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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I Lewis ttncl Clarke's Exped1tivn and twenty miles in width, sometimes narrower, but always much higher than the country on either side. They com~ mence about'the head of the Kanzas, where they diverge; the first ridge going west~ard, along the northern shore of the Arkansaw; the second approaches the Rock mountains oblique~y in a course a little to the W. of N. W. and after passing the Platte above its forks, and intersecting the Yel­lowstone near the Bigbend, crosses the Missouri at this p]ace, and probably swell the country as far as the Saska­shawan, though as they are represented much smallei· here than to the south, they may not reach that river. Saturday, 25th. Two canoes which were left behind yesterday to bring on the game, did not join us till eight o'clo~k this morning, when we set out with the towline, the use of which the banks permitted. The wind was, how­ever, ahead, the current strong, particularly round the points against which it har•pened to set, and the gullies from the hills having brought down quantities of stone, these prejectetl into the river, forming barriers for forty or fifty feet round, which it was very difficult to pass. At the distance of two and three quarter miles we passed a small island in a deep bend on the south, and on the same side a creek twenty yards wide, but with no running water. About a mile further is an island between two and three miles in length, separated from the northern shore by a narrow channel, in which is a sand island at the distance of half a mile fa•om its lower extremity. To this large island we gave the name of Teapot island; two miles above which is an island a mile long, and situated on the south. At three and a half miles is another small island, and one mile be­yond it a second three quarters of a mile in length, on the not•th side. In the middle of the river two miles above this is an island with no timber, and of the same extent as this last. The country on each side is high, broken, and rocky; the rock being either a soft brown sandstone covered with a thin stratum of limestone, or else a hard ~lack rug· Up the Missouri. 229 ged ga'Rnite, both usually in horizontal stratas, and the sandrock overlaying the other. Salts anc.l quartz as well as some coal and pumices tone still ap11car: the bars of the ri'fer are composed pl'incipally of gravel; the 1·h·et· low grounds are nat•t•ow, aml afford scarcely any timber; nor is there much pine on the hills. Th~ buffaloe havt> now be­come scat·ce: we saw a polecat t.bis evening, which was the iirst for !feveral daJs: in th0 cout·se of the day we also saw several herds of the big-horned animals among the steep cliffs on the north, and killed several of them. At the dis­tance of eighteen miles we encamped on the south, and the next morning, Sunday, 26th, proceeded on at an early hour by means of the towline, using our oars merely in passing the river, to take advantage of the best banks. 1.,herc are now scarce­ly any low grounds on the river, the hiJis being high and in many places pressing on both sides to the verge of the water. The black rock bas given place to a very soft sand .. stone, which seems to be washed away fast by the river, and being thrown into the river renders its navigation more diffi­cult than it was yesterday: above this sandstone, and to­wards the summits of the hills, a hard freestone of a yel­lowish brown coloul' shows itself in several stt·atas of une­qual thickness, f1•cquentJy overlaid Ot' inc•·usic'l by a thin stratum of limestone, which seems to be formed of concreted shells. At eight and a quarter miles we came to the mouth of a creek on the north, tbir·ty yards wide, with some run~ ning water and a rocky bed: we called it 'Vindsor creek., after one of' the pal'ty. Four and three <1uarter miles be­yond this we came to another creek in a bend to the north, which is twenty yards wide: with a handsome Jjttle stream of water: thet•e is however no timber on either side of the river, except a few pines on the hills. Here we saw for the first time since we left the Mandans several soft shel­led turtles, though this may be owing rather to the season of the year than to any scarcity of the animal. It was here