History of the expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the river Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Performed during the years 1804-5-6. By order of the government of the United States. |
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| II. |
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| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. | CHAPTER VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
| XVII. |
 | CHAPTER VII. History of the expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the river Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. |  |
CHAPTER VII.
Indian method of attacking the buffaloe on the ice—An enumeration of the presents
sent to the president of the United States—The party are visited by a Ricara
chief—They leave their encampment, and proceed on their journey—description
of the Little Missouri—Some account of the Assiniboins—Their mode
of burying the dead—Whiteearth river described—Great quantity of salt discovered
on its banks—Yellowstone river described—A particular account of
the country at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri—Description of
the Missouri, the surrounding country, and of the rivers, creeks, islands, &c.
Friday 22. This was a clear pleasant day, with the wind
from the S. S. W. We were visited by the second chief of the
Minnetarees, to whom we gave a medal and some presents,
accompanied by a speech. Mr. M'Kenzie and Mr. Laroche
also came to see us. They all took their leave next day.
Saturday 23. Soon after their departure, a brother of
the Borgne with other Indians came to the fort. The weather
was fine, but in the evening we had the first rain that
has fallen during the winter.
Sunday 24. The morning cloudy, but the afternoon fair,
the wind from the N. E. We are employed in preparing for
our journey. This evening swans and wild-geese flew towards
the N. E.
Monday 25. A fine day, the wind S. W. The river rose
nine inches, and the ice began breaking away in several places,
so as to endanger our canoes which we are hauling down
to the fort.
Tuesday 26. The river rose only half an inch, and being
choaked up with ice near the fort, did not begin to run till
towards evening. This day is clear and pleasant.
Wednesday 27. The wind is still high from the S. W.: the
ice which is ocasionally stopped for a few hours is then
all our canoes brought down, and were obliged to cauk and
pitch very attentively the cracks so common in cottonwood.
Thursday 28. The day is fair. Some obstacle above has
prevented the ice from running. Our canoes are now nearly
ready, and we expect to set out as soon as the river is sufficiently
clear to permit us to pass.
Friday 29. The weather clear, and the wind from N. W.
The obstruction above gave way this morning, and the ice
came down in great quantities; the river having fallen eleven
inches in the course of the last twenty-four hours. We have
had few Indians at the fort for the last three or four days,
as they are now busy in catching the floating buffaloe. Every
spring as the river is breaking up the surrounding plains
are set on fire, and the buffaloe tempted to cross the river
in search of the fresh grass which immediately succeeds to
the burning: on their way they are often insulated on a large
cake or mass of ice, which floats down the river: the Indians
now select the most favourable points for attack, and
as the buffaloe approaches dart with astonishing agility
across the trembling ice, sometimes pressing lightly a cake
of not more than two feet square: the animal is of course
unsteady, and his footsteps insecure on this new element, so
that he can make but little resistance, and the hunter, who
has given him his death wound, paddles his icy boat to the
shore and secures his prey.
Saturday 30. The day was clear and pleasant, the wind
N. W. and the ice running in great quantities. All our Indian
presents were again exposed to the air, and the barge
made ready to descend the Missouri.
Monday 31. Early this morning it rained, and the weather
continued cloudy during the day; the river rose nine
inches, the ice not running so much as yesterday. Several
flocks of geese and ducks fly up the river.
Monday, April 1, 1805. This morning there was a thunder
storm, accompanied with large hail, to which succeeded
to get all the boats in the water. At four o'clock
P. M. it began to rain a second time, and continued till twelve
at night. With the exception of a few drops at two or three
different times, this is the first rain we have had since the
15th of October last.
Tuesday 2. The wind was high last night and this morning
from N. W. and the weather continued cloudy. The
Mandans killed yesterday twenty-one elk, about fifteen
miles below, but they were so poor as to be scarcely fit for
use.
Wednesday 3. The weather is pleasant, though there
was a white frost and some ice on the edge of the water.
We were all engaged in packing up our baggage and merchandize.
Thursday 4. The day is clear and pleasant, though the
wind is high from N. W. We now packed up in different
boxes a variety of articles for the president, which we shall
send in the barge. They consisted of a stuffed male and female
antelope with their skeletons, a weasel, three squirrels
from the Rocky mountains, the skeleton of the prairie wolf,
those of the white and gray hare, a male and female blaireau,
or burrowing dog of the prairie, with a skeleton of the
female, two burrowing squirrels, a white weasel, and the
skin of the louservia, the horns of the mountain ram, or
big-horn, a pair of large elk horns, the horns and tail of the
black-tailed deer, and a variety of skins, such as those of
the red fox, white hare, martin, yellow bear obtained from
the Sioux; also, a number of articles of Indian dress, among
which was a buffaloe robe, representing a battle fought
about eight years since between the Sioux and Ricaras
against the Mandans and Minnetarees, in which the combatants
are represented on horseback. It has of late years excited
much discussion to ascertain the period when the art
of painting was first discovered: how hopeless all researches
of this kind are, is evident from the foregoing fact. It is
human heart; a wish to preserve the features of a departed
friend, or the memory of some glorious exploit: this inherits
equally the bosoms of all men either civilized or savage.
Such sketches, rude and imperfect as they are, delineate the
predominant character of the savage nations. If they are
peaceable and inoffensive, the drawings usually consist of local
scenery, and their favourite diversions. If the band are
rude and ferocious, we observe tomahawks, scalpingknives,
bows, arrows, and all the engines of destruction. A Mandan
bow and quiver of arrows; also some Ricara tobacco-seed
and an ear of Mandan corn; to these were added a box of
plants, another of insects, and three cases containing a burrowing
squirrel, a prairie hen, and four magpies, all alive.
Friday, 5th. Fair and pleasant, but the wind high from
the northwest: we were visited by a number of Mandans,
and are occupied in loading our boats in order to proceed on
our journey.
Saturday, 6th. Another fine day with a gentle breeze
from the south. The Mandans continue to come to the fort;
and in the course of the day informed us of the arrival of a
party of Ricaras on the other side of the river. We sent
our interpreter to inquire into their reason for coming; and
in the morning,
Sunday, 7th, he returned with a Ricara chief and three
of his nation. The chief, whose name is Kagohweto, or
Brave Raven, brought a letter from Mr. Tabeau, mentioning
the wish of the grand chiefs of the Ricaras to visit the
president, and requesting permission for himself and four
men to join our boat when it descends; to which we consented,
as it will then be manned with fifteen hands and be
able to defend itself against the Sioux. After presenting
the letter, he told us that he was sent with ten warriors by
his nation to arrange their settling near the Mandans and
Minnetarees, whom they wished to join; that he considered
all the neighbouring nations friendly except the Sioux,
whom they hoped to repel by uniting with the tribes in this
quarter: he added that the Ricaras intended to follow our
advice and live in peace with all nations, and requested that
we would speak in their favour to the Assiniboin Indians.
This we willingly promised to do, and assured them that
their great father would protect them and no longer suffer
the Sioux to have good guns, or to injure his dutiful children.
We then gave him a small medal, a certificate of his
good conduct, a carrot of tobacco, and some wampum, with
which he departed for the Mandan village well satisfied
with his reception. Having made all our arrangements, we
left the fort about five o'clock in the afternoon. The party
now consisted of thirty-two persons. Besides ourselves were
serjeants John Ordway, Nathaniel Pryor, and Patrick Gass:
the privates were William Bratton, John Colter, John Collins,
Peter Cruzatte, Robert Frazier, Reuben Fields, Joseph
Fields, George Gibson, Silas Goodrich, Hugh Hall,
Thomas P. Howard, Baptiste Lapage, Francis Labiche,
Hugh M'Neal, John Potts, John Shields, George Shannon,
John B. Thompson, William Werner, Alexander Willard,
Richard Windsor, Joseph Whitehouse, Peter Wiser, and
captain Clarke's black servant York. The two interpreters,
were George Drewyer and Toussaint Chaboneau. The
wife of Chaboneau also accompanied us with her young child,
and we hope may be useful as an interpreter among the
Snake Indians. She was herself one of that tribe, but having
been taken in war by the Minnetarees, by whom she was
sold as a slave to Chaboneau, who brought her up and afterwards
married her. One of the Mandans likewise embarked
with us, in order to go to the Snake Indians and obtain a
peace with them for his countrymen. All this party with
the baggage was stowed in six small canoes and two large
periogues. We left the fort with fair pleasant weather though
the northwest wind was high, and after making about four
miles encamped on the north side of the Missouri, nearly
took our departure, our barge manned with seven soldiers,
two Frenchmen, and Mr. Gravelines as pilot, sailed for the
United States loaded with our presents and despatches.
Monday, 8th. The day was clear and cool, the wind
from the northwest, so that we travelled slowly. After
breakfasting at the second Mandan village we passed the
Mahaha at the mouth of Knife river, a handsome stream
about eighty yards wide. Beyond this we reached the island
which captain Clarke had visited on the 30th October.
This island has timber as well as the lowlands on the north,
but its distance from the water had prevented our encamping
there during the winter. From the head of this island
we made three and a half miles to a point of wood on the
north, passing a high bluff on the south, and having come
about fourteen miles. In the course of the day one of our
boats filled and was near sinking; we however saved her
with the loss of a little biscuit and powder.
Tuesday, April 9. We set off as soon as it was light, and
proceeded five miles to breakfast, passing a low ground on
the south, covered with groves of cottonwood timber. At
the distance of six miles, we reached on the north a hunting
camp of Minnetarees consisting of thirty lodges, and built
in the usual form of earth and timber. Two miles and a
quarter farther, comes in on the same side Miry creek, a
small stream about ten yards wide, which, rising in some
lakes near the Mouse river, passes through beautiful level
fertile plains without timber in a direction nearly southwest;
the banks near its entrance being steep, and rugged on both
sides of the Missouri. Three miles above this creek we came
to a hunting party of Minnetarees, who had prepared a park
or inclosure and were waiting the return of the antelope:
this animal, which in the autumn retires for food and shelter
to the Black mountains during the winter, recross the
river at this season of the year, and spread themselves
through the plains on the north of the Missouri. We halted
on through handsome plains on each side of the river, and
encamped at the distance of twenty-three and a half miles
on the north side: the day was clear and pleasant, the wind
high from the south, but afterwards changed to a western
steady breeze. The bluffs which we passed to-day are upwards
of one hundred feet high, composed of a mixture of
yellow clay and sand, with many horizontal strata of carbonated
wood resembling pit-coal, from one to five feet in
depth, and scattered through the bluff at different elevations,
some as high as eighty feet above the water: the hills
along the river are broken, and present every appearance
of having been burned at some former period; great quantities
of pumicestone and lava or rather earth, which seems
to have been boiled and then hardened by exposure, being
seen in many parts of these hills where they are broken
and washed down into gullies by the rain and melting
snow. A great number of brants pass up the river: there
are some of them perfectly white, except the larger feathers
of the first and second joint of the wing which are black,
though in every other characteristic they resemble common
gray brant: we also saw but could not procure an animal
that burrows in the ground, and similar in every respect
to the burrowing squirrel, except that it is only one third
of its size. This may be the animal whose works we have
often seen in the plains and prairies; they resemble the labours
of the salamander in the sand hills of South Carolina
and Georgia, and like him, the animals rarely come above
ground; they consist of a little hillock of ten or twelve
pounds of loose ground which would seem to have been reversed
from a pot, though no aperture is seen through which
it could have been thrown: on removing gently the earth,
you discover that the soil has been broken in a circle of
about an inch and a half diameter, where the ground is looser
though still no opening is perceptible. When we stopped
for dinner the squaw went out, and after penetrating with
brought to us a quantity of wild artichokes, which the mice
collect and hoard in large numbers; the root is white, of an
ovate form, from one to three inches long, and generally of
the size of a man's finger, and two, four, and sometimes six
roots are attached to a single stalk. Its flavour as well as
the stalk which issues from it resemble those of the Jerusalem
artichoke, except that the latter is much larger. A
large beaver was caught in a trap last night, and the musquitoes
begin to trouble us.
Wednesday 10. We again set off early with clear pleasant
weather, and halted about ten for breakfast, above a
sandbank which was falling in, and near a small willow
island. On both sides of the Missouri, after ascending the
hills near the water, one fertile unbroken plain extends itself
as far as the eye can reach, without a solitary tree or
shrub, except in moist situations or in the steep declivities
of hills where they are sheltered from the ravages of fire.
At the distance of twelve miles we reached the lower point
of a bluff on the south; which is in some parts on fire and
throws out quantities of smoke which has a strong sulphurous
smell, the coal and other appearances in the bluffs being
like those described yesterday: at one o'clock we overtook
three Frenchmen who left the fort a few days before
us, in order to make the first attempt on this river of hunting
beaver, which they do by means of traps: their efforts
promise to be successful for they have already caught
twelve which are finer than any we have ever seen: they
mean to accompany us as far as the Yellowstone river in
order to obtain our protection against the Assiniboins who
might attack them. In the evening we encamped on a willow
point to the south opposite to a bluff, above which a
small creek falls in, and just above a remarkable bend in
the river to the southwest, which we called the Little Basin.
The low grounds which we passed to-day possess more
timber than is usual, and are wider; the current is moderate,
tides; the banks too fall in but little; so that the navigation
comparatively with that lower down the Missouri is safe
and easy. We were enabled to make eighteen and a half
miles: we saw the track of a large white bear, there were
also a herd of antelopes in the plains; the geese and swan
are now feeding in considerable quantities on the young
grass in the low prairies; we shot a prairie hen, and a bald
eagle of which there were many nests in the tall cottonwood
trees; but could procure neither of two elk which were in
the plain. Our old companions the musquitoes have renewed
their visit, and gave us much uneasiness.
Thursday, 11th. We set out at daylight, and after passing
bare and barren hills on the south, and a plain covered
with timber on the north, breakfasted at five miles distance:
here we were regaled with a deer brought in by the
hunters, which was very acceptable as we had been for
several days without fresh meat; the country between this
and fort Mandan being so frequently disturbed by hunters
that the game has become scarce. We then proceeded with
a gentle breeze from the south which carried the periogues
on very well; the day was however so warm that several of
the men worked with no clothes except round the waist,
which is the less inconvenient as we are obliged to wade in
some places owing to the shallowness of the river. At seven
miles we reached a large sandbar making out from the
north. We again stopped for dinner, after which we went
on to a small plain on the north covered with cottonwood
where we encamped, having made nineteen miles. The
country around is much the same as that we passed yesterday:
on the sides of the hills, and even on the banks of
the rivers, as well as on the sandbars, is a white substance
which appears in considerable quantities on the surface of
the earth, and tastes like a mixture of common salt with
glauber salts: many of the streams which come from the
foot of the hills, are so strongly impregnated with this substance,
effect. A beaver was caught last night by one of the
Frenchmen; we killed two geese, and saw some cranes, the
largest bird of that kind common to the Missouri and Mississippi,
and perfectly white except the large feathers on
the two first joints of the wing which are black. Under a
bluff opposite to our encampment we discovered some Indians
with horses, whom we supposed were Minnetarees,
but the width of the river prevented our speaking to them.
Friday, 12th. We set off early and passed a high range
of hills on the south side, our periogues being obliged to go
over to the south, in order to avoid a sandbank which was
rapidly falling in. At six miles we came to at the lower
side of the entrance of the Little Missouri, where we remained
during the day for the purpose of making celestial
observations. This river empties itself on the south side
of the Missouri, one thousand six hundred and ninety-three
miles from its confluence with the Mississippi. It rises to
the west of the Black mountains, across the northern extremity
of which it finds a narrow rapid passage along high
perpendicular banks, then seeks the Missouri in a northeastern
direction, through a broken country with highlands
bare of timber, and the low grounds particularly supplied
with cottonwood, elm, small ash, box, alder, and an undergrowth
of willow, redwood, sometimes called red or swamp-willow,
the redberry and chokecherry. In its course it
passes near the northwest side of the Turtle mountain,
which is said to be only twelve or fifteen miles from its
mouth in a straight line a little to the south of west, so
that both the Little Missouri and Knife river have been
laid down too far southwest. It enters the Missouri with a
bold current, and is one hundred and thirty-four yards
wide, but its greatest depth is two feet and a half, and this
joined to its rapidity and its sandbars, make the navigation
difficult except for canoes, which may ascend it for a considerable
distance. At the mouth, and as far as we could
miles from their junction, the country is much broken, the
soil consisting of a deep rich dark coloured loam, intermixed
with a small proportion of fine sand and covered
generally with a short grass resembling blue grass. In its
colour, the nature of its bed, and its general appearance, it
resembles so much the Missouri as to induce a belief that
the countries they water are similar in point of soil. From
the Mandan villages to this place the country is hilly and
irregular, with the same appearance of glauber salts and
carbonated wood, the low grounds smooth, sandy, and partially
covered with cottonwood and small ash; at some distance
back there are extensive plains of a good soil, but
without timber or water.
We found great quantities of small onions which grow
single, the bulb of an oval form, white, about the size of a
bullet with a leaf resembling that of the shive. On the side
of a neighbouring hill, there is a species of dwarf cedar: it
spreads its limbs along the surface of the earth, which it
almost conceals by its closeness and thickness, and is sometimes
covered by it, having always a number of roots on the
under side, while on the upper are a quantity of shoots which
with their leaves seldom rise higher than six or eight inches;
it is an evergreen, its leaf more delicate than that of
the common cedar, though the taste and smell is the same.
The country around has been so recently hunted that
the game are extremely shy, so that a white rabbit, two beaver,
a deer, and a bald eagle were all that we could procure.
The weather had been clear, warm, and pleasant in the
morning, but about three we had a squall of high wind and
rain with some thunder, which lasted till after sunset when
it again cleared off.
Saturday 13. We set out at sunrise, and at nine o'clock
having the wind in our favour went on rapidly past a timbered
low ground on the south, and a creek on the north at the
distance of nine miles, which we called Onion creek, from
this creek is about sixteen yards wide at a mile and a half
above its mouth, it discharges more water than is usual for
creeks of that size in this country, but the whole plain
which it waters is totally destitute of timber. The Missouri
itself widens very remarkably just above the junction with
the Little Missouri: immediately at the entrance of the latter,
it is not more than two hundred yards wide, and so shallow
that it may be passed in canoes with setting poles, while
a few miles above it is upwards of a mile in width: ten miles
beyond Onion creek we came to another, discharging itself
on the north in the centre of a deep bend: on ascending it
for about a mile and a half, we found it to be the discharge
of a pond or small lake, which seemed to have been once
the bed of the Missouri: near this lake were the remains of
forty-three temporary lodges which seem to belong to the
Assiniboins, who are now on the river of the same name.
A great number of swan and geese were also in it, and from
this circumstance we named the creek Goose creek, and
the lake by the same name: these geese we observe do not
build their nests on the ground or in sandbars, but in the
tops of lofty cottonwood trees: we saw some elk and buffaloe
to-day but at too great a distance to obtain any of them,
though a number of the carcases of the latter animal are
strewed along the shore, having fallen through the ice, and
been swept along when the river broke up. More bald eagles
are seen on this part of the Missouri than we have previously
met with; the small or common hawk, common in
most parts of the United States, are also found here: great
quantities of geese are feeding in the prairies, and one flock
of white brant or geese with black wings, and some gray
brant with them pass up the river, and from their flight
they seem to proceed much farther to the northwest. We
killed two antelopes which were very lean, and caught last
night two beaver: the French hunters who had procured
seven, thinking the neighbourhood of the Little Missouri a
there: in the evening we encamped in a beautiful plain
on the north thirty feet above the river, having made twenty-two
and a half miles.
Sunday 14. We set off early with pleasant and fair weather:
a dog joined us, which we suppose had strayed from
the Assiniboin camp on the lake. At two and a half miles
we passed timbered low grounds and a small creek: in these
low grounds are several uninhabited lodges built with the
boughs of the elm, and the remains of two recent encampments,
which from the hoops of small kegs found in them
we judged could belong to Assiniboins only, as they are the
only Missouri Indians who use spirituous liquors: of these
they are so passionately fond that it forms their chief inducement
to visit the British on the Assiniboin, to whom
they barter for kegs of rum their dried and pounded meat,
their grease, and the skins of large and small wolves, and
small foxes. The dangerous exchange is transported to
their camps with their friends and relations, and soon exhausted
in brutal intoxication: so far from considering
drunkenness as disgraceful, the women and children are
permitted and invited to share in these excesses with their
husbands and fathers, who boast how often their skill and
industry as hunters has supplied them with the means of
intoxication: in this, as in their other habits and customs,
they resemble the Sioux from whom they are descended
the trade with the Assiniboins and Knistenaux is encouraged
by the British, because it procures provision for their
engages on their return from Rainy lake to the English
river and the Athabasky country where they winter; these
men being obliged during that voyage to pass rapidly
through a country but scantily supplied with game. We
halted for dinner near a large village of burrowing squirrels,
who we observe generally select a southeasterly exposure,
though they are sometimes found in the plains. At
ten and a quarter miles we came to the lower point of an
Sunday island: here the river washes the bases of the hills
on both sides and above the island, which with its sandbar
extends a mile and a half: two small creeks fall in from the
south; the uppermost of these, which is the largest, we called
Chaboneau's creek, after our interpreter who once encamped
on it several weeks with a party of Indians. Beyond
this no white man had ever been except two Frenchmen,
one of whom Lapage is with us, and who having lost their
way straggled a few miles further, though to what point we
could not ascertain: about a mile and a half beyond this
island we encamped on a point of woodland on the north,
having made in all fourteen miles.
The Assiniboins have so recently left the river that
game is scarce and shy. One of the hunters shot at an otter
last evening; a buffaloe too was killed, and an elk, both so
poor as to be almost unfit for use; two white bear were also
seen, and a muskrat swimming across the river. The river
continues wide and of about the same rapidity as the ordinary
current of the Ohio. The low grounds are wide, the
moister parts containing timber, the upland extremely broken,
without wood, and in some places seem as if they had
slipped down in masses of several acres in surface. The mineral
appearances of salts, coal, and sulphur, with the burnt hill
and pumicestone continue, and a bituminous water about the
colour of strong lye, with the taste of glauber salts and a
slight tincture of allum. Many geese were feeding in the
prairies, and a number of magpies who build their nests much
like those of the blackbird in trees, and composed of small
sticks, leaves and grass, open at top: the egg is of a bluish
brown colour, freckled with reddish brown spots. We also
killed a large hooting own resembling that of the United
States, except that it was more booted and clad with feathers.
On the hills are many aromatic herbs, resembling in taste,
smell and appearance the sage, bysop, wormwood, southern
wood, juniper and dwarf cedar; a plant also about two or
and another plant of the same size, with a long, narrow,
smooth, soft leaf, of an agreeable smell and flavour, which is
a favourite food of the antelope, whose necks are often perfumed
by rubbing against it.
Monday 15. We proceeded under a fine breeze from the
south, and clear pleasant weather. At seven miles we
reached the lower point of an island in a bend to the south,
which is two miles in length. Captain Clarke, who went about
nine miles northward from the river reached the high grounds,
which, like those we have seen, are level plains without
timber; here he observed a number of drains, which descending
from the hills pursue a northeast course, and probably
empty into the Mouse river, a branch of the Assiniboin, which
from Indian accounts approaches very near to the Missouri
at this place. Like all the rivulets of this neighbourhood
these drains were so strongly impregnated with mineral salts
that they are not fit to drink. He saw also the remains of
several camps of Assiniboins: the low grounds on both sides
of the river are extensive, rich, and level. In a little pond
on the north, we heard for the first time this season the
croaking of frogs, which exactly resembles that of the small
frogs in the United States: there are also in these plains
great quantities of geese, and many of the grouse, or prairie
hen, as they are called by the N. W. company traders; the
note of the male, as far as words can represent it, is cook,
cook, cook, coo, coo, coo, the first part of which both male
and female use when flying; the male too drums with his
wings when he flies in the same way, though not so loud as the
pheasant; they appear to be mating. Some deer, elk, and goats
were in the low grounds, and buffaloe on the sand beaches,
but they were uncommonly shy; we also saw a black bear,
and two white ones. At fifteen miles we passed on the north
side a small creek twenty yards wide, which we called Goat-pen
creek, from a park or enclosure for the purpose of catching
that animal, which those who went up the creek found,
Its water is impregnated with mineral salts, and the country
through which it flows consists of wide and very fertile
plains, but without any trees. We encamped at the distance
of twenty-three miles, on a sandpoint to the south; we passed
in the evening a rock in the middle of the river, the channel
of which a little above our camp, is confined within eighty
yards.
Tuesday 16. The morning was clear, the wind light from
the S. E. The country presents the same appearance of low
plains and meadows on the river, bounded a few miles back
by broken hills, which end in high level fertile lands, the
quantity of timber is however increasing. The appearances
of minerals continues as usual, and to-day we found several
stones which seemed to have been wood, first carbonated
and then petrified by the water of the Missouri, which has
the same effect on many vegetable substances. There is indeed
reason to believe that the strata of coal in the hills
cause the fire and appearances which they exhibit of being
burned. Whenever these marks present themselves in the
bluffs on the river, the coal is seldom seen, and when found
in the neighbourhood of the strata of burnt earth, the coal
with the sand and sulphurous matter usually accompanying
it, is precisely at the same height and nearly of the same
thickness with those strata. We passed three small creeks
or rather runs, which rise in the hills to the north. Numbers
of geese, and a few ducks chiefly of the mallard and
bluewinged teal, many buffaloe, elk and deer were also observed,
and in the timbered low grounds this morning we were
surprised to observe a great quantity of old hornets' nests:
we encamped in a point of woods on the south, having come
eighteen miles, though the circuits which we were obliged
to make round sandbars very much increased the real distance.
Wednesday, April 17. We set off early, the weather being
fine, and the wind so favourable as to enable us to sail the
we passed a creek ten yards wide on the south; at eighteen
miles a little run on the north, and at night encamped in a
woody point on the south. We had travelled twenty-six
miles through a country similar to that of yesterday, except
that there were greater appearances of burnt hills, furnishing
large quantities of lava and pumicestone, of the last of
which we observe some pieces floating down the river, as we
had previously done, as low as the Little Missouri. In all
the copses of wood are the remains of the Assiniboin encampments;
around us are great quantities of game, such as
herds of buffaloe, elk, antelopes, some deer and wolves, the
tracks of bears, a curlue was also seen, and we obtained
three beaver, the flesh of which is more relished by the men
than any other food which we have. Just before we encamped
we saw some tracks of Indians, who had passed twenty-four
hours before, and left four rafts, and whom we supposed
to be a band of Assiniboins on their return from war against
the Indians on the Rocky mountains.
Thursday 18. We had again a pleasant day, and proceeded
on with a westerly wind, which however changed
to N. W. and blew so hard that we were obliged to stop at
one o'clock and remain four hours, when it abated and we
then continued our course.
We encamped about dark on a woody bank having made
thirteen miles. The country presented the usual variety
of highlands interspersed with rich plains. In one of these
we observed a species of pea bearing a yellow flower, which
is now in blossom, the leaf and stalk resembling the common
pea. It seldom rises higher than six inches, and the
root is perennial. On the rose bushes we also saw a quantity
of the hair of the buffaloe, which had become perfectly
white by exposure, and resembled the wool of the sheep,
except that it was much finer and more soft and silky. A
buffaloe which we killed yesterday had shed his long hair,
and that which remained was about two inches long, thick,
we have no doubt an excellent cloth may be made. Our
game to-day was a beaver, a deer, an elk, and some geese.
The river has been crooked all day and bearing towards the
south.
On the hills we observed considerable quantities of dwarf
juniper, which seldom grows higher than three feet. We
killed in the course of the day an elk, three geese and a
beaver. The beaver on this part of the Missouri are in
greater quantities, larger and fatter, and their fur is more
abundant and of a darker colour than any we had hitherto
seen: their favourite food seems to be the bark of the
cottonwood and willow, as we have seen no other species
of tree that has been touched by them, and these they gnaw
to the ground through a diameter of twenty inches.
The next day, Friday, 19th, the wind was so high from
northwest that we could not proceed, but being less violent
on
Saturday, 20th, we set off about seven o'clock, and had
nearly lost one of the canoes as we left the shore, by the
falling in of a large part of the bank. The wind too became
again so strong that we could scarcely make one
mile an hour, and the sudden squalls so dangerous to the
small boats, that we stopped for the night among some willows
on the north, not being able to advance more than six
and a half miles. In walking through the neighbouring
plains we found a fine fertile soil covered with cottonwood,
some box, alder, ash, red elm, and an undergrowth of willow,
rosebushes, honeysuckle, red willow, gooseberry, currant,
and service berries, and along the foot of the hills
great quantities of hysop. Our hunters procured elk and
deer which are now lean, and six beaver which are fatter
and more palatable. Along the plain there were also some
Indian camps; near one of these was a scaffold about seven
feet high, on which were two sleds with their harness, and
under it the body of a female, carefully wrapped in several
skin, containing a pair of moccasins, some red and blue
paint, beaver's nails, scrapers for dressing hides, some dried
roots, several plaits of sweet grass, and a small quantity of
Mandan tobacco. These things as well as the body itself
had probably fallen down by accident, as the custom is to
place them on the scaffold. At a little distance was the
body of a dog not yet decayed, who had met this reward for
having dragged thus far in the sled the corpse of his mistress,
to whom according to the Indian usage he had been
sacrificed.
Sunday, 21st. Last night there was a hard white frost,
and this morning the weather cold, but clear and pleasant:
in the course of the day however it became cloudy and the
wind rose. The country is of the same description as within
the few last days. We saw immense quantities of buffaloe,
elk, deer, antelopes, geese, and some swan and ducks, out
of which we procured three deer, four buffaloe calves,
which last are equal in flavour to the most delicious veal;
also two beaver, and an otter. We passed one large and
two small creeks on the south side, and reached at sixteen
miles the mouth of Whiteearth river, coming in from the
north. This river before it reaches the low grounds near
the Missouri, is a fine bold stream sixty yards wide, and is
deep and navigable, but it is so much choked up at the
entrance by the mud of the Missouri, that its mouth is not
more than ten yards wide. Its course, as far as we could
discern from the neighbouring hills, is nearly due north,
passing through a beautiful and fertile valley, though without
a tree or bush of any description. Half a mile beyond
this river we encamped on the same side below a point of
highland, which from its appearance we call Cut bluff.
Monday, 22d. The day clear and cold: we passed a high
bluff on the north and plains on the south, in which were
large herds of buffaloe, till breakfast, when the wind became
so strong ahead that we proceeded with difficulty even with
the Whiteearth river, which here at the distance of four
miles from its mouth approaches very near to the Missouri. It
contains more water than is usual in streams of the same
size at this season, with steep banks about ten or twelve
feet high, and the water is much clearer than that of the
Missouri; the salts which have been mentioned as common
on the Missouri, are here so abundant that in many places
the ground appears perfectly white, and from this circumstance
it may have derived its name; it waters an
open country and is navigable almost to its source, which
is not far from the Saskaskawan, and judging from its size
and course, it is probable that it extends as far north as the
fiftieth degree of latitude. After much delay in consequence
of the high wind, we succeeded in making eleven
miles, and encamped in a low ground on the south covered
with cottonwood and rabbitberries. The hills of the Missouri
near this place exhibit large irregular broken masses
of rocks and stones, some of which, although two hundred
feet above the water, seem at some remote period to have
been subject to its influence, being apparently worn smooth
by the agitation of the water. These rocks and stones consist
of white and gray granite, a brittle black rock, flint,
limestone, freestone, some small specimens of an excellent
pebble, and occasionally broken stratas of a black coloured
stone like petrified wood, which make good whetstones.
The usual appearances of coal, or carbonated wood, and
pumicestone still continue, the coal being of a better quality
and when burnt affords a hot and lasting fire, emitting very
little smoke or flame. There are large herds of deer, elk,
buffaloe, and antelopes in view of us: the buffaloe are not
so shy as the rest, for they suffer us to approach within one
hundred yards before they run, and then stop and resume
their pasture at a very short distance. The wolves to-day
pursued a herd of them, and at length caught a calf that
was unable to keep up with the rest; the mothers on these
as fast as the herd, but seldom returning any distance to
seek for them.
Tuesday 23. A clear and pleasant morning, but at nine
o'clock the wind became so high that the boats were in danger
of upsetting; we therefore were forced to stop at a
place of safety till about five in the afternoon, when the wind
being lower we proceeded and encamped on the north at
the distance of thirteen and a half miles: the party on shore
brought us a buffaloe calf and three blacktailed deer: the
sand on the river has the same appearances as usual, except
that the quantity of wood increases.
Wednesday 24. The wind blew so high during the whole
day that we were unable to move; such indeed was its violence,
that although we were sheltered by high timber the
waves wet many articles in the boats: the hunters went out
and returned with four deer, two elk, and some young
wolves of the small kind. The party are very much afflicted
with sore eyes, which we presume are occasioned by the
vast quantities of sand which are driven from the sandbars
in such clouds as often to hide from us the view of the opposite
bank. The particles of this sand are so fine and light
that it floats for miles in the air like a column of thick
smoke, and is so penetrating that nothing can be kept free
from it, and we are compelled to eat, drink, and breathe
it very copiously. To the same cause we attribute the disorder
of one of our watches, although her cases are double
and tight; since without any defect in its works, that we can
discover, it will not run for more than a few minutes without
stopping.
Thursday 25. The wind moderated this morning, but
was still high; we therefore set out early, the weather being
so cold that the water froze on the oars as we rowed, and
about ten o'clock the wind increased so much that we were
obliged to stop. This detention from the wind and the reports
from our hunters of the crookedness of the river, induced
the Yellowstone river. In order therefore to prevent delay
as much as possible, captain Lewis determined to go on by
land in search of that river, and make the necessary observations,
so as to be enabled to proceed on immediately
after the boats should join him: he therefore landed about
eleven o'clock on the south side, accompanied by four men;
the boats were prevented from going until five in the afternoon,
when they went on a few miles further and encamped
for the night at the distance of fourteen and a half miles.
Friday 26. We continued our voyage in the morning and
by twelve o'clock encamped at eight miles distance, at the
junction of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers; where we
were soon joined by captain Lewis.
On leaving us yesterday he pursued his route along the
foot of the hills, which he ascended at the distance of eight
miles; from these the wide plains watered by the Missouri
and the Yellowstone spread themselves before the eye, occasionally
varied with the wood of the banks, enlivened by
the irregular windings of the two rivers, and animated by
vast herds of buffaloe, deer, elk, and antelope. The confluence
of the two rivers was concealed by the wood, but the
Yellowstone itself was only two miles distant to the south.
He therefore descended the hills and encamped on the bank
of the river, having killed as he crossed the plain four buffaloes;
the deer alone are shy and retire to the woods, but
the elk, antelope, and buffaloe suffered him to approach
them without alarm, and often followed him quietly for some
distance. This morning he sent a man up the river to examine
it, while he proceeded down to the junction: the
ground on the lower side of the Yellowstone near its mouth,
is flat, and for about a mile seems to be subject to inundation,
while that at the point of junction, as well as on the
opposite side of the Missouri, is at the usual height of ten
or eighteen feet above the water, and therefore not overflown.
There is more timber in the neighbourhood of this
river, than on any other part of the Missouri on this side of
the Chayenne: the timber consists principally of cottonwood,
with some small elm, ash, and box alder. On the sandbars
and along the margin of the river grows the small-leafed
willow; in the low grounds adjoining are scattered rosebushes
three or four feet high, the redberry, serviceberry and
redwood. The higher plains are either immediately on the
river, in which case they are generally timbered, and have
an undergrowth like that of the low grounds, with the addition
of the broad-leafed willow, gooseberry, chokecherry,
purple currant, and honeysuckle: or they are between the
low grounds and the hills, and for the most part without
wood or any thing except large quantities of wild hysop;
this plant rises about two feet high, and like the willow of
the sandbars is a favourite food of the buffaloe, elk, deer,
grouse, porcupine, hare, and rabbit. This river which had
been known to the French as the Roche jaune, or as we have
called it the Yellowstone, rises according to Indian information
in the Rocky mountains; its sources are near those
of the Missouri and the Platte, and it may be navigated in
canoes almost to its head. It runs first through a mountainous
country, but in many parts fertile and well timbered; it
then waters a rich delightful land, broken into values and
meadows, and well supplied with wood and water till it reaches
near the Missouri open meadows and low grounds, sufficiently
timbered on its borders. In the upper country its
course is represented as very rapid, but during the two last
and largest portions, its current is much more gentle than
that of the Missouri, which it resembles also in being turbid
though with less sediment. The man who was sent up the
river, reported in the evening that he had gone about eight
miles, that during that distance the river winds on both sides
of a plain four or five miles wide, that the current was gentle
and much obstructed by sandbars, that at five miles he had
met with a large timbered island, three miles beyond which a
several strata of coal. The country as far as he could discern,
resembled that of the Missouri, and in the plain he met
several of the bighorn animals, but they were too shy to be
obtained. The bed of the Yellowstone, as we observed it
near the mouth, is composed of sand and mud, without a
stone of any kind. Just above the confluence we measured
the two rivers, and found the bed of the Missouri five hundred
and twenty yards wide, the water occupying only
three hundred and thirty, and the channel deep: while
the Yellowstone, including its sandbar, occupied eight hundred
and fifty-eight yards, with two hundred and ninety-seven
yards of water: the deepest part of the channel is
twelve feet, but the river is now falling and seems to be nearly
at its summer height.
April 27. We left the mouth of the Yellowstone. From
the point of junction a wood occupies the space between the
two rivers, which at the distance of a mile comes within two
hundred and fifty yards of each other. There a beautiful
low plain commences, and widening as the rivers recede,
extends along each of them for several miles, rising about
half a mile from the Missouri into a plain twelve feet higher
than itself. The low plain is a few inches above high water
mark, and where it joins the higher plain there is a channel
of sixty or seventy yards in width, through which a
part of the Missouri when at its greatest height passes into
the Yellowstone. At two and a half miles above the junction
and between the high and low plain is a small lake, two
hundred yards wide, extending for a mile parallel with the
Missouri along the edge of the upper plain. At the lower
extremity of this lake, about four hundred yards from the
Missouri, and twice that distance from the Yellowstone,
is a situation highly eligible for a trading establishment; it
is in the high plain which extends back three miles in width,
and seven or eight miles in length, along the Yellowstone,
where it is bordered by an extensive body of woodland, and
it is circumscribed by the hills within a space four yards in
width. A sufficient quantity of limestone for building may
easily be procured near the junction of the rivers; it does
not lie in regular stratas, but is in large irregular masses,
of a light colour and apparently of an excellent quality.
Game too is very abundant, and as yet quite gentle; above
all, its elevation recommends it as preferable to the land at
the confluence of the rivers, which their variable channels
may render very insecure. The N. W. wind rose so high
at eleven o'clock, that we were obliged to stop till about
four in the afternoon, when we proceeded till dusk. On the
south a beautiful plain separates the two rivers, till at about
six miles there is a timbered piece of low ground, and a little
above it bluffs, where the country rises gradually from
the river; the situations on the north more high and open.
We encamped on that side, the wind, the sand which it raised,
and the rapidity of the current having prevented our
advancing more than eight miles; during the latter part of
the day the river becomes wider and crouded with sandbars:
although the game is in such plenty we kill only what is necessary
for our subsistence. For several days past we have
seen great numbers of buffaloe lying dead along the shore,
and some of them partly devoured by the wolves; they have
either sunk through the ice during the winter, or been drowned
in attempting to cross, or else, after crossing to some
high bluff, found themselves too much exhausted either to
ascend or swim back again, and perished for want of food;
in this situation we found several small parties of them.
There are geese too in abundance, and more bald-eagles than
we have hitherto observed; the nests of these last being always
accompanied by those of two or three magpies, who
are their inseparable attendants.
| CHAPTER VII. History of the expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the river Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. | |