way of Prairie du Chien
and St. Louis. He had two canoes loaded with merchandise which he was
taking up the river to trade with the Indians. Among the items of news
gathered from him, according to the private journal of one of the Lewis
and Clark party, was that General James Wilkinson was now Governor
of Louisiana Territory, and was stationed at St. Louis. This is the
Wilkinson who fought in the American Revolution, and was subsequently to
this time accused of accepting bribes from Spain and of complicity with
Aaron Burr in his treasonable schemes. Another item was to this effect:
"Mr. Burr & Genl. Hambleton fought a Duel, the latter was killed."
This brief statement refers to the unhappy duel between Aaron Burr
and Alexander Hamilton, at Weehawken, New Jersey, July 11, 1804. This
interesting entry shows with what feelings the long-absent explorers met
Mr. Airs:--

"After so long an interval, the sight of anyone who could give us
information of our country was peculiarly delightful, and much of the
night was spent in making inquiries into what had occurred during our
absence. We found Mr. Airs a very friendly and liberal gentleman; when
we proposed to him to purchase a small quantity of tobacco, to be paid
for in St. Louis, he very readily furnished every man of the party with
as much as he could use during the rest of the voyage, and insisted
on our accepting a barrel of flour. This last we found very agreeable,
although we have still a little flour which we had deposited at the
mouth of Maria's River. We could give in return only about six bushels
of corn, which was all that we could spare."

Three days later, the voyagers met a trading-boat belonging to Mr.
Augustus Chouteau, the founder of a famous trading-house in St. Louis.
From this party the captains procured a gallon of whiskey, and with this
they served out a dram to each of their men. "This," says the journal,
"is the first spirituous liquor any of them have tasted since the Fourth
of July, 1805." From this time forward, the returning explorers met
trading parties nearly every day; and this showed that trade was
following the flag far up into the hitherto unexplored regions of the
American continent.

The explorers, hungry for news from home, would have tarried and talked
longer with their new-found friends, but they were anxious to get
down to civilization once more. Their journal also says: "The Indians,
particularly the squaws and children, are weary o