[Lewis:]
Monday April
22nd 1805.
Set out at an early hour this
morning; proceeded pretty
well untill breakfa[s]t, when the wind became so
hard a head
that we proceeded with difficulty even with the assistance of
our toe lines. the party halted and Cpt. Clark and
myself
walked to the white earth river which approaches the Missouri
very near at this place, being about 4 miles above
it's entrance,
we found that it contained more water than streams of it's
size
generally do at this season. the water is much clearer than
that of the Missouri. the banks of the river are steep and
not more
than ten or twelve feet high; the bed seems to be
composed of mud
altogether, the salts which have been
before mentioned as common on the
Missouri, appears in
great quantities along the banks of this river, which
are in
many places so thickly covered with it that they appear perfectly
white. perhaps it has been from this
white appearance
of it's banks that the river has derived it's name. this
river
is said to be navigable nearly to it's source, which is at no
great distance from the Saskashawan, and I think from it's
size the
direction which it seems to take, and the latitude of
it's mouth, that
there is very good ground to believe that it
extends as far North as latitude 50°
[30]
. this stream
passes
through an open country generally. the broken hills of the
Missouri about this place exhibit large irregular and broken
masses
of rocks and stones; some of which tho' 200 feet
above the level of the
water seem at some former period to
have felt it's influence, for they
appear smoth as if woarn by
the agetation of the water. this collection
consists of white &
grey gannite, a brittle black rock, flint,
limestone, freestone,
some small specimens of an excellent pebble and
occasionally
broken stratas of a stone which appears to be petrefyed wood;
it is of a black colour, and makes excellent whetstones. Coal
or
carbonated wood pumice stone lava and other mineral apearances
still continue, the coal appears to be
of better quality;
I exposed a specimen of it to the fire and found that
it birnt
tolerably well, it afforded but little flame or smoke, but produced
a hot and lasting fire. I asscended to the
top of the
cutt bluff this morning, from whence I had a most delightfull
view of the country, the whole of which except the vally
formed by
the Missouri is void of timber or underbrush,
exposing to the first glance
of the spectator immence herds of
Buffaloe, Elk, deer, & Antelopes
feeding in one common and
boundless pasture, we saw a number of bever
feeding on the
bark of the trees alonge the verge of the river, several of
which
we shot, found them large and fat. walking on shore this
evening I met with a buffaloe calf which attatched itself to
me and
continued to follow close at my heels untill I embarked
and left it.
[31]
it appeared
allarmed at my dog which
was probably the cause of it's so readily
attatching itself to me.
Capt Clark informed me that he saw a large drove
of buffaloe
pursued by wolves today, that they at length caught a calf
which was unable to keep up with the herd. the cows only
defend
their young so long as they are able to keep up with
the herd, and seldom
return any distance in surch of them.
Courses and
distances of 22nd. of April.
1805.
|
|
miles |
| N.
60°. W. |
to a point of woodland on the Lard.
side. |
2.1/2 |
| W. |
along the
woodland on Lard.
shore |
1 |
| S. 70. W. |
to the
lower point of a bluff in a bend on stard.
side |
1. |
| S. 20. W. |
to the
upper part of the stard.
bluff. |
2. |
| S. 60. E. |
to a
point of woods in a bend on Stard. |
1. |
| S. 30.
E. |
to a willow point on the Stard.
side. |
2. |
| N. 65. E. |
to an
object in a bend on Lard. where we encamped
for the
evening |
1 1/2 |
|
|
Miles
.11. |
Point of Observation No. 6.—
April 22nd. 1805.
On the Lard.
shore one mile above the cut bluff
Observed time
and distance of ☉'s and ☽'s
nearest limbs, with Sextant,
the ☉
East.
|
|
Time. |
|
|
Distance. |
|
| h |
m |
s |
o |
° |
′ |
″ |
| A.M. |
10. |
44. |
3.—
|
84. |
20. |
45 |
|
". |
46. |
16 .—
|
". |
20. |
30. |
|
". |
48. |
8.—
|
". |
20. |
-. |
|
". |
49. |
28.—
|
". |
19. |
45. |
|
". |
50. |
24 .—
|
". |
19. |
30 |
|
". |
51. |
27.—
|
". |
19. |
30 |
|
". |
52. |
35.—
|
". |
19. |
-. |
|
". |
53. |
40.—
|
". |
18. |
45. |
| A.M
. |
11. |
1. |
54.—
|
84. |
15. |
-. |
|
". |
1. |
54.—
|
84. |
15. |
-. |
|
". |
6. |
8.—
|
". |
13. |
45. |
|
". |
7. |
2.—
|
". |
12. |
45 |
|
". |
8. |
3.—
|
". |
12. |
45 |
|
". |
9. |
4.—
|
". |
12. |
37
1/2 |
|
". |
10. |
20.
—
|
". |
12. |
30 |
|
". |
12. |
40.—
|
". |
12. |
-. |
Observed equal altitudes of the ☉ with Sextant
|
h |
m |
s |
|
h |
m |
s |
| A.M. |
11. |
21. |
49.
—
|
P.M. |
5. |
13. |
38. |
|
". |
23. |
38— |
|
". |
15. |
31. |
|
". |
25. |
29.— |
|
". |
17. |
20. |
Altitude by Sextant at the time of observation 77°. 52′
45″
