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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~O~ Lewis and Cla1•ke's Expedition deer, and a party of elk among the pines on . the mountains. tbe SJdes of Monday 26. The morning was fine and h despatched ahead to hunt wl 'I tl ' t ree men were il . • H e 1e rest were de~ · d t mne o'clock, in order to re t a k· e: some horse ~I. a.m 1c un-strayed away durinll" tlJe . I t Th s w nc 1 bad o mg 1 • ey then pr d d the route by the forks of the river ti]J tl . ochec e along er Indian cam h ' 1ey 1 eac ed the low­The ·h I p ~v ere ~hey first were when we met them ~ o e camp Immediately 1lockcd around h. . • appearance of cordiality but all th liD with great lage did not amount to ~ore than t~:pare food of _the vii­gave to captain Clarke who c]' t 'b tsadlmon, wluch they ' 15 rJ u c them a 1 · men. The hunters bad not been abl ,· m_ong us had Cajltain Clarke or the ~~"r t e to kill any thmg, nor d . <=t ea er part of the me f d urmg the twenty-four· hours, till to • ·~ any oo them shot a salmon in the J•iver a waJ ds cvemng one of caught, which furnish d t) ' _nd a few small fish were . e lem With a scant I 1'1 only ammals they had • y mea . te . ~ seen were a few pi Wild hal'cs a ~~"reat n 1• f geous, some very ' o umuel' o the I . bl and a quantity of ground lizards. ar ge ack grasshopper, Tuesday 27. The men, who wer mending their moccasins, all exc e engaged last night in but no 2'nme u'as 4 0 b ept one, went out hunting, h n " e procured 0 f killed a small salnlon d I . ne o the men however , an t 1e Ind · d another, on which the wh I Ians rna e a present of fast. These I d' o e party made a vcl'y slight break­n tans, to whom tl . ]'f . contented, although th d Hs 1 e Is familiar, seem ey epend for sub · t ty productions of the fisher B Sis ence on the scan-hardships but hav b Y• ut our men who are used to ' e een accustomed to h h fi of nature regularly su 1. 1 ave t e 1rst wants PP Ie< feel ver 'bl . ed situation. their str th : Y sens1 Y thCJr wretch· ' eng Is wasting a . 1 • express their apnreh . way, t 1ey begm t() r enSJODS of bein 'th try pet•fectly destit t f g WI out food in a coun· eept a few fish 1 uthe 0 any means of supporting life, ex:' • n e course of th d into the camp five 1 e ay an Indian brought sa moo tw f h' bought, and made a ' 0 0 w •ch captain Clarke supper for the party. Up the .Missouri. 'Vednesday 28. There was a frost again tltis morning. 'l'he Indians gave the party two salmon out of several which they caught in their traps. and having purchased two more. the party was enabled to subsist on them during tbt" day. A ca~p of about forty Indians from the west fork passed us to-day, on their route to the eastward. Our prospect of provisions is getting worse every day: the hunters who had ranged through the country in every direction where game might be reasonably expcc~t.ed. have seen nothing. The fi shery is scarcely more productive, for an Indian who was out all day with his gig killed only one salmon. Besides the four fish procured from Chc Indians, captain Clarke obtained some :lishroe in exchange for three small fi sh-hooks, the usc of which be taught. them, and which they very readily compre­hended. All the men who at·e not engaged in bunting, arc occupied in maldng pack-saddles for the horses which cap­tain Lewis informed us he had bought. August 20. Two hunt crs were despatched eal'ly in the morning. but they returned without killing any thing, and the only game we procured was a beaver, who was caught last night. in a trap which he carried offtwo miles before ho was found. The fur or this animal is as good as any we have ever seen, nor does it in fact appear to be ever out of season on the upper branches of the Missouri. 'l'his beaver, 'vith several dozen of fine trout, gave us a plentiful subsist­ence for the day. ,.rhc party were occupied chiefly in making pack-saddles, in the manufacture of which we sup1•ly t.he place of nails and boards, by substituting for the first thongs of raw hide, which answer very well; and for boards we use the handles of our oars, and the plank of some boxes, the con­tents of which we empty into sacks of raw hides made for the purpose. The Indians who visit us behave with the greatest decorum, and t.he women are busily engaged in ma­king and mending the moccasins of the party. As we had still some supertiuous baggage which would be too heavy to earry across the mountains, it became necessary to make a.