The Mad River

I hope all of you had a marvelous Mother's Day, and are celebrating today, Memorial Day, in the most pleasant of ways. To all who served, or tried to serve, I thank you! I am wearing the tee shirt I bought from the Vietnam Women's Memorial that says, "Not All Women Wore Love Beads" with a photo of the dog tag chain and two dog tags that say, "Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation" and, "Honoring Women Who Served." I keep thinking I should dig out my dog tags to wear with it. Maybe if I go out again;-)

First off, news of the agent, Hong Kong, cabbages, and.... I have received the Agreement from the Agent, and, because she is in Hong Kong, under different laws than ours here in the States, I have hired an Intellectual Property attorney who specializes in dealings with China and knows and understands their laws, to go over it and either Bless it or make Suggested Changes to it. So I still have no more exciting news to share along those lines. Next week?

I have a real publisher for Madame Dorion: Her Journey to the Oregon Country, and if you aren't going to be in the Kennewick area and able to attend my book signing at Barnes & Noble on 7 June between 1 – 3pm, please consider buying your copy from this link: http://www.sandhpublishing.com/Madame_Dorion.html and if you would like it signed, please contact me through this blog or my Face Book page https://www.facebook.com/MadameDorion.

"I literally could not put the book down once I had started reading it. I thought the author did a wonderful job of attempting to interpret and determine how the journey to the Oregon Territory must have been for Madame Dorion... I appreciate the fact that the author, Lenora Rain Lee Good, did her very best to introduce us to another hero of that period long ago. –VO"

The end of September arrived, cold, wet, windy, and on 1 October 1811, the party had climbed out of the Spanish River valley, and arrived at the banks of the Mad River, so called because it was, obviously, mad (angry) as it crashed through the mountains just south of Teton Pass.

This is a section of the Snake River, and due to the construction and lack of turnouts when we drove, we did not stop to get pictures. At the time Marie & Co. were there, anyone who tried to take a canoe (non-flexible dug-outs) down the river, was also considered mad (slightly insane). I am not recommending this site for anything other than pictures, and there are many more sites on the www. http://mad-river.com

Pierre and some of the men tried walking down the Mad River to see if they could find a place to build and launch canoes, but quickly returned with the bad news. They would have to continue on to Henry's Post (or Henry's Fort, whichever you care to call it.) The Hunt party travelled over what we now know as the Teton Pass, and up the Teton Valley, probably following the Teton River. There is some discussion as to whether Henry's Post was near present-day St. Anthony ID on Frank's Fork or on Connant Creek near present day Ashton, ID.  At any rate, the Post was not a military post, at best it was a place where  Andrew Henry and his fellow trappers wintered over the previous year. The descriptions vary somewhat as to what was actually there—cabins (maybe 2), lean-tos, and or cellars. Whatever was there, would have offered some shelter from the elements, if not the coziness of a warm home.

"8 October 1811. Henry's Post is deserted, as expected. There are two log cabins and a dirt cellar, but that is all.

            "Today has been cold. I am glad Pierre insisted I make the warm clothes. The winds are from the west, and bring flurries of snow. The deserted cabins offer shelter from the wind and the snow. The lean-to is gone.

            "The voyageurs are eager to begin building canoes and getting back to the water they know and love and already are felling trees to hollow for dugouts."

By the 18th October, they had made 15 canoes, and on the 19th left all their horses (against the advice of Pierre and some others) with friendly Indians to watch over and return to them on their way back home the following year. All unnecessary equipment was cached and waiting for their return. They were finally going to be on the Snake River, just a few days away from the Columbia, and then just a few days more and they would be at Fort Astoria. Marie would be there in time to have the baby and have women about her to help.

Next Week: Cauldron Linn