon, and found Captain Clark and the party very anxious for their
safety. As they had stayed two days longer than had been expected, and
as Captain Clark had returned at the appointed time, it was feared that
they had met with some accident."
As we now know, the stream that came in from the north was that which
is still called Maria's (or Marais) River, and the so-called branch from
the southwest was the Missouri River. Lewis and Clark, however, were in
the dark as to the relations of the two streams. Which was the parent?
Which was the branch? After pondering all the evidence that could be
collected to bear on the important question, the two captains agreed
that the southern stream was the true Missouri, and the northern stream
was an important branch. The journal says:
"These observations, which satisfied our minds completely, we
communicated to the party; but every one of them was of a contrary
opinion. Much of their belief depended on Crusatte, an experienced
waterman on the Missouri, who gave it as his decided judgment that the
north fork was the genuine Missouri. The men, therefore, mentioned that,
although they would most cheerfully follow us wherever we should direct,
yet they were afraid that the south fork would soon terminate in the
Rocky Mountains, and leave us at a great distance from the Columbia. In
order that nothing might be omitted which could prevent our falling into
an error, it was agreed that one of us should ascend the southern branch
by land, until we reached either the falls or the mountains.
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