To crown all, the mosquitoes were pestilential in
their numbers and venom.
Nevertheless, the leaders of the expedition were determined to press on
and pass the Bitter Root Mountains as soon as a slight rest at Quamash
flats should be had. If they should tarry until the snows melted from
the trail, they would be too late to reach the United States that winter
and would be compelled to pass the next winter at some camp high up on
the Missouri, as they had passed one winter at Fort Mandan, on their way
out. This is the course of argument which Captain Lewis and Clark took
to persuade each other as to the best way out of their difficulties:--
"The snows have formed a hard, coarse bed without crust, on which the
horses walk safely without slipping; the chief difficulty, therefore, is
to find the road. In this we may be assisted by the circumstance that,
though generally ten feet in depth, the snow has been thrown off by the
thick and spreading branches of the trees, and from round the trunk;
while the warmth of the trunk itself, acquired by the reflection of the
sun, or communicated by natural heat of the earth, which is never frozen
under these masses, has dissolved the snow so much that immediately at
the roots its depth is not more than one or two feet. We therefore hope
that the marks of the baggage rubbing against the trees may still be
perceived; and we have decided, in case the guide cannot be procured,
that one of us will take three or four of our most expert woodsmen,
several of our best horses, and an ample supply of provisions, go on two
days' journey in advance, and endeavor to trace the route by the marks
of the Indian baggage on the trees, which we would then mark more
distinctly with a tomahawk.
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