Thursday April 25th. 1805.
The wind was more moderate this morning, tho' still hard;
we set out at an early hour.[33]
the water friezed
on the oars
this morning as the men rowed, about 10 oclock A.M. the
wind began to blow so violently that we were obliged to lye
too. my dog had been absent during the last night, and I was
fearfull we had lost
him altogether, however, much to my
satisfaction he joined us at 8 oclock
this morning. The wind
had been so unfavorable to our progress for several
days past,
and seeing but little prospect of a favourable chang; knowing
that the river was crooked, from the report of the hunters who
were
out yesterday, and beleiving that we were at no very great
distance from
the Yellow stone River; I determined, in order
as much as possible to
avoid detention, to proceed by land with
a few men to the entrance of that
river and make the necessary
observations to determine it's position,
which I hoped to effect
by the time that Capt. Clark could arrive with the
party;
accordingly I set out at 11
OC
k. side, accompanyed
by four men, we proceeded about
four miles, when falling in
with some buffaloe I killed a yearling calf,
which was in good
order; we soon cooked and made a hearty meal of a part
of it,
and renewed our march. our rout lay along the foot of the
river hills. when we had proceeded about four miles, I
ascended the
hills from whence I had a most pleasing view of
the country, particularly
of the wide and fertile vallies formed
by the missouri and the yellowstone
rivers, which occasionally
unmasked by the wood on their borders disclose
their meanderings
for many miles in their
passage through these delightfull
tracts of country. I could not discover
the junction of the
rivers immediately, they being concealed by the wood;
however,
sensible that it could not be distant
I determined to
encamp on the bank of the Yellow stone river which made
it's
appearance about 2 miles South of me. the whol face of the
country was covered with herds of Buffaloe, Elk & Antelopes;
deer are also abundant, but keep themselves more concealed in
the
woodland. the buffaloe Elk and Antelope are so gentle
that we pass near
them while feeding, without apearing to
excite any alarm among them; and
when we attract their attention,
they
frequently approach us more nearly to discover what
we are, and in some
instances pursue us a considerable distance
apparenly with that view. in
our way to the place I had
determined to encamp, we met with two large
herds of buffaloe,
of which we killed three cows and a calf. two of the
former,
wer but lean, we therefore took their tongues and a part of
their marrow-bones only. I then proceeded to the place of
our
encampment with two of the men, taking with us the Calf
and marrowbones,
while the other two remained, with orders
to dress the cow that was in
tolerable order, and hang the meat
out of the reach of the wolves, a
precaution indispensible to
it's safe keeping, even for a night. we
encamped on the bank
of the yellow stone river, 2 miles South of it's
confluence with
the Missouri. On rejoining Cap
t.
Clark, the 26
th. in the evening,
he informed me, that at 5. P.M. after I left him the wind
abated in
some measure and he proceeded a few miles further
and encamped.
The
courses and distances of this day (25th.) being as
follow.
|
|
Miles |
| N.
68°. W. |
to a point of woodland on Lard.
side |
2. 1/2 |
| West |
to a tree
in a low plain, in a bend on Std. |
1.
1/4 |
| South. |
to the upper part of a low
bluff in a bend on Stard. side |
1.
1/2 |
| East. |
to a point of timbered land on
Stard. side. |
2.
1/2 |
| S. 28° E. |
along the Stard. point, opposite a
bluff |
.3/4 |
| S. 20°
W. |
along the Stard. point opposite a
bluff |
1. |
| N. 65° W. |
to
the upper part of a timbered bottom in a bend on
Stard. side |
3. |
| S. 72°
W. |
to the lower point of some timber in a bend on Stard.
side |
1.
3/4 |
|
|
Miles. 14
1/4 |
