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Show 1.2 Lewis and Clm·l~e·s E.11_Jctlilion which falls into the Missouri from the south, is said to IJe naYigable for· boats eighty or ninety miles, and is about seven· ty yards wide at its mouth. It forks about five or six leagues from the Missoul'i, and at tllC point of junction arc some very rich salt Slll'ings; the west brancl1 in varticular, is so mucl1 im1wcgnate(l, that, for twenty miles, the water is not palatable: several branchrs of the Manitou and Good Woman arc equally tinctured. 'fhe Freneh report also, that lead ore l1as been found on (liffcrcnt parts of the river·. 'Ve made seve~ 1·al excur:;ions ncar the river through the low rich country on its banks, and after dinner went on to the island of Mills, lvhere we encamped. We met with a party of three }mnt.crs fr·om the Sioux river; they had been out for tweh·e months, and collccte<l about nine bundt·ed dollars worth of poltries and fm·s. We ascended this river twelve miles. On the 9th, we set out early, and reached a diffof rocks, called the Arrow Rock, ncar to which is a prairie called the Prairies of Arrows, and Arrow creek, a small stream about eight yards wide, whose source is in the adjoining prairies on the south. At t11is cliff the Missouri is coniined within a bed of two hundred yards; and about four miles to the south cast is a. large lick and salt ·spring of great strength. About three miles further is Blackbird creek on the north side, opposite to which, is an island and a 11rairie inclosing a small lake. Five miles beyond this we encamped on the south side, after making, in the course of the day, thirteen miles. The land on the north is a high rich plain. On the south it is also even, of a good quality, and rising from fifty 1o one hundred feet. The next morning, 10th, we passed Doer creek, and at the distance of five miles, the two rivers called by tho French the two Charatons, a corruption of Thieraton, tho first of which is thirty, the second seventy yards wide, and (~nter the Missouri together. They are both naviobo able for bo.ats: the country through which they pass is broken, rich, and thickly covered 'vith tin;tber. The Ayauway nation, Up the JtfissoU1'i. 1S ~onsisting of tltree hundt~ed men, have a village near its hea(l~ waters on the riYcr De ~foines. Farther on we passed a large island called Clticot or Stump Island, and en<'amped on the south, after making ten miles. A head wind forced us to remain there all the next day, during whicl1 we dricll the meat we l1ad killed, and examined the surrounding country, which consists of good land, well watered, and supplied \vith timbet': the prairies also differ from those cast~ war<l of the Mississippi, inasmuch as the latter arc gene~ ralJy ''ithout any covel'ing except grass, whilst the former abouml with hazel, gralles and other ft·uits. among whicl1 is the Osage plum of a superior size and quality. On the morning of tl1e 12tla, we passed through difficult places in the river, and reached Plum creek on the south side. At one o'clock, we met two rafti loaded, the one with furs, the other with the tallow of buflaloe; they were from the Sioux nation, and on thcit• way to St. Louis; but we were i'ortu . nate enough to engage one of them, a Mr. Durion, who 1aad lived with that nation more than twen1y years, und was high in their conihlencc, to acaompany us thither. We made nine miles. On the iStl1, we passed at between four and iive miles, a bend of the river, and two creeks on the north, called the Round Beml creeks. Between these two creeks is the prairie, in which once stood t.11e ancient village of tl1e 1\lissouris. Of this village there remains no vestige, nor is there any thing to recall tbis great and numerous nation, except a feeble remnant of about thirty families. They were driven from theil• original scats by the invasions of the Sanks and other Indians ft·om the 1\lississippi, who dest1·oyed at this village two hundred of them in one contest, and sougl1t refuge near the Little Osage, on the other side of the river. The encroachment of the same enemies forced, about thirty years since, both these natjons from the bank-s of the Missouri. A few retired with the Osage, and the remainder found an asylum on the river Platte, among the Ottoes, who are themselves declinin~. Oppo- |