| TIMETREE CHAPTERS: 1 Two Indians 2 Spring 3 His Brother The Wind 4 The First Years 5 Comings And Goings 6 Another Spring 7 The Great Meeting 8 Alone Yet Not Alone 9 Remembering 10 Tomorrow Gone Home Page |
Once Upon A Time, |
ANOTHER SPRING
The year was 1783 and the growing tree was 135 feet tall and 247 seasons old. Her trunk was four feet across and her main roots were huge. She felt strong and straight. Her branches were thick and full of green boughs. Many bird nests were scattered throughout her majestic height.
The wind came lazily one morning and informed the owl that a man, called President was sending explorers. His name was Thomas Jefferson. He had asked a certain George Rogers Clark to explore the newly named Missouri River for a passage to the Pacific Ocean. Clark and Meriwether Lewis were already on their way. They would sojourn in the land of the Sioux for the next few years.
The bear stuck her sleepy face outside the den and walked to the clearing between the growing tree and the old monarch tree trunk. She began to roll on the ground like a playful wolf puppy, and soon two baby cubs came tumbling out after her. "My word," exclaimed the owl.
The cubs, noisy and greedy with youth, chased the bear and tumbled after her. Soon they were gone as she led the new cubs down the trail to the river far below. She was very thirsty.
The owl was glad to see them go. "What rowdy children," he mumbled, shaking his head in disbelief.
Over the following years, the bear returned and raised two more families. Then, she was never seen again.
Lewis was living in a place called The White House. He was a friend to the man named Thomas Jefferson. In 1803, Congress approved the expedition, for an exploration to discover the first overland route to the Pacific Ocean. That expedition continued until 1806.
"You are now 247 seasons old," the owl informs the tree.
"Yes, and they are coming—look," sighs the wind.
Far to the east, walking slowly along the Indian trail, was a party of strangers led by a Shoshone Indian woman with a papoose on her back. Horses followed and were seen to disappear now and then into the forest canopy below.
"Who are they?" asked the tree in her soft voice.
"They are those called Lewis, and his friend Clark," answered the wind.
Under the great burnt monarch tree that evening, the large exploration party stopped and made camp. In his journal, whilst sitting against the tree, Lewis wrote—"This year is 1805". Two Indians in the party kept to themselves. The next morning the expedition leaves, picking up the old game trail heading west, following Sac-ka-ja-wee-ah, the Indian maiden scout. No one knew how to spell her name. She is the true heart of this expedition, and the greatest lady of the land. Only the owl knew this.
"She is as great as you," the owl informs the grand old tree. Her heart is big and her spirit itrue. She will live long after she leaves this mountain forever.
When the growing tree was three hundred and twenty four seasons old, the trail was named "The Lolo Trail". The year was 1860.
By then George Washington had lived and died. Lewis and Clark had slept under the tree and the black bear had also long since gone. The Constitution of the United States had been signed and war with England had been waged. In 1787, when the stately Yellow Pine was 251 years old, the Constitutional Convention was held. One year later on a July morning, nine states ratified the Constitution. On April 30, 1788, President Washington's inauguration date was set. The crowd shouted, "Long live George Washington!"
In 1800, in the summer, the site of the national capital was selected by George Washington to be built on top of a hill. Later this site is renamed Capital Hill.
In 1803, on May the 2nd, Monroe and Napoleon signed the treaty of cession for the purchase of the entire Louisiana Territory. By the year 1815, nine million people lived in the United States. The GreatYellow Pine was 279 seasons old then.
By 1830, the population of Texas swelled to 20,000. In 1836, the great battle of the Alamo was fought and James Bowie and David Crockett are killed there. The Santa Fe Trail opens in 1822.
General Nelson was one of the men to walk by the great tree after an Indian foe along the hidden Lolo Trail. Chief Joseph passed there during the night, escaping General Nelson’s hot pursuit. The Indians had no desire to live on a reservation, so Chief Joseph made a fool of General Nelson, time and again. On that fateful night, Chief Joseph slept under the great pine tree and an awesome vision came to him, telling him how to escape that night.
By June 1976 the tree stood 250 feet tall. That was also when Colonel Custer met and fought the Sioux on the Little Big Horn. Only one-half-breed Indian scout escaped the battle. Sitting Bull was the mighty, victorious warrior Chief. After the battle, he fled to Canada.
As usual, the east wind brought news of the wide world. "A great battle was fought yesterday," he informed the owl in passing
"Where?" hooted the owl.
"Only a few hundred miles to the east," moans the wind and as suddenly, it is gone.
For a hundred seasons, the north, south, west, and the fickle east winds talk to the tree, and the animals, of many things, particularly of wars and battles. The land was in turmoil. The tree and owl hoped that none of these bad events would ever visit their forest and the Loucsa Canyon.
One day, Kit Carson stopped to rest under the tree. He had an arrow in his shoulder, so his horse trotted down the trail, then turned up the mountain on his own, and stopped by the tree and spring to drink and graze. The young man slid off and falls to the ground. He lay still for two days, and on the second day the wind brought rain that revived him. He crossed the river when strong enough, and the owl and tree knew of his campfire inside the cave for the duration of one complete moon cycle. Indians came looking for the scout and finally gave up. The tree swayed in despair at such sad happenings, and the owl hooted at night. They were both relieved to see the cave vacated, one September morning.
On March 4th, 1861 Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States, which wasn't so united after all, it was to be discovered.
In July, the battle of Bull Run near the capital, Washington, was a bad affair. The South drew first blood. This battle brought Commander McClellan to leadership. Civil war between the North and the South was fought in earnest when McClellan assaulted the heights of Fredricksburg. In the spring of 1862, General Grant took Fort Henry in February. In the course of ten days, Fort Donelson fell. Slowly the months rolled by, and the wind brought more news to the great tree that Vicksburg had surrendered on July 4th, 1863.
Montana Territory was organized in 1864. The great tree was now three hundred and twenty eight seasons old. She stood 273 feet tall. Her trunk was over twelve feet across. She was now a very stately tree and possibly the largest of her kind. In the late summer of the same year, General Grant issued the order to lay waste the Shenandoah Valley. The following year, March 1865, Generals Sherman, Sheridan and Grant, with President Lincoln, met at Grant's camp to end the civil war. On April 9th the terms of surrender were accepted at Appomattox Court House. The war ended as suddenly as it had began.
The growing Yellow Pine Tree in the far west was now 329 seasons old. She was indeed the tallest of her kind in all the mountains. But this was not known to anyone, or anything else, not even the owl knew, really.
"Hate continues, (the wind whispers to the owl) even after the Civil War, well into 1870 with the emergence of a strange new tribe called the Ku Klux Klan, and there is news of strange ribbons of steel crossing the land."
Years later, there was to be the completion of The Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, at Ogden, Utah.
This took much explaining, for the owl and the tree to understand. To settle their confusion, the owl flew south to see these steel ribbons for himself. He returned four months later with confusing, exciting details.
| TIMETREE CHAPTERS: 1 Two Indians 2 Spring 3 His Brother The Wind 4 The First Years 5 Comings And Goings 6 Another Spring 7 The Great Meeting 8 Alone Yet Not Alone 9 Remembering 10 Tomorrow Gone Home Page |
Once Upon A Time, |
