Monday April 15th.
1805.
Set out at an early hour this morning. I walked on shore,
and Capt. Clark continued with the party it being an invariable
rule
with us not to be both absent from our vessels at the
same time. I passed
through the bottoms of the river on the
Stard. side.
they were partially covered with timber, were extensive,
level and beatifull. in my walk which
was about 6
miles I passed a small rivulet of clear water making down from
the hills, which on tasting, I discovered to be in a small degree
brackish. it possessed less of the glauber
salt, or alumn,
than those little streams from the hills usually do. in a
little
pond of water fromed by this rivulet where it entered the
bottom, I heard the frogs crying for the first time this season;
their note was the same with that of the small frogs which are
common to the lagoons and swam[p]s of the U. States. I saw
great
quantities of gees feeding in the bottoms, of which I shot
one. saw some
deer and Elk, but they were remarkably shy.
I also met with great numbers
of Grouse or prarie hens as they
are called by the
English traders of the N.W. these birds
appeared to be mating; the note of
the male, is kuck, kuck,
kuck, coo, coo, coo. the first part of the note
both male and
female use when flying. the male also dubbs (drums with his
wings) something like the pheasant, but
by no means as loud.
After breakfast Capt. Clark walked on the Std. shore, and on
his return in the evening gave me the
following account of his
ramble. "I assended to the high country, about 9
miles distant
from the Missouri. the country
consists of beatifull,
level and fertile plains, destitute of timber. I
saw many little
dranes, which took their rise in the river hills, from
whence as
far as I could see they run to the N. E." these streams we
suppose to be the waters of Mous river a branch of the Assinniboin
which the Indians informed us
approaches the Missouri
very nearly, about this point. "I passed,"
continued he, a
Creek about 20 yards wide, which falls into the Missouri;
the
bottoms of this creek are wide level and extreemly fertile, but
almost entirely destitute of timber. the water of this creek as
well
as all those creeks and rivulets which we have passed
since we left Fort
Mandan was so strongly impregnated with
salts and other miniral substances that I was
incapable of drinking
it. I saw the remains of
several camps of the Assinniboins;
near one of which in a small ravene,
there was a park which
they had formed of timber and brush, for the
purpose of taking
the cabrie
[26]
or Antelope. it
was constructed in the following
manner. a
strong pound was first made of timbers, on one
side of which there was a
small apparture, sufficiently large to
admit an Antelope; from each side
of this apparture, a curtain
was extended to a
considerable distance, widening as they
receded from the pound." we passed
a rock this evening
standing in the middle of the river, and the bed of
the river
was formed principally of gravel. we encamped this evening
on a sand point on Lar
d. side. a little above our
encampment
the river was confined to a channel of 80 yards in
width.
Courses and distances of the
15th.
April.
|
|
miles. |
| N. |
to a point of wood on Lard. side, opposite to a
high hill |
2. |
| N. 18. W. |
to a
point of wood on the Stard. side opposite to the
lower
point of an Island in a Lard. bend of the
river |
5. |
| N. 20. E. |
to a
bluff point on Stard. passed the upper part of the
Island at 2 Miles |
3 1/4 |
| N. 30.
E. |
to a point of woodland on Lard.
side. |
2 1/2 |
| N. 10. W. |
on the
Lard. point |
1/2 |
| N.
15. W. |
on the Lard.
point |
1/4 |
| N. 12. W. |
to the
lower part of a bluff on the Stad. side, passing a
creek on Stard. |
1
1/2 |
| N. 52. W. |
to a high bluff on the
Stad. side |
2. |
| N. 75.
W. |
to a point of woodland on the Stard. Sid. |
3. |
| N. 16.
W. |
to a point of Woodland on Lard.
side |
3. |
|
|
miles
23. |
Point of Observation No. 4.
Apl. 15th 1805. On the
Stad. shore, one mile above the extremity of
the 2nd course of this day, I took two altitudes of the sun with the
Sextant
and artificial horizon.
|
|
Time |
|
|
Altitudes. |
|
|
h |
m |
s. |
° |
′ |
″ |
| A.
M. |
9. |
9. |
33 |
69. |
20. |
45. |
|
10. |
3. |
28. |
84. |
24. |
15. |
Chronometer to fast at
the time of observation on mean time.
