[Lewis:]
Sunday April 6th 1806.
This morning we had the dryed meat secured in skins and
the canoes loaded; we took breakfast and departed at 9 A.M.
we continued up the N. side of the river nearly to the place at
which we had encamped on the 3rd. of Nov. when we passed
the river to the south side in quest of the hunters we had sent
up yesterday and the day before. from the appearance of a
rock near which we were encamped on the 3rd. of November
last I could judge better of the rise of the water than I could
at any point below. I think the flood of this spring has been
about 12 feet higher than it was at that time; the river is here
about 11/2 miles wide; it's general width from the beacon
[beaten before—but really beacon] rock which may be esteemed
the head of tide water, to the marshey islands is from one to
2 miles tho' in many places it is still wider. it is only in the
fall of the year when the river is low that the tides are persceptable
as high as the beacon rock. this remarkable rock
which stands on the North shore of the river is unconnected
with the hills and rises to the hight of seven hundred feet; it
has some pine or reather fir timber on it's no[r]thern side, the
southern is a precipice of it's whole hight. it rises to a very
sharp point and is visible for 20 miles below on the river. at
the distance of ten miles from our encampment we met with
our hunters in the upper end of the bottom to which we had
directed them on the South side of the river. they had killed
three Elk this morning and wounded two others so badly that
they expected to get them. we therefore determined to encamp
for the evening at this place in order to dry the meat, in surch
of which we sent a party immediately and employed others in
preparing scaffoalds and collecting firewood &c. against their
return. we found some indians with our hunters when we
arrived; these people are constantly hanging about us. As
has been before mentioned Capt C set out with a party of seven
men on 2
ed inst. in surch of the entrance of the Multnomah
river.
[7]
The party whom we sent for the flesh of the Elk which
Shannon had killed returned in the evening with that of four,
one had by some mistake been omitted. Drewyer and Shannon
found the two wounded Elk and had killed them. we set
all hands at work to prepare the meat for the scaffoald they
continued their operations untill late at night. we directed
Shannon to go out early in the morning with a party to bring
in the Elk which had been left last evening in mistake. we
also directed Drewyer and the two Feildses to ascend the river
early in the morning to a small bottom a few miles above and
hunt untill our arrival.
