Tuesday June 10th. 1806
This morning we arrose early and had our horses collected
except one of Cruzatt's and one of Whitehouse's, which were
not to be found; after a surch of some hours Cruzatt's horse
was obtained and the indians promised to find the other and
bring it to us at the quawmash flatts where we purpose encamping
a few days. at 11 A. M. we set out with the party each
man being well mounted and a light load on a second horse,
beside which we have several supenemary horses in case of
accedent or the want of provision, we therefore feel ourselves
perfectly equiped for the mountains. we ascended the river
hills which are very high and about three miles in extent our
course being N. 22°. E. thence N. 15. W. 2 m to Collin's creek.
thence due North 5 m. to the Eastern border of the quawmash
flatts where we encamped near the place we first met with the
Chopunnish last fall
[3]
the pass of Collins's Creek was deep
and extreemly difficult tho' we passed without sustaining further
injury than weting some of our roots and bread. the country
through which we passed is extreemly fertile and generally free
of stone, is well timbered with several speceis of fir, long leafed
pine and larch. the undergrowth is chooke cherry near the
water courses, black alder, a large speceis of redroot now in
blume, a growth which resembles the pappaw in it's leaf and
which bears a burry with five valves of a deep perple colour,
two speceis of shoemate sevenbark, perple haw, service berry,
goosburry,
[4]
wild rose honeysuckle which bears a white berry,
and a speceis of dwarf pine which grows about ten or twelve
feet high. bears a globular formed cone with small scales, the
leaves are about the length and much the appearance of the
common pitch pine having it's leaves in fassicles of two; in
other rispects they would at a little distance be taken for the
young plants of the long leafed pine.
[5]
there are two speceis
of the wild rose both quinqui petallous and of a damask red but
the one is as large as the common red rose of our gardens. I
observed the apples of this speceis last fall to be more than
triple the size of those of the ordinary wild rose; the stem of
this rose is the same with the other tho' the leaf is somewhat
larger.
[6]
after we encamped this evening we sent out our
hunters; Collins killed a doe on which we suped much to our
satisfaction. we had scarcely reached Collins's Creek before
we were over taken by a party of Indians who informed us that
they were going to the quawmash fiatts to hunt; their object
I beleive is the expectation of b[e]ing fed by us in which however
kind as they have been we must disappoint them at this
moment as it is necessary that we should use all frugallaty as
well as employ every exertion to provide meat for our journey.
they have encamped with us. we find a great number of
burrowing squirels about our camp of which we killed several;
I eat of them and found them quite as tender and well flavored
as our grey squirel. saw many sand hill crains and some ducks
in the slashey glades about this place.
