Monday April 7th 1806
This morning Drewyer & the two Fields set out agreeably
to their orders of last evening, the remainder of the party
employed in drying the flesh of the five Elk killed by Shannon
yesterday. which we completed and we had it secured in
dried shaved Elk Skins and put on board in readiness for our
early departure. we were visited by several parties of Indians
from a village about 12 miles above us of the Sahhalah nation.
one of them was detected in stealing a piece of Lead. I sent
him off imedeately. I hope now we have a sufficient stock
of dryed meat to serve us as far as the Chopunnish provided
we can obtain a fiew dogs, horses and roots by the way. in
the neighbourhood of the Chopunnish under the Rocky
Mountains we can precure a fiew deer, and perhaps a Bear or
two for the Mountains. The day has been fair and weather
exceedingly pleasent. we made our men exercise themselves in
shooting and regulateing their guns, found several of them
that had their Sights moved by accident, and others that wanted
some little alterations all which were compleated rectified in
the course of the day except my small rifle, which I found
wanted cutting out. about 4 oClock P M all the Indians
left us, and returned to their village. they had brought with
them wappato, & pashequa roots chapellel cakes, and a species
of raspberry for sale, none of which they disposed of as they
asked such enormous prices for those articles that we were not
able to purchase any. Drewyer returned down the river in
the evening & informed us that the nativs had sceared all the
Elk from the river above. Joseph & reuben Fields had
proceeded on further up the river in the canoe, he expected to
the village.
I provaled on an old indian to mark the Multnomah R
down on the sand which hid [he did] and perfectly corisponded
with the sketch given me by sundary others, with the addition
of a circular mountain which passes this river at the falls and
connects with the mountains of the Seacoast. he also lais
down the Clarkamos [Clackamas] passing a high conical mountain
near it's mouth on the lower Side and heads in Mount
Jefferson which he lais down by raiseing the Sand as a very
high mountain and covered with eternal snow. the high
mountain which this Indian lais down near the enterance of
Clarkamos river, we have not seen as the hills in it's direction
from this vally is high and obscures the sight of it from us.
M
t Jefferson we can plainly see from the enterance of Multnomah
from which place it bears S.E. this is a noble mountain
and I think equally as high or something higher than
M
t. S
t. Heleans but its distance being much greater than that
of the latter, so great a portion of it does not appear above the
range of mountains which lie between both those stupendious
mountains and the mouth of Multnomah. like M
t. S
t. Heleans
its figure is a regular cone and is covered with eturnial snow.
that the Clarkamos nation
[9]
as also those at the falls of the
Multnomah live principally on fish of which those streams
abound and also on roots which they precure on it's borders,
they also sometimes come down to the Columbia in serch of
Wappato. they build their houses in the same form with
those of the Columbian vally of wide split boa[r]ds and covered
with bark of the white cedar which is the entire length of the
one side of the roof and jut over at the eve about 18 inches.
at the distance of about 18 inches transvers sp[l]inters of dried
pine is inserted through the ceder bark in order to keep it
smooth and prevent it's edge from colapsing by the heat of the
sun; in this manner the nativs make a very secure light and
lasting roof of this bark. which we have observed in every
vilege in this vally as well as those above. this Indian also
informed me that multnomah above the falls was crouded with
rapids and thickly inhabited by indians of the Cal-lah-po-é-wah
Nation. he informed he had himself been a long way up that
river &
c.
