St. Genevieve. 4j 



" During that winter the ice was so thick, the patron 

 said we might venture to start. The cargo was soon on 

 board, and the camp given up to the Indians, after bid- 

 ding mutual adieus, as when brothers part. The naviga- 

 tion was now of the most dangerous kind ; the boat was 

 pushed by long poles on the ice, and against the bottom 

 when it could be touched, and we moved extremely 

 slowly. The ice was higher than our heads, and I fre- 

 quently thought that if a sudden thaw should take place 

 we should be in great peril ; but fortunately all this was 

 escaped, and we reached safely the famous cape. 



" But the village was small, and no market for us, and 

 we determined to push up to St. Genevieve, and once 

 more were in motion between the ice. We arrived in a 

 few days at the grand tower, where an immense rock in 

 the stream makes the navigation dangerous. Here we 

 used our cordellas, and with great difficulty and peril 

 passed it safely. It was near this famous tower of granite 

 that I first saw the great eagle that I have named after 

 our good and great General Washington. The weather 

 continued favorable, and we arrived in safety at St. Gene- 

 vieve, and found a favorable market. Our whiskey was 

 especially welcome, and what we had paid twenty-five 

 cents a gallon for, brought us two dollars. St. Gene- 

 vieve was then an old French town, twenty miles below 

 St. Louis, not so large, as dirty, and I was not half so 

 pleased with the time spent there as with that spent in 

 the Tawapatee Bottom. Here I met with the Frenchman 

 who accompanied Lewis and Clark to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. They had just returned, and I was delighted to 

 learn from them many particulars of their interesting 

 journey." 



