Gass Describes the Great Falls Portage

Gass provides practical details of the brutal 18-mile portage around the Great Falls — one of the most physically demanding episodes of the entire expedition.

“The prickley pear was very troublesome to our moccasioned feet.”

The men built crude wagons from cottonwood trunks to haul the canoes and supplies, but the terrain — rocky, hilly, and covered with prickly pear cactus — made every step miserable. Hailstorms battered them, grizzly bears menaced them, and the heat was oppressive. The portage took from June 16 to July 15, nearly a full month.