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

Page 39

Lewis antl ()la,.ke's Expeditio1t wood. There bas been a great deal of pumice stone on tlu~ shore to-day. • Auooust 5th. 'Ve setout ear1y, and, by means of our oars, made t~venty and a half miles, though the river was crowd­ed with samlbars. On both sides the prairies exten~ ~long the river· the banks being covered with great quan~Jtlcs of grapes, ~f which three different species nrc now r1pe; o~e large and resembling the purple grape. We had some t•am t} 1 is morning, attended by high wind; but generally speak­ing, have remarked that thunder stot•ms are less ft·equent than in the Atlantic states, at tbis season. Snakes too are less frequent, though we killed one to-day of the shape and size of the rattlesnake, but of a lighter colour. We fixed our camp on the north side. In the evc~ing, ~aptain Clat:ke, in pursuing some game, in an eastern dtrectJOn, found him­selfat the distance of three hundred and seventy yards from the camp, at a point of the river whence we had. come twelve miles. 'Vhen the water is high, this pemnsula is overflowed, and judging from the customary and no tori· ous changes in tho t•iver, a few years will be suffi(lient to force the main current of the river across, and leave tbt great bend dl'y. The 'vbole lowlaml between the paral· Iel range of l1ills seems formec.l ol' mud or ooze of th& river at some former Ilcriod, mixed with sand and clay. The s' and of the neighbom·ing banks accumulates w1. th t be aid of that brought down the stream, and forms sandbat•s, projecting into the t•iver; these drive the channel to the op· posite banks, the loose texture of which it undermines, and at length deserts its ancient bed for a new and shorter pas· sage; it is thus that the banks of tho Missouri are eonstantl1 falling, and the river changing its bed. August 6. In the morning, after a violent storm of ,vind and rain from N. W. we passed a large island to the north. In the channel separating it from the shore, a creek called Soldier's river enters; the island kept it from our vieW', hut one of our men who had ieen it, represents it as abopt Up the Missouri. t(n·ty yards wide nt its month. At Jive llliles, we came to a bend of the river towat·ds the north • a snndb·1• .r , r unn·m g I· n from the south, had tu•·ncu its cour·se so as to leave the old <~hanncl quite dry. We again saw the same a})lleurance at our encampment, twenty aud a half miles distant 011 tbo 11orth side. llet·e the channel of the river· had eneroacacd south. and the old bed was without water, cxce}>t a l'ew ponds. The sandbars arc still very umnerous. August 7. 'Ve had another sto1·rn ft•om the N. w. in the ~ourse o~ the last evening; in the morning we 1wo1·rcued, havmg the wmd f1·om the nor·th. and encamprd on the nol'th­ern sbo•·c, having rowed sevcn~een miles. 'l'he river· is here eneumbet•cll with sandbars, but no islands, except two small ones, called Detachment islands, and formed on the south side by a small stream. We despatched four men back to tbc OHoes village in c1uest of our man, Liberte, and to apprehenu one of the sol­dier~, who .left us on the 41th, under pretence of t't>euvering a kmfe wh1ch he bad dropped a shot·t distance behind, and who we fear has deserted. We also sent small pr·esents to ~h~ Ottoos and Missouris, auu requested that they would JOlD us at the Maha viJiagc, w het•e a peace might be conclu­ded between them. August 8 · At t wo m1' Ie s di s t ance, this morning we came t~ a part of the river, where there was concealed timbet· difficult to pass. The wind was from the N. ,V. and we (H'O­eeedcd in. safety. At six miles, a river empties on tbe northern SlUe~ called by the Sioux Indians, Eaneahwade­p~ n, or Stone river; and by the French, Petite Riviet·e ues SJOux, o.r Little Sioux rivet·. At its confluence it is eighty yards Wide. Out· interpreter, Mr. Durion, who Jtas been to th~ s~urces. o~ it, and knows the adjoining country, says that It rases W1thm about nine miles of the river Desmoinos· th a t W.i t Iu ·n ~ll ~l'l een leagues of that J•iver it passes th1•ouooft a' ~arge lake nearly sixty miles in circumf<'rence, and div7ded lnto two part.'i by rooks which approaf)h each othor very ~· "r .. J.