University of Virginia Library

[Lewis:]

Thursday June 12th. 1806

All our hunters except Gibson returned about noon; none
of them had killed anything except Sheilds who brought with
him two deer. in the evening they resumed their hunt and
remained out all night. an indian visited us this evening and


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spent the night at our camp. Whitehouse returned with his
horse at 1 P. M. the days are now very warm and the Musquetors
our old companions have become very troublesome.
The Cutnose informed us on the 10th. before we left him that
two young men would overtake us with a view to accompany
me to the falls of the Missouri. nothing interesting occurred
in the course of this day. our camp is agreeably situated in a
point of timbered land on the eastern border of an extensive
level and beautifull prarie[8] which is intersected by several
small branches near the bank of one of which our camp is
placed. the quawmash is now in blume and from the colour
of its bloom at a short distance it resembles lakes of fine clear
water, so complete is this deseption that on first sight I could
have swoarn it was water.

 
[8]

This plain contains about two thousand acres, and is surrounded with beautiful
pine timber of different kinds. The soil is very good. . . . There are a good many
deer here, and some bears, but they are very wild, as they are much pursued by the
natives.—Gass (pp. 323, 324).