More About Astorians 337 them to proceed on foot. Being without food for five days, LeClerc suggested that lots be cast to decide which one of the party should be killed and devoured, as the only alternative to death for all. Fortunately this sug- gestion was not adopted. Because of the dangers en- countered on the outward journey they chose a more southerly route, leading to the Platte and thence to the Missouri river, where canoes were secured for the last lap of the arduous journey. The route taken by them, in its greater extent, became later the Oregon Trail. Ramsay Crooks claimed they went through the celebrated South Pass, 5 the discovery of which in later years, has been credited to Fitzpatrick and other, and claimed also by Fremont. How short-lived is popular enthusiasm and hero-wor- ship! During the campaign for Governor of the new State of Missouri, in 1820, the followers of Gen. William Clark urged his election because "he had been to the Pacific Ocean and had seen and faced many hostile In- dians." An opposition paper scornfully printed an edit- orial to the effect that having seen the Pacific Ocean was not a sufficient qualification; that Wilson P. Hunt had also been there, but was considered unfit for a seat in the Constitutional Convention and was actually de- feated. The editor further stated "we doubt very much if Russell Farnham, who has been to the Pacific Ocean, and who is the only man who has circumnavigated the globe overland in northern latitudes, would be thought to be entitled to the office of Governor of Missouri." A few years later when George Shannon was a candidate for United States Senator from Missouri an enthusiastic campaigner boasted of the part he had taken, when a mere youth, in the famous expedition of Lewis and Clark. He was likewise ridiculed and defeated. You all know the story of the struggle, hardships and 5 Letter from Ramsay Crooks to Anthony Dudgeon, New York, Tune 26, 1856.
