University of Virginia Library

[Lewis:]

Wednesday July 17th. 1805.

The sunflower is in bloom and (copy for Dr Barton.) abundant
in the river bottoms. The Indians of the Missouri
particularly those who do not cultivate maze make great uce
of the seed of this plant for bread, or use it in thickening their
soope. they most commonly first parch the seed and then
pound them between two smooth stones untill they reduce it
to a fine meal. to this they sometimes mearly add a portion
of water and drink it in that state, or add a sufficient quantity
of marrow grease to reduce it to the consistency of common
dough and eate it in that manner. the last composition I
think much best and have eat it in that state heartily and
think it a pallatable dish. there is but little of the broad
leafed cottonwood above the falls, much the greater portion
being of the narrow leafed kind. there are a great abundance
of red yellow perple & black currants, and service berries now
ripe and in great perfection. I find these fruits very pleasent
particularly the yellow currant which I think vastly preferable

to those of our gardens. the shrub which produces this fruit
rises to the hight of 6 or 8 feet; the stem simple branching
and erect. they grow closly ascociated in cops either in the
oppen or timbered lands near the watercou[r]ses. the leaf is
petiolate of a pale green and resembles in it's form that of the
red currant common to our gardens. the perianth of the
fructification is one leaved, five cleft, abreviated and tubular,
the corolla is monopetallous funnel-shaped, very long, superior,
withering and of a fine orrange colour. five stamens and
one pistillum; of the first, the fillaments are capillare, inserted
into the corolla, equal, and converging; the anther ovate,
biffid and incumbent. with rispect to the second the germ is
roundish, smo[o]th, inferior pedicelled and small; the style,
long, and thicker than the stamens, simple, cylindrical, smooth,
and erect, withering and remains with the corolla untill the
fruit is ripe. stigma simple obtuse and withering. the fruit
is a berry about the size and much the shape of the red currant
of our gardins, like them growing in clusters supported
by a compound footstalk, but the peduncles which support the
several berries are longer in this species and the berries are
more scattered. it is quite as transparent as the red current
of our gardens, not so ascid, & more agreeably flavored. the
other species differ not at all in appearance from the yellow
except in the colour and flavor of their berries. I am not
confident as to the colour of the corolla, but all those which I
observed while in blume as we came up the Missouri were
yellow but they might possibly have been all of the yellow
kind and that the perple red and black currants here may have
corollas of different tints from that of the yellow currant.
The survice berry differs somewhat from that of the U. States
the bushes are small sometimes not more than 2 feet high and
scarcely ever exceed 8 and are proportionably small in their
stems, growing very thickly ascosiated in clumps. the fruit is
the same form but for the most part larger more lucious and
of so deep a perple that on first sight you would think them
black. there are two species of goosbirris here allso but
neither of them yet ripe. the choke cherries also abundant
and not yet ripe. there is Boxalder, red willow and a species
of sumac here also. there is a large pine tree situated on a
small island at the head of these rappids above our cam[p];
it being the first we have seen for a long distance near the
river I called the island pine island. This range of the rocky
mountains runs from S E to N.W. at 8 A.M. this morning
Capt. Clark arrived with the party. we took breakfast here,
after which I had the box which contained my instruments
taken by land arround tower rock to the river above the
rappid; the canoes ascended with some difficulty but without
loss or injury, with their loads.

Point of observation No. 31.

At my camp on the Stard. side of the Missouri below the rappids
where the river fi[r]st enters the Rocky Mountains

Observed time and distance of ☉'s. and D's. nearest limbs with Sextant,
☉ East.

                   

	Time	Distance		Time	Distance
	h ′ ″	° ′ ″		h m s	° ′ ″
A.M.	8. 14. 43	115. 0. 0.	A.M.	8. 34. 51	114. 52. 00
	". 17. 32	115. 0. 0.		". 35. 43	". 51. 15.
	". 19. 14	114. 57. 45.		". 38. 10	". 50. 30.
	". 21. 29	". 57. 0.		". 39. 47	". 49. 45.
	". 22. 39.	". 57. 0.		". 41. 30	". 48. 45.
	". 23. 38	". 56. 45.		". 42. 34	". 48. 30
	". 26. 18	". 55. 15.		". 43. 52	". 48. 30
	". 27. 35	". 54. 45.		". 44. 16	". 48. 00.

Point of Observation No. 33.

On the Stard. side of the Missouri one mile above the point of
observation of this morning.

     

Observed Meridian Altitude of ☉'s. L. L. with Octant by the back observation	56° 50'.
	° ′ ″
Latitude deduced from this observation	46. 42. 14. 7

After making those observations we proceed, and as the
canoes were still heavy loaded all persons not employed in
navigating the canoes wall[k]ed on shore. the river clifts were
so steep and frequently projecting into the river with their perpendicular
points in such manner that we could not pass them
by land, we were therefore compelled to pass and repass the

river very frequently in the cou[r]se of the evening. the
bottoms are narrow the river also narrow deep and but little
current. river from 70 to 100 yds. wide. but little timber on
the river aspin constitutes a part of that little. see more pine
than usual on the mountains tho' still but thinly scattered. we
saw some mountain rams or bighorned anamals this evening,
and no other game whatever and indeed there is but little appearance
of any. in some places both banks of the river are
formed for a short distance of nearly perpendicular rocks of a
dark black grannit of great hight; the river has the appearance
of having cut it's passage in the course of time through this solid
rock. we ascended about 6 miles this evening from the entrance
of the mountain and encamped on the Stard. side where
we found as much wood as made our fires.[6] musquetoes still
troublesome knats not as much so. Capt. C. now informed me
that after I left him yesterday, he saw the poles of a large lodge
in praire on the Stard. side of the river which was 60 feet in
diameter and appeared to have been built last fall; there were
the remains of about 80 leather lodges near the place of the
same apparent date. this large lodge was of the same construction
of that mentioned above the white bear Islands. the
party came on very well and encamped on the lower point of
an island near the Stard. shore on that evening. this morning
they had set out early and proceeded without obstruction untill
they reached the rappid where I was encamped.

Courses and Distances of the 16th. July 1805.

                                     

S. 30°. E.	1 1/2	to some trees in a Lard. bend.
West.	1 1/2	to a Stard. bend passing over a Stard. point.
S. 10°. E.	– 3/4	to the mouth of a run in a Lard. bend
S. 45°. W.	1 1/2	to a bend on Stard. side.
S. 15°. E.	1/2	to a bend on the Lard. side.
S. 45°. W.	2.	to the mouth of a run on Stard. side
S. 45°. E.	1.	to a bend on Lard. side opposite a large lodge
South –	1.	along the Lard. side in a bend opposite an island
S. 70°. W.	1.	in a Lard. bend.
S. 30°. W.	1.	in a bend on the Lard. side.
South	3/4.	in the Lard. bend
N. 30°. W.	1 1/4	to a bend on Stard. passing a small island
South	4.	to the lower point of some timber on Stard. side passing 6 islands.
S. 60°. E.	1/2	to a bend on Lard. side
S. 50°. W.	1 1/2	to the upper point of an island
S. 18°. E.	1	to the lower point of an island
S. 45°. W.	2	to a bayou on Stard. passing an island
South –	1/4.	to a lard. bend, encamped on the upper point of the
Miles	23.	Island near Stard. shore

Cou[r]ses and distances July 17th. 1805.

                             

West.	1 1/2	to a spur of the rocky Mountains in a ben[d] Std.
S. 10°. E.	1 1/4	to a spur of D°. D°. on the Lard. side
S. 60°. W.	2.	to a small Island in a bend on Stard. side
South	1/4.	to a large pine tree on the lower point of pine Island above the rappids where the river enters the rocky Mountains.
S. 20°. W. –.	3/4	to a high clift of the mountain on Lard. side passing pine island at 1/4 M. a small run on Lard. just above the island, and a Lard. & Stard. point.
West .	1/4.	to a bend on the Stard. side, high clifts on either side
South –	1/4.	to a bend on Lard. side D°. d°.
N. 60°. E.	1/2	to a bend on the Stard. side d°. d°. passd. an Isld.
S. 20°. W.	1/2.	to a bend on the Lard. side d°. d°.
West	1/2.	to a bend on the Stard. side d°. d°.
S. 30°. E.	1.	to a bend on the Lard. side d°. d°. passing an Isd.
West	1 1/4	to a bend on the Stard. side bottoms reather wider
S. 5°. W. –	1/2	to a point of rocks in a Lard. bend.
N. 75°. W.	3/4	to a bend on the Stard. side, opposite a very high clift
Miles	11. 1/4	where we encamped for the evening.[7]