The Great Clearing

By editor

Sula, Ravalli County, Montana, September 1805

If you are going to cross the Bitterroot Mountains in September, it is generally advisable to have a good horse. If you do not have a good horse, it is advisable to have a bad horse. If you have no horse at all, you are in for a very long walk, and you will likely end up eating your moccasins before you reach the other side.

When Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark arrived at the place the Séliš called Kwtít Pupxm (the Great Clearing), they had horses, but they were in a pitiful state. The animals were exhausted, footsore, and entirely unenthusiastic about the prospect of climbing another mountain. The men were not in much better shape. They had spent the previous night freezing in the snow, and the morning of September 5, 1805, opened with a heavy white frost. To make matters worse, the local dogs had developed a taste for leather and had eaten several pairs of the men's moccasins during the night.

But the Great Clearing, known today as Ross' Hole, was a place of abundance. For generations, the Séliš had used this broad, grassy valley as a staging ground. From here, they could travel south to the Salmon River to fish, or east to the plains to hunt buffalo. On this particular morning, the valley was filled with over thirty lodges, four hundred people, and, of greatest interest to the shivering, moccasin-less explorers, at least five hundred excellent horses.

The captains, recognizing a captive market when they saw one, decided it was time to do some shopping.

First, however, there was the matter of diplomacy. You cannot simply walk into a Séliš camp and start kicking the tires on their ponies. You must hold a council. You must smoke the pipe. You must hand out medals and flags and explain that you are the representatives of a great father in Washington who wishes to be friends with everyone.

The only problem was the language barrier. The Séliš spoke a language that sounded to the Americans like a series of complicated throat-clearing exercises. Sergeant John Ordway, listening to them talk, decided they must be the legendary Welsh Indians, on the grounds that nobody but a Welshman could make sounds like that on purpose.

To tell the Séliš that they wanted to buy horses, the captains had to employ a translation chain that would have made the builders of the Tower of Babel throw up their hands in despair. Captain Clark spoke in English to Private Labiche. Labiche translated the English into French for Toussaint Charbonneau. Charbonneau translated the French into Hidatsa for his wife, Sacagawea. Sacagawea translated the Hidatsa into Shoshone for a young Shoshone boy who happened to be living with the Séliš. And the boy, finally, translated the Shoshone into Séliš for the chiefs.

By the time "We would like to buy some horses" reached the other end of the line, it is a wonder it did not come out as "My hovercraft is full of eels."

But the Séliš understood the universal language of trade goods. The captains laid out their merchandise in little piles, and the bargaining began. The Séliš, who were described by the journalists as the "likelyest and honestest" people they had met, proved to be generous trading partners. They took the expedition's worn-out, broken-down nags and traded them for fresh, strong animals, accepting only a few small articles of merchandise in return.

By the end of the day, the expedition had purchased eleven new horses and exchanged seven of their worst ones. They also bought pack saddles and cords, paying for them with whatever small trinkets they had left.

It was a good day's work. The expedition now had forty horses and three colts, enough to carry their baggage and keep them moving over the terrible mountains that lay ahead. The Séliš, for their part, had a collection of new medals, a few shirts, and the satisfaction of having helped a band of strange, lisping, blanketless men who seemed entirely unsuited for the wilderness.

The next morning, the two groups parted ways. The Séliš headed east toward the Missouri River to hunt buffalo, and the Corps of Discovery headed north, deeper into the Bitterroots, toward the Pacific Ocean and whatever fresh miseries awaited them there. But for one day in the Great Clearing, the universe had been kind, the trading had been fair, and nobody had to eat their own shoes.

See also

• The Great Clearing at Sula, Ravalli County (Erected by U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Montana Department of Transportation)
• First Impressions, detailing the initial encounter between the Corps and the Séliš
• Lewis and Clark at Ross' Hole, the broader story of the expedition's arrival in the valley