June 18th.. Tuesday 1805
we set out early and arrived at the second great cateract a[t]
about 200 yds above the last of 19 feet pitch. this is one of
the grandest views in nature and by far exceeds any thing I ever
saw, the Missouri falling over a shelveing rock for 47 feet 8
Inches with a cascade &c. of 14 feet 7 Inches above the shoot
for a 1/4 mile I decended the clift below this cateract with ease
measured the hight of the purpendicular fall of 47 feet 8 Inches
at which place the river is 473 yards wide as also the hight of
the cascade &c. a continual mist quite across this fall after
which we proceeded on up the river a little more than a mile
to the largest fountain or spring I ever saw, and doubt if it is
not the largest in America known, this water boils up from
under the rocks near the edge of the river and falls imediately
into the river 8 feet, and keeps its colour for 1/2 a mile which
is emencely clear and of a bluish cast, proceeded on up the
river passed a succession of rapids to the next great fall of 26
feet 5 Inches river 580 yards wide this fall is not intirely perpenducular
a short bench gives a curve to the water as it falls
a butifull small Island at the foot of this fall near the center of
the channel covered with trees, the Missouri at this fall is
[blank space in MS.] yards wide, a considerable mist rises at
this fall ocasionally, from this pitch to the head of the rapids
is one mile & has a fall of 20 feet, this is also a handsom
Scenery a fall in an open leavel plain, after takeing the hight
& measureing the river proceeded on, saw a gange of Buffalow
swiming the river above the falls, several of which was drawn
in to the rapids and with dificuelty made shore half drowned,
we killed one of those Cows & took a[s] much meat as we
wished. emence herds of those animals in every direction,
passed 2 groves in the Point just above the rapids & dined in
one opposit the mouth of Medison River, which falls in on the
Star
d. Side and is 137 yards wide at its mouth the Missouri
above is 300 yards wide, as the river [Missouri] appears to
bear S Easterley I assended about 4 miles high to a creek
which appeared to head in South mountains
[20]
passed a Island
of [omission in MS.] and a little timber in an Easterly bend
at 1 mile, passed some timber in a point at 2 mile at or near
the lower point of a large Island on which we shot at a large
white
bear passed a small Island in the middle and one close
on the Lar
d Shore at 3 miles behind the head of which we
camped those 3 Islands are all opposit, soon after we camped
two ganges of Buffalow crossed one above & the other below
we killed 7 of them & a calf and saved as much of the best
of the meet as we could this evening, one man A. Willard
going for a load of meat at 170 yards distance on an Island was
attact by a white bear and verry near being caught, prosued
within 40 yards of camp where I was with one man I collected
3 others of the party and prosued the bear (who had
prosued my track from a buffalow I had killed on the Island
at about 300 yards distance and chance[d] to meet Willard) for
fear of his attacking one man Colter at the lower point of the
Island, before we had got down the bear had allarmed the
man and prosued him into the water, at our approach he retreated,
and we relieved the man in the water, I saw the bear
but the bushes was so thick that I could not shoot him and it
was nearly dark, the wind from the S W & cool killed a
beaver & an elk for their skins this evening.
