OCR Text |
Show 80 Lewis and Clm·ke"s .Ea-1Jeditiou ketted m· WI' th tl • e same materials. r-rhe bunt•e rs who hat\ t I d J·01been sen a lCa 'ned us here. They men.t ion that th.e I 'Jl are washed in gullies, in passing over wh1eh, some mt-u s h . . neral substances hatl rotted anll destroyed t. e1~ moccas~tJS; t1Jey had killed two deer and' a beaver. At s1xtecn nules distance we came to 011 the north side at the mouth of a small e~·eek. The large stones which we saw yesterday on the shores arc now some distance in the river, and render the navigation dangerous. The mosquitoes a1·e still nume-rous in the low grounds. Sunday, September 2S. \Vc passed, with a light breeze from the southeast, a small island on the north, called Goat island: above which i~ a small e~·eek, called by the pat'ty Smok~ cr·ech., a.!ol we obsen·cd a g1·cat smoke to the southwest on approaching it. At ten miles '~c came to the _lower lloint of a larooe islancl, having passed two small wtllow 0 rl,} ' ' l d jslands with sandbars projecting from them. ns IS an , which we called Elk island, is about two and a half miles long, and three quarters of a mile wide, situated ncar the south, and covere(lwith cottonwood, the red cur· rant, and gra1)es. The river is here almost straight for a. considerable distance, wide and shallow, with many sand· bars. A small creek on the north, about sixteen yards wide, we called Reuben's creek; as Reuben I?ields, one of our men, was the first of the p~u·ty who reached it. A~ a tsbort distance above this we encamped for the night, havmg made twenty miles. The country, generally, consists of low, rich, timbered gt·ound on the not•th, and high barren lands on the south: on both sides gt·eat numbers of buffa· loe arc feeding. In the evening three boys of the Sioux nation swam aeross the rive1·, and informed us that two pat·tics or Sioux were encamped on the next river, one con· ~isting of eighty, and the second of sixty lodges, at some distance above. After treating them kindly we sent the~ back, with a present of two cart·ots of' tobaceo to then· chiefs, whom we invited to a conference in the morning. Up the JJiissouri. St ~londay, Se})tcmber· 2'1<. The wind was from the east, and the day fair; we soon llasscd a handsome prairie on the not·th side, covered with ripe plums, and the mouth of a creek on the south, called Highwater creek, a little above out· encampment. At about five miles we reached an island two and a half miles in length, and situated ncar the south. Here we were joined by one of our hunters, who procured four elk, but whilst he was in pursuit of the game the Indians had stolen his horse. 'Ve left the island, and soon overtook five Indians on the shore: we anchored, and told them from the boat we we1·c ft·icnds and wished to continue so, but wcr•e not af't~aid of any Indians; that some ol' their young men had stolen the horse which their great father had sent for their great chief, and that we could not treat with them until he wai restored. 'rhey said that they knew nothing of the horse, but if be had been taken he should be given up. W c went on, and at eleven and a half miles, passed an island on the north, which we called Goodhumoured island; it is about one and a half miles long, and abounds in elk. At thirteen and a half miles, we am· hot·ed one hundred yards off the mouth of a river on the south side, where we were joined by both the 11eriogucs and encamped; two thirds of the pat•ty remained on board, and the rest went as a guard on shore with the cooks and one perioguc; we have seen along the sides of the hills on the north a great deal of stone; besides the elk, we also observed a hare; the five Indians whom we bad seen followed us, aRd slept with the guard on shore. :Finding one of them was a chief we smoked with him, and made him a present of tobacco. r.rhis river is about seventy yards wide, and bas a consjdtn-able current. As the tribe of the Sioux which inhabit it arc called Teton, we gave it the name ofTeton rivet·. ' ' OT .. r. |