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; Volume 1

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/ ~18 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition Wednesday 15. As soon as a slight shower of rain had passed, we spread out the articles to dry; but the weather 'Was so damp and cloudy that they derived little benefit from exposure. Our hunters procured us deer, buffaloe1 and beal'er. Thursday 16. The morning was fair and we were. ena­bled to dry and repac~ our stores: the loss we sustained is cbidly in the mt.'dicincs, many articles of which are rom. plrtf'ly spoiled, and others <·onsiderably injut·ed. At fou1· o'clock we embarked, and after making seven miles encamp­ed on the not'th near some wood: the country on both sides is broken, the low grounds narrower and with less timber, though there are some scattered pine and cedar on the sterp deelh'ities of the hills, whicb arc now higher than usual. A white bear tore the <'.oat of one of the men which he had left on shore; and two of the party wounded a large pan­ther who was feasting on a ueer. We caught some lean an­telopes as they were swimming the river, and killed twe buffaloe. Friday 17. "\Ve set out early and proce8ded on very well; the banks being firm and the shore bold we were enabled te use the towline, which, whtmever the banks will permit it, is the safest and most expeditious mode of ascending the river, except under a sail with a steady breeze. At the dis­tance of ten and a half miles we came to the mouth of a small creek on the south, below which the hills approaeh the river, and continue near it during the day: three miJI'S fut•ther is a large creek on the north, and again six and thl'ce quarter miles beyond it, anotht>r large creek to th~ south, which C(J»ntain a small quantity of running water of a. brackish taste. The last we called Rattlesnake creek f1·om our seeing that animal near it. Although no timber can be observed on it from the Missouri, it throws out Jarge quan­tities of driftwood, among which were some pieces of coal brought down by the stream. We continued on one mile and a 'luarter, and encamped on the south after making Up the Missouri. 219 twenty and a half miles. The country in general is rugged, the hills high, with theh• summits and sides partially cover­ed with pine and cedar, and their bast>s on both sidei wash­ed by the river: like those already m«'ntioned the lower part of these hills is a dark rich loam, while the upper region for one hundred and fifty feet consists of a whitish brown sand, so bard as in many places to resemble stone, though in fact very little stone or rock of any kind is to be seen on the hills. The bed of the ~Iissouri is mueh narrower than usual, being not more than bet ween two and three hundred .,. ·ards in width, with an uncommonly large proportion of gravel; but the sandbars, and low points covered with willows have a lmost entirely disappeared: the timber on the rher eon­ttists of scarcely any thing more than a few scattered cot.ton­\ vood trees. 1.'he saline incrustations along the banks and the foot of the hills are more abundant than usual. The game is in great quantities, but the buffaloe are not so nu­merous as they were some days ago: two rattlesnakes were seen to-day, and one of them killed: it resembles those of the middle Atlantic states, being about two feet six inchei long, of a yellow ish brown on the back and sides, variegated with a row of oval dark brown spots lying transversely on the back from the neck to the tail, nnd two other rows of circular spots of the same colour on the sides along the edge of the scuta: there arc one hundred and seventy-six scuta on the belly, and seventeen on the tail. Captain Clarke saw in his excursions a fortified Indian camp which appeared to have been recently occupied, and was, we JWcsumed, maue by a party of Minnetarees who went to war Jast l\farch. Late at night we were roused by the set'geant of the guard in consequence of a fire which had communi<'atcd to a tl'ec overhanging our camp. The wind was so high, that we had not removed the camp mol·e than~ few minu(es when a laq;-e part of the ta•ee fell pt•eeisely on the SJlOt it had occupied, and Would have crushed us if we bad not been alaa'med in time.