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22nd August Friday 1804.—

Set out early wind from the South at three miles we
landed at a Bluff where the two men Sent with the horses
were waiting with two Deer, by examonation this (I) Bluff
Contained Alum, Copperas, Cobalt, Pyrites; a Alum Rock
Soft & Sand Stone. Capt. Lewis in proveing the quality of
those minerals was Near poisoning himself by the fumes &
tast of the Cobalt which had the appearance of Soft Isonglass.
Copperas & alum is verry pisen,[22] Above this Bluff a Small

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Page 117
Creek coms in from the L. S. passing under the Clift for Several
Miles, this Creek I Call Roloje a name I learned last
night is M[ ]s (2) Seven Miles above is a Clift of Allom
Stone of a Dark Brown Colr. Containing also incrusted in the
crevices & shelves of the rock great qts. of Cobalt, Semented
Shels & a red earth. from this the (3) river bends to the East
and is within 3 or 4 miles of the River Soues at the place where
that river Coms from the high land into the Low Prairie &
passes under the foot of those Hills to its Mouth.

Capt. Lewis took a Dost of Salts to work off the effects of
the arsenic, we camped on the S. S.[23] Sailed the greater part
of this day with a hard wind from the S. E. Great deel of
Elk Sign, and great appearance of wind from the N. W.

Course Distance & refr. 22nd Augt.

             
S. 47° W.  1 1/4  Mls. on the S. point 
West  1 1/4  Mls. to the lower point of a Bluff on the L. S. (1) 
N. 18. W.  2 1/2  Mls. to a pt. of high wood on the L. S. passd a
Creek (2) 
N. 56. W.  5 1/2  Mls. to a Clift on the L. S. opsd a pt. pass'd a Sand
bar on both sides of the river (3) 
N. 54. E.  2  Mls. to a pt. of Sand on the L. S. opsd the R. Soues
is near the Missourie (4) 
N. 48. W.  6 1/2  Mls. to a Tree in the Prarie on the S. S. psd. a pt. of
Sand on the S. S. 2 Sand bars in the middle of
the river. 
19 

ordered a Vote for a Serjeant to chuse one of three which
may be the highest number. the highest numbers are P. Gass
had 19 votes, Bratten[24] & Gibson.

 
[22]

Biddle here says (i, p. 50): "The appearance of these mineral substances
enabled us to account for disorders of the stomach with which the party had been
affected since they left the river Sioux;" the men had used the water of the Missouri,
on which floated a scum proceeding from these rocks. By dipping from below, and
avoiding this scum, they obtained pure water, and their maladies soon ceased.—Ed.

[23]

Near Elk Point, Union Co., S. Dakota.—Ed.

[24]

For such information as can be obtained about William Bratton, see Wheeler,
On the Trail of Lewis and Clark (N. Y., 1904), pp. 112–116. Bratton died in
1841; a monument over his grave at Waynetown, Ind., records his share in the
Lewis and Clark expedition.

For biography of Sergeant Gass, see J. G. Jacob's Life and Times of Patrick Gass
(Wellsburg, Va., 1859); Coues's compilation therefrom, in his Lewis and Clark, i,
pp. xcix–cvi; and a sketch in History of the Pan-Handle, West Va. (Wheeling, 1879),
pp. 346–349.—Ed.

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