14th.. of April Sunday
1805.
a fine morning, a dog came to us this morning we suppose
him to be left by the Inds. who had their camps near the
Lake we passed yesterday
not long sence, I observed several
single Lodges built of stiks of
[c]otten timber in different
parts of the bottoms. in my walk of this
[day] which was
through the wooded bottoms and on the hills for several
miles back from the river on the S.S. I saw the remains of
two
Indian incampmints with wide beeten tracks leading to
them. those were no
doubt the camps of the Ossinnaboin
Indians (a Strong evidence is hoops of
Small Kegs were found
in the incampments) no other nation on the river
above the
Sioux make use of Spiritious licquer. The
Ossinniboins is
said to be pasionately fond of Licquer, and is the
principal
inducement to their putting themselves to the trouble of
catching the fiew wolves and foxes which they furnish, and
receive
their [liquor] always in small Kegs. The Ossinniboins
make use of the Same
kind of Lodges which the Sioux and
other Indians on this river make use
of. Those lodges or
tents are made of a number of dressed buffalow Skins
sowed
together with sinews & deckerated with the tales, & Porcupine
quils, when open it forms a half circle
with a part about
4 Inches wide projecting about 8 or 9 Inches from the
center
of the Streight Side for the purpose of attaching it to a pole
to it the hight they wish to raise the tent, when the[y] errect
this
tent four poles of equal length are tied near one end,
those poles are
elevated and 8, 10 or 12 other poles are
anexed forming a circle at the
ground and lodging in the forks
of the four attached poles, the tents are
then raised, by attaching
the projecting part
to a pole and incumpassing the
poles with the tent by bringing the two
ends together and attached
with a cord, on
land as high as is necessary, leaveing
the lower part open for about 4
feet for to pass in & out, and
the top is generally left open to admit
the smoke to pass.
The Borders of the river has been so much hunted by
those
Indians who must have left it about 8 or 10 days past and I
prosume are now in the neighbourhood of British establishments
on the Ossinniboin; the game
is scerce and verry wild.
The River
continues wide and the current jentle not more
rapid than the current of
the Ohio in middle State. The
bottoms are wide and low and the moist parts
of them contain
Som wood such as cotton Elm & small ash, willow rose
bushes &
c. &c. & next to the hills Great
quantity of wild
Isoop, [hyssop] the hills are high broken in every
direction,
and the mineral appearance of Salts continue to appear in a
greater perportion, also Sulpher, coal & bitumous water in a
smaller quantity, I have observed but five burnt hills, about
the
little Missouri, and I have not seen any Pumey stone
above that River I
saw Buffalow on the L.S. crossed and
dureing the time of dinner killed a
Bull, which was pore, we
made use of the best of it, I saw a village of
Burrowing dogs
on the L. S. passed a Island above which two small creeks
falls in on the L.S. the upper of which is the largest and we
call
Shabonas Creek after our interpreter who incamped several
weeks on this
creek and is the highest point on the Missouri
to which a white man has
been previous to this time. Cap
t.
Lewis walked out
above this creek and killed an Elk which
he found so meager that it was
not fit for use, and joined the
boat at Dusk at our camp on the S.S.
opposit a high hill
several parts of which had sliped down. on the side of
those
hills we Saw two white bear running from the report of Cap
t.
Lewis Shot, those animals assended those Steep hills
with
supprising ease & verlocity, they were too far to discover their
prosise colour & size. Saw several gees nests on trees, also the
nests & egs of the Magpies, a large grey owl killed, booted &
with ears &c.
Course distance
&c. the 14th of
April
| S. 45° W. |
2 1/2 |
miles to
the mouth of a small creek at the upper part
of a wood bottom in a bend to
L.S. |
| West |
3 1/2 |
miles to a
point of wood land on the L.S. |
| N. 85°
W. |
2 |
miles to a point on the S. S. opposit a
bluff |
| N. 80° W |
1
3/4 |
ms. to a point on S. S. passd. a bluff on the L.
S. |
| West |
1 |
mile to a small
Island opsd the upper point the river
washes the base of the hill on both sides, which we
call Sunday
Isld. &c. |
| N. 70° W. |
3
1/4 |
miles to a pt. of wood land on the S.S. the
Island & its
sand bars Occupy half the distance. passed 2 small
creeks on the L.S. the upper the
largest. |
|
14 |
|
