May 31st Friday 1805[16]
A cloudy morning we dispatched all the canoes to collect
the meat of 2 Buffalow killed last night a head and a little
off the river, and proceeded on with the perogues at an early
hour. I attempted to walk on shore soon found it verry
laborious as the mud stuck to my mockersons & was verry
slippery. I returned on board. it continued to rain moderately
untill about 12 oClock when it ceased, & continued
cloudy. the stones on the edge of the river continue to form
verry considerable rapids, wc are troublesom & dificuelt to
pass, our toe rope which we are obliged to make use of
altogether broke & we were in some danger of turning over in
the perogue in which I was, we landed at 12 and refreshed
the men with a dram, our men are obliged to undergo great
labour and fatigue in assending this part of the Missouri, as
they are compelled from the rapidity of the current in many
places to walk in the water & on slippery hill sides on the
sides of rocks, on Gravel & thro' a stiff mud bear footed, as
they cannot keep on mockersons from the stiffness of the mud
& decline of the slipery hills sides. The Hills and river
clifts of this day exhibit a most romantick appearance on
each side of the river is a white soft sand stone bluff which
rises to about half the hight of the hills, on the top of this
clift is a black earth, in maney places this sand stone appears
like antient ruins some like elegant buildings at a distance,
some like Towers &c. &c. in maney places of this days march
we observe on either side of the river extraodanary walls of a
black semented stone which appear to be regularly placed one
stone on the other, some of those walls run to the hite of
100 feet, they are from about 1 foot to 12 feet thick and are
perpendicular, those walls commence at the waters edge & in
some places meet at right angles. those walls appear to continue
their course into the sand clifts, the stones which form
those walls are of different sizes all squar edged, Great
numbers has fallen off from the walls near the river which
cause the walls to be of uneaquil hite, in the evening the
countrey becomes lower and the bottoms wider, no timber
on the uplands, except a few cedar & pine on the clifts a few
scattering cotton trees on the points in the river bottoms.
The appearance of coal continues Cap
t Lewis walked on
shore & observed a species of Pine we had never before seen,
with a shorter leaf than common & the bur different, he also
collected some of the stones off one of the walls which appears
to be a sement of Isin glass [and] black earth we camped on
the Star
d Side in a small timbered bottom above the mouth of
a Creek on the Star
d Side our hunters killed 2 animals with
big horns, 2 Buffalow & an Elk. we saw Great numbers of
those big horned animals on the clifts, but fiew Buffalow or
Elk, no antelope, a fiew mule deer, saw a fox to day. The
river rises a little it is from 150 to 250 y
ds wide
Course & Distance May 31st. 1805
|
miles |
|
| N. 45°. W. |
2 |
to a fiew trees in a bend Stard. Side. |
| S. 80°. W. |
1/2 |
to a fiew trees on the Stard. point |
| N. 80°. W. |
1/4 |
on the Stard. point |
| N. 60°. W. |
1 3/4 |
to the lower part of a timber in a Stard. bend |
| West |
1/4 |
to a fiew trees on the Stard. Side |
| N. 78°. W |
2 |
to some trees on the Stard. Side |
| West |
2 |
to the point on the Stard. Side |
| N. 45°. W. |
1/4 |
on the Stard. point |
| N. 30°. W |
1/4 |
on the Stard. point opsd. a high steep black rock riseing
from the waters edge |
| North |
1 1/2 |
to a tree in a bend to the Stard. Side opsd. a high open
bottom |
| N. 42°. W. |
1 |
to the point on the Stard. Side |
| N. 10°. E |
3/4 |
to a point on the Lard. Side a high black conical rock
of 200 feet high on the Std. Sd. |
| N. 20°. W. |
2 |
to 4 trees in a bend to the Lard. Side |
| North |
3 1/2 |
to the upper part of a timbered bottom on the Stard.
Side above the mouth of Stonewall creek which
contains water passed a high stone wall about 200
feet high & 12 feet thick on the Std Side & encamped
at the mouth of the creek S.S. in a thickly
timbered bottom of small cotton wood this creek
is a bold stream of clear water |
| miles |
18 |
|
