CHAPTER XIV.

The party proceed on their journey with their Indian guides, and at lengthagree to divide, to take several routes, and to meet again at the mouth of Yel-lowstone river—the route of captain Lewis is to pursue the most direct roadto the falls of the Missouri, then to ascend Maria's river, explore the country,and then to descend that river to its mouth—captain Lewis, accordingly, withnine men proceed up the eastern branch of Clarke's river and take leave of theirIndian guides—description of that branch and character of the surroundingcountry—description of the Cokalahishkit river—they arrive at the ridge di-viding the Missouri from the Columbia rivers—meet once more with the buf-faloe and brown bear—immense herds of buffaloe discovered on the bordersof Medicine river—the party encamp on Whitebear islands—singular adven-ture that befel M'Neil—captain Lewis, with three of his party, proceed toexplore the source of Maria's river—Tansy river described, he reaches thedividing line of these two streams—general character of the surroundingcountry.

Monday, 30. WE despatched some hunters ahead, andwere about setting out, when a deer came to lick at thesprings; we killed it, and being now provided with meat fordinner, proceeded along the north side of the creek, some-times in the bottoms, and over the steep sides of the ridge,till at the distance of thirteen miles, we halted at the en-trance of a small stream where we had stopped on the 12thof September. Here we observed a road to the right, whichthe Indians inform us leads to a fine extensive valley onClarke's river, where the Shalees or Ootlashoots occasion-ally reside. After permitting our horses to graze, we wenton along a road much better than any we have seen since en-tering the mountains, so that before sunset we made nine-teen miles, and reached our old encampment on the southside of the creek near its entrance into Clarke's river. Inthe course of the day we killed six deer, of which there are

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330 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

great numbers, as well as bighorn and elk, in this neigh-bourhood. We also obtained a small gray squirrel like thaton the coast of the Pacific, except that its belly was white.Among the plants was a kind of lady's slipper, or moccasinflower, resembling that common in the United States, butwith a white corolla, marked with longitudinal veins of apale red colour on the inner side.

Tuesday, July 1. We had now made one hundred andfifty-six miles from the Quamash flats, to the mouth ofTraveller's-rest creek. This being the point where we pro-posed to separate, it was resolved to remain a day or two inorder to refresh ourselves, and the horses, which have borethe journey extremely well, and are still in fine order, butrequire some little rest. We had hoped to meet here someof the Ootlashoots, but no tracks of them can be discovered.Our Indian companions express much anxiety lest theyshould have been cut off by the Pahkees during the winter,and mention the tracks of the two barefooted persons as aproof how much the fugitives must have been distressed.

We now formed the following plan of operations. CaptainLewis with nine men, are to pursue the most direct route tothe falls of the Missouri, where three of his party are to beleft to prepare carriages for transporting the baggage andcanoes across the portage. With the remaining six he willascend Maria's river, to explore the country and ascertainwhether any branch of it reaches as far north as the latitudeof fifty degrees, after which he will descend that river to itsmouth. The rest of the men will accompany captainClarke to the head of Jefferson river, which serjeant Ord-way and a party of nine men will descend with the canoesand other articles deposited there. Captain Clarke's party,which will then be reduced to ten, will proceed to the Yel-lowstone at its nearest approach to the three forks of theMissouri. There he will build canoes, and go down thatriver with seven of his party, and wait at its mouth till therest of the party join him. Serjeant Pryor, with two others,

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Up the Missouri. 331

will then take the horses by land to the Mandans. Fromthat nation he is to go to the British posts on the Assiniboinwith a letter to Mr. Henry, to procure his endeavours toprevail on some of the Sioux chiefs to accompany him to thecity of Washington.

Having made these arrangements, this and the followingday were employed in hunting and repairing our arms. Wewere successful in procuring a number of fine large deer, theflesh of which was exposed to dry. Among other animals in thisneighbourhood, are the dove, black woodpecker, lark wood-pecker, logcock, prairie lark, sandhill crane, prairie hen,with the short and pointed tail; the robin, a species of brownplover, a few curlews, small blackbirds, ravens, hawks, anda variety of sparrows, as well as the bee martin, and severalspecies of corvus. The musquetoes too have been excessive-ly troublesome since our arrival here. The Indians assertalso, that there are great numbers of the white buffaloe ormountain sheep, on the snowy heights of the mountains, westof Clarke's river. They generally inhabit the rocky andmost inaccessible parts of the mountains, but as they arenot fleet, are easily killed by the hunters.

The plants which most abound in this valley are the wildrose, the honeysuckle, with a white berry, the sevenbark,serviceberry, the elder, aspen and alder, the chokecherry,and both the narrow and broad-leafed willow. The principaltimber consists of long-leafed pine, which grows as well inthe river bottoms as on the hills; the firs and larch are con-fined to the higher parts of the hills, while on the river itself,is a growth of cottonwood, with a wider leaf than that of theupper part of the Missouri, though narrower than that whichgrows lower down that river. There are also two speciesof clover in this valley; one with a very narrow small leaf,and a pale red flower; the other with a white flower, andnearly as luxuriant in its growth as our red clover.

The Indians who had accompanied us, intended leavingus in order to seek their friends, the Ootlashoots; but we

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332 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

prevailed on them to accompany captain Lewis a part of hisroute, so as to show him the shortest road to the Missouri,and in the meantime amused them with conversation andrunning races, both on foot and with horses, in both of whichthey proved themselves hardy, athletic and active. To thechief, captain Lewis gave a small medal and a gun, as a re-ward for having guided us across the mountains; in return,the customary civility of exchanging names passed betweenthem, by which the former acquired the title of Yomekol-lick, or white bearskin unfolded. The Chopunnish who hadovertaken us on the 26th, made us a present of an excellenthorse, for the good advice we gave him, and as a proof ofhis attachment to the whites, as well as of his desire to beat peace with the Palikees. The next morning,

Thursday July 3, all our preparations being completed,we saddled our horses, and the two parties who had been solong companions, now separated with an anxious hope ofsoon meeting, after each had accomplished the purpose ofhis destination.

The nine men and five Indians who accompanied captainLewis, proceeded in a direction due north, down the westside of Clarke's river. Half a mile from the camp we ford-ed Traveller's-rest creek, and two and a half miles further,passed a western branch of the river; a mile beyond this,was a small creek on the eastern side, and a mile lowerdown, the entrance of the eastern branch of the river. Thisstream is from ninety to one hundred and twenty yards wide,and its water, which is discharged through two channels, ismore turbid than that of the main river. The latter is onehundred and fifty yards in width, and waters an extensive levelplain and prairie, which on its lower parts are ornamentedwith long-leafed pine, and cottonwood, while the tops of thehills are covered with pine, larch, and fir. We proceededtwo miles further to a place where the Indians advised us tocross, but having no boats, and timber being scarce, fourhours were spent in collecting timber to make three small

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Up the Missouri. 333

rafts; on which, with some difficulty and danger, we passedthe river. We then drove our horses into the water andthey swam to the opposite shore, but the Indians crossed onhorseback, drawing at the same time their baggage along-side of them in small basins of deer skins. The whole partybeing now reassembled, we continued for three miles, andencamped about sunset at a small creek. The Indians nowshowed us a road at no great distance, which they said wouldlead up the eastern branch of Clarke's river, and another rivercalled Cokalahishkit, or the river of the road to buffa-loe, thence to Medicine river and the falls of the Missouri.They added, that not far from the dividing ridge of the wa-ters of Clarke's river and the Missouri, the roads forked, andthough both led to the falls, the left hand route was thebest. The route was so well beaten that we could no longermistake it, and having now shown us the way, they wereanxious to go on in quest of their friends, the Shahlees, be-sides which, they feared, by venturing further with us, toencounter the Pahkees, for we had this afternoon seen afresh track of a horse, which they supposed to be a Shahleescout. We could not insist on their remaining longer withus; but as they had so kindly conducted us across the moun-tains, we were desirous of giving them a supply of provisions,and therefore distributed to them half of three deer, andthe hunters were ordered to go out early in the morning, inhopes of adding to the stock.

The horses suffer so dreadfully from the musquetoes,that we are obliged to kindle large fires and place the pooranimals in the midst of the smoke. Fortunately, however, itbecame cold after dark, and the musquetoes disappeared.

Friday, July 4. The hunters accordingly set out, butreturned unsuccessful about eleven o'clock. In the mean-time we were joined by a young man of the Palloatpallahtribe, who had set out a few days after us, and had followedus alone across the mountains, the same who had attempted topass the mountains in June, while we were on the Kooskoos-

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334 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

kee, but was obliged to return. We now smoked a farwellpipe with our estimable companions, who expressed everyemotion of regret at parting with us, which they felt themore, because they did not conceal their fears of our beingcut off by the Pahkees. We also gave them a shirt, a hand-kerchief, and a small quantity of ammunition. The meatwhich they received from us was dried and left at this placeas a store during the homeward journey. This circumstanceconfirms our belief, that there is no route along Clarke'sriver to the Columbian plains, so near or so good as that bywhich we came; for, although these people mean to go forseveral days' journey down that river, to look for the Sha-lees, yet they intend returning home by the same pass ofthe mountain through which they conducted us. This routeis also used by all the nations whom we know west of themountains who are in the habit of visiting the plains of theMissouri; while on the other side all the war paths of thePahkees, which fall into this valley of Clarke's river, con-centre at Travellers'-rest, beyond which these people havenever ventured to the west.

Having taken leave of the Indians, we mounted ourhorses, and proceeded up the eastern branch of Clarke's ri-ver through the level plain in which we were encamped.At the distance of five miles we had crossed a small creekfifteen yards wide, and now entered the mountains. Theriver is here closely confined within the hills for two miles,when the bottom widens into an extensive prairie, and theriver is one hundred and ten yards in width. We wentthree miles further, over a high plain succeeded by a lowand level prairie, to the entrance of the Cokalahishkit. Thisriver empties itself from the northeast, is deep, rapid, andabout sixty yards wide, with banks, which though not high,are sufficiently bold to prevent the water from overflowing.The eastern branch of Clarke's river is ninety yards wideabove the junction, but below it spreads to one hundred.The waters of both are turbid, though the Cokalahishkit is

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Up the Missouri. 335

the clearer of the two; the beds of both are composed of sandand gravel, but neither of them is navigable on account ofthe rapids and shoals which obstruct their currents. Be-fore the junction of these streams, the country had been bareof trees, but as we turned up the north branch of the Coka-lahishkit, we found a woody country, though the hills werehigh and the low grounds narrow and poor. At the dis-tance of eight miles in a due east course, we encamped in abottom, where there was an abundance of excellent grass.The evening proved fine and pleasant, and we were no lon-ger annoyed by musquitoes. Our only game were two squir-rels, one of the kind common to the Rocky mountains, thesecond a ground squirrel of a species we had not seen be-fore. Near the place-where we crossed Clarke's river, wesaw at a distance, some wild horses, which are said, indeed,to be very numerous on this river as well as on the heads ofthe Yellowstone.

Saturday, July 5. Early in the morning we proceeded onfor three and a half miles, in a direction north 75º east, theninclining to the south, crossed an extensive, beautiful, andwell watered valley, nearly twelve miles in length, at theextremity of which we halted for dinner. Here we obtain-ed a great quantity of quamash, and shot an antelope froma gang of females, who at this season herd together, apartfrom the bucks. After dinner we followed the course ofthe river eastwardly for six miles, to the mouth of a creekthirty-five yards wide, which we called Werner's creek. Itcomes in from the north, and waters a high extensive prai-rie, the hills near which are low, and supplied with thelong-leafed pine, larch, and some fir. The road then lednorth 22º west, for four miles, soon after which it againturned north 73º east, for two and a half miles, over a hand-some plain, watered by Werner's creek, to the river, whichwe followed on its eastern direction, through a high prarie,rendered very unequal by a vast number of little hillocksand sinkholes, and at three miles distance encamped near

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336 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

the entrance of a large creek, twenty yards wide, to whichwe gave the name of Seaman's creek. We had seen no In-dians, although near the camp were the concealed fires ofa war party, who had passed about two months ago.

Sunday, 6. At sunrise we continued our course east-ward along the river. At seven miles distance we passedthe north fork of the Cokalahishkit, a deep and rapidstream, forty-five yards in width, and like the main branchitself somewhat turbid, though the other streams of thiscountry are clear. Seven miles further the river entersthe mountains, and here end those extensive prairies on thisside, though they widen in their course towards the south-east, and form an Indian route to Dearborn's river, andthence to the Missouri. From the multitude of knobs ir-regularly scattered through them, captain Lewis called thiscountry the Prairie of the Knobs. They abound in game, aswe saw goats, deer, great numbers of the burrowing squir-rels, some curlews, bee martins, woodpeckers, plover, robins,doves, ravens, hawks, ducks, a variety of sparrows, and yes-terday observed swans on Werner's creek. Among theplants we observed the southern wood, and two other spe-cies of shrubs, of which we preserved specimens.

On entering the high grounds we followed the course ofthe river through the narrow bottoms, thickly timberedwith pine and cottonwood intermixed, and variegatedwith the boisrouge, which is now in bloom, the commonsmall blue flag and pepper grass; and at the distance ofthree and a half miles, reached the two forks of the rivermentioned by the Indians. They are nearly equal in width,and the road itself here forks and follows each of them. Wefollowed that which led us in a direction north 75º east, overa steep high hill, thence along a wide bottom to a thicklywooded side of a hill, where the low grounds are narrow,till we reached a large creek, eight miles from the forks andtwenty-five from our last encampment. Here we haltedfor the night. In the course of the day the track of the In-

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Up the Missouri. 337

dians, whom we supposed to be the Pahkees, continued togrow fresher, and we passed a number of old lodges and en-campments. At seven o'clock the next morning,

Monday, 7, we proceeded through a beautiful plain onthe north side of the river, which seems here to abonnd inbeaver. The low grounds possess much timber, and thehills are covered chiefly with pitch pine, that of the long-leafed kind having disappeared since we left the Prai-rie of the Knobs. At the distance of twelve miles we leftthe river or rather the creek, and having for four milescrossed, in a direction north 15º cast, two ridges, againstruck to the right, which we followed through a nar-row bottom, covered with low willows and grass, and abun-dantly supplied with both deer and beaver. After sevenmiles we reached the foot of a ridge, which we ascended ina direction north 45º east, through a low gap of easy ascentfrom the westward, and on descending it were delighted atdiscovering that this was the dividing ridge between thewaters of the Columbia and those of the Missouri. Fromthis gap the Fort mountain is about twenty miles in a north-eastern direction. We now wound through the hills andhollows of the mountains, passing several rivulets, whichrun to the right, and at the distance of nine miles from thegap encamped, after making thirty-two miles. We pro-cured some beaver, and this morning saw some signs andtracks of buffaloe, from which it seems those animals dosometimes penetrate to a short distance within the moun-tains.

Tuesday, 8. At three miles from our camp we reached astream, issuing from the mountains to the southwest, thoughit only contains water for a width of thirty feet, yet its bedis more than three times that width, and from the appear-ance of the roots and trees in the neighbouring bottom,must sometimes run with great violence; we called it Dear-born's river. Half a mile further we observed from aheight the Shishequaw mountain, a high insulated moun-

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tain of a conic form, standing several miles in advance ofthe eastern range of the Rocky mountains, and now abouteight miles from us, and immediately on our road, whichwas in a northwest direction. But as our object was to strikeMedicine river, and hunt down to its mouth in order to pro-cure skins for the food and gear necessary for the threemen who are to be left at the falls, none of whom are hun-ters, we determined to leave the road, and therefore pro-ceeded due north, through an open plain, till we reachedShishequaw creek, a stream about twenty yards wide, witha considerable quantity of timber in its low grounds. Herewe halted and dined, and now felt, by the luxury of our food,that we were approaching once more the plains of the Mis-souri, so rich in game. We saw a great number of deer,goats, wolves, and some barking squirrels, and for the firsttime caught a distant prospect of two buffaloe. After din-ner we followed the Shishequaw for six and a half miles, toits entrance into Medicine river, and along the banks of thisriver for eight miles, when we encamped on a large island.The bottoms continued low, level, and extensive; the plainstoo are level; but the soil of neither is fertile, as it consistsof a light coloured earth, intermixed with a large propor-tion of gravel; the grass in both is generally about nineinches high. Captain Lewis here shot a large and remark-ably white wolf. We had now made twenty-eight miles; andset out early the next morning,

Wednesday, 9; but the air soon became very cold, and itbegan to rain. We halted for a few minutes in some old In-dian lodges, but finding that the rain continued we pro-ceeded on, though we were all wet to the skin, and haltedfor dinner at the distance of eight miles. The rain, how-ever, continued, and we determined to go no further. Theriver is about eighty yards wide, with banks which, thoughlow, are seldom overflowed; the bed is composed of loosegravel and pebbles, the water clear and rapid, but not somuch as to impede the navigation. The bottoms are hand-

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Up the Missouri. 339

some, wide, and level, and supplied with a considerable quan-tity of narrow-leafed cottonwood. During our short ridewe killed two deer and a buffaloe, and saw a number ofwolves and antelopes. The next morning early,

Thursday, 10, we set out, and continued through acountry similar to that of yesterday, with bottoms of wide-leafed cottonwood occasionally along the borders, thoughfor the most part the low grounds are without timber. Inthe plains are great quantities of two species of prickly pear,now in bloom. Gooseberries of the common red kind arein abundance and just beginning to ripen, but there are nocurrants. The river has now widened to an hundred yards;is deep, crowded with islands, and in many parts rapid. Atthe distance of seventeen miles, the timber disappears totallyfrom the river bottoms. About this part of the river, the wind,which had blown on our backs, and constantly put the elk ontheir guard, shifted round, and we then shot three of them,and a brown bear. Captain Lewis halted to skin them, whiletwo of the men took the pack-horses forward to seek for anencampment. It was nine o'clock before he overtook them,at the distance of seven miles in the first grove of cottonwood.They had been pursued as they came along by a very largebear, on which they were afraid to fire, lest their horses be-ing unaccustomed to the gun, might take fright and throwthem. This circumstance reminds us of the ferocity of theseanimals, when we were last near this place, and admonishesus to be very cautious. We saw vast numbers of buffaloe be-low us, which kept a dreadful bellowing during the night.With all our exertions we were unable to advance morethan twenty-four miles, owing to the mire, through whichwe are obliged to travel, in consequence of the rain. Thenext morning, however,

Friday, 11, was fair, and enlivened by great numbers ofbirds, who sang delightfully in the clusters of cottonwood.The hunters were sent down Medicine river to hunt elk,while captain Lewis crossed the high plain, in a direction

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340 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

75º east, to the Whitebear island, a distance of eight miles,where the hunters joined him. They had seen elk; but inthis neighbourhood the buffaloe are in such numbers, thaton a moderate computation, there could not have been fewerthan ten thousand within a circuit of two miles. At thisseason, they are bellowing in every direction, so as to forman almost continued roar, which at first alarmed our horses,who being from the west of the mountains, are unused tothe noise and appearance of these animals. Among thesmaller game are the brown thrush, pidgeons, doves, and abeautiful bird called a buffaloe-peeker.

Immediately on our arrival we began to hunt, and bythree in the afternoon had collected a stock of food and hidesenough for our purpose. We then made two canoes, one inthe form of a basin, like those used by the Mandans, theother consisting of two skins, in a form of our own inven-tion. They were completed the next morning,

Saturday, 12; but the wind continued so high that it wasnot till towards night that we could cross the river in them,and make our horses swim. In the meantime, nearly thewhole day was consumed in search after our horses, whichhad disappeared last night, and seven of which were not re-covered at dark, while Drewyer was still in quest of them.The river is somewhat higher than it was last summer, thepresent season being much more moist than the precedingone, as may be seen in the greater luxuriance of the grass.

Sunday, 13. We formed our camp this morning at ourold station, near the head of the Whitebear islands, and im-mediately went to work in making gear. On opening thecache, we found the bear skins entirely destroyed by the water,which, in a flood of the river, had penetrated to them. Allthe specimens of plants were unfortunately lost; the chartof the Missouri, however, still remained unhurt, and severalarticles contained in trunks and boxes had suffered but lit-tle injury; but a phial of laudanum had lost its stopper, and

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Up the Missouri. 341

ran into a drawer of medicines, which it spoiled beyond re-covery. The musquetoes have been so troublesome that itwas impossible even to write without the assistance of amusquetoe bier. The buffaloe are leaving us fast on theirway to the southeast.

Monday, 14. We continued making preparations fortransporting our articles, and as the old deposit was toodamp, we secured the trunks on a high scaffold, covered withskins, among the thick brush on a large island: a precautionagainst any visit from the Indians, should they arrive be-fore the main party arrives here. The carriage wheelswere in good order, and the iron frame of the boat had notsuffered materially. The buffaloe have now nearly disap-peared, leaving behind them a number of large wolves whoare now prowling about us.

Tuesday, 15. To our great joy Drewyer returned to-dayfrom a long search after the horses; for we had concluded,from his long stay, that he had probably met with a bear,and with his usual intrepidity attacked the animal, in whichease, if by any accident he should be separated from hishorse, his death would be almost inevitable. Under thisimpression, we resolved to set out to-morrow in quest ofhim, when his return relieved us from our apprehensions.He had searched for two days before he discovered that thehorses had crossed Dearborn's river, near a spot wherewas an Indian encampment, which seemed to have beenabandoned about the time the horses were stolen, and whichwas so closely concealed that no trace of a horse could beseen within the distance of a quarter of a mile. He crossedthe river and pursued the track of these Indians westward,till his horse became so much fatigued that he despaired ofovertaking them, and then returned. These Indians wesuppose to be a party of Tushepaws, who have ventured outof the mountains to hunt buffaloe. During the day we wereengaged in drying meat and dressing skins. At nightM'Neal, who had been sent in the morning to examine the

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342 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

cache at the lower end of the portage, returned; but hadbeen prevented from reaching that place by a singular ad-venture. Just as he arrived near Willow run, he approach-ed a thicket of brush, in which was a white bear, which hedid not discover till he was within ten feet of him: his horsestarted, and wheeling suddenly round, threw M'Neal al-most immediately under the bear, who started up instantly,and finding the bear raising himself on his hind feet to at-tack him, struck him on the head with the butt end of hismusket; the blow was so violent that it broke the breech ofthe musket and knocked the bear to the ground, and beforehe recovered, M'Neal seeing a willow tree close by, sprangup, and there remained while the bear closely guarded thefoot of the tree until late in the afternoon. He then wentoff, and M'Neal being released came down, and havingfound his horse, which had strayed off to the distance of twomiles, returned to camp. These animals are, indeed, of amost extraordinary ferocity, and it is matter of wonder, thatin all our encounters we have had the good fortune to es-cape. We are now troubled with another enemy, not quiteso dangerous, though even more disagreeable: these are themusquetoes, who now infest us in such myriads, that wefrequently get them into our throats when breathing, andthe dog even howls with the torture they occasion. Havingnow accomplished the object of our stay, captain Lewis de-termined to leave serjeant Gass with two men and four hor-ses to assist the party who are expected to carry our effectsover the portage, whilst he, with Drewyer, and the twoFields, with six horses, proceeded to the sources of Maria'sriver. Accordingly, early in the morning,

Wednesday 16, captain Lewis descended in a skin canoeto the lower side of Medicine river, where the horses hadpreviously been sent, and then rode with his party to thefall of forty-seven feet, where he halted for two hours todine, and took a sketch of the fall. In the afternoon theyproceeded to the great falls, near which they slept under a

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shelving rock, with a happy exemption from musquetoes.These falls have lost much of their grandeur since we sawthem, the river being much lower now than at that time,though they still form a most sublime spectacle. As wecame along, we met several white bear, but they did notventure to attack us. There were but few buffaloe, how-ever, the large having principally passed the river, directedtheir course downwards. There are, as usual, great numbersof goats and antelopes dispersed through the plains, andlarge flocks of geese, which raise their young about the en-trance of Medicine river. We observe here also the cuckoo,or as it is sometimes called, the raincraw, a bird which isnot known either within or west of the Rocky mountains.

Thursday, 17. After taking a second draught of thefalls, captain Lewis directed his course N. 10º W. with anintention of striking Maria's river at the point to which hehad ascended it in 1804. The country is here spread intowide and level plains, swelling like the ocean, in which theview is uninterrupted by a single tree or shrub, and is di-versified only by the moving herds of buffaloe. The soil con-sists of a light-coloured earth, intermixed with a large pro-portion of coarse gravel without sand, and is by no means sofertile as either the plains of the Columbia, or those lowerdown the Missouri. When dry it cracks, and is hard andthirsty while in its wet state: it is as soft and slimy as soap.The grass is naturally short, and at this time is still more sofrom the recent passage of the buffaloe.

Among the birds which we met was the party-colouredplover, with the head and neck of a brick red, a bird whichfrequents the little ponds scattered over the plains. Aftertravelling twenty miles we reached Tansy river, and as wecould not go as far as Maria's river this evening, and per-haps not find either wood or water before we arrived there,we determined to encamp. As we approached the river, wesaw the fresh track of a bleeding buffaloe, a circumstanceby no means pleasant, as it indicated the Indians had beenhunting, and were not far from us. The tribes who princi-

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344 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

pally frequent this country, are the Minnetarees of Fort dePrairie, and the Blackfoot Indians, both of whom are viciousand profligate rovers, and we have therefore every thing tofear, not only from their stealing our horses, but even ourarms and baggage, if they are sufficiently strong. In ordertherefore to avoid, if possible, an interview with them, wehurried across the river to a thick wood, and having turnedout the horses to graze, Drewyer went in quest of the buffa-loe to kill it, and ascertain whether the wound was given bythe Indians, while the rest reconnoitred the whole country.In about three hours they all returned without having seenthe buffaloe or any Indians in the plains. We then dined, andtwo of the party resumed their search, but could see no signsof Indians, and we therefore slept in safety. Tansy river ishere about fifty yards wide, though its water occupies onlythirty-five feet, and is not more than three in depth. It mostprobably rises within the first range of the Rocky moun-tains, and its general course is from east to west, and as faras we are able to trace it through wide bottoms, well sup-plied with both the long and broad-leafed cottonwood. Thehills on its banks, are from one hundred to one hundred andfifty feet in height, and possess bluffs of earth, like the lowerpart of the Missouri: the bed is formed of small gravel andmud; the water turbid, and of a whitish tint; the banks low,but never overflowed; in short, except in depth and velocity,it is a perfect miniature of the Missouri.

Friday, 18. A little before sunrise we continued on acourse N. 25º W. for six miles, when we reached the top ofa high plain, which divides the waters of Maria and Tansyrivers, and a mile further reached a creek of the former,about twenty-five yards wide, though with no water exceptin occasional pools in the bed. Down this creek we proceed-ed for twelve miles through thick groves of timber on itsbanks, passing such immense quantities of buffaloe, that thewhole seemed to be a single herd. Accompanying them weregreat numbers of wolves, besides which we saw some ante-lopes and hares. After dinner we left the creek which we

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Up the Missouri. 345

called Buffaloe creek, and crossing the plain for six miles,came to Maria's river and encamped in a grove of cotton-wood, on its western side, keeping watch through the nightlest we should be surprised by the Indians. Captain Lewiswas now convinced that he was above the point to which hehad formerly ascended, and fearing that some branch mightcome in on the north, between that point and our presentposition, he early in the morning,

Saturday, 19, despatched two hunters, who descendedthe river in a direction north 80º east, till they came to ourformer position, at the distance of six miles, without seeingany stream except Buffaloe creek. Having completed anobservation of the sun's meridian altitude, captain Lewisproceeded along the north side of Maria's river. The bot-toms are in general about half a mile wide, and possess con-siderable quantities of cottonwood timber, and an under-brush, consisting of honeysuckle, rose bushes, narrow-leafedwillow, and the plant called by the engagees, buffaloe grease.The plains are level and beautiful, but the soil is thin andoverrun with prickly pears. It consists of a sort of whiteor whitish-blue clay, which after being trodden, when wet,by the buffaloe, stands up in sharp hard points, which are aspainful to the horses as the great quantity of small gravel,which is every where scattered over the ground, is in otherparts of the plains. The bluffs of the river are high, steep,and irregular, and composed of a sort of earth which easilydissolves and slips into the water, though with occasionalstrata of freestone near the tops. The bluffs of the Mis-souri above Maria's river, differ from these, in consisting ofa firm red or yellow clay, which does not yield to water, anda large proportion of rock. The buffaloe are not so abun-dant as they were yesterday; but there are still antelopes,wolves, geese, pidgeons, doves, hawks, ravens, crows, larks,and sparrows, though the curlew has disappeared. At thedistance of eight miles a large creek falls in on the southside, and seven miles beyond it, another thirty yards wide, VOL. II. Y y

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346 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition, &c.

which seem to issue from three mountains, stretching fromeast to west, in a direction north 10º west from its mouth,and which, from their loose, irregular, and rugged appear-ance, we called the Broken mountains. That in the centreterminates in a conic spire, for which reason we called itthe Tower mountain. After making twenty miles we halt-ed for the night, and the next morning,

Sunday, 20, continued our route up the river, through acountry resembling that which we passed yesterday, exceptthat the plains are more broken, and the appearances of mi-neral salts, common to the Missouri plains, are more abun-dant than usual; these are discerned in all the pools, whichindeed at present contain the only water to be found through-out the plains, and are so-strongly impregnated as to be unfitfor any use, except that of the buffaloe, who seem to pre-fer it to even the water of the river. The low grounds arewell timbered, and contain also silk-grass, sand-rush, wildliquorice, and sunflowers, the barb of which are now inbloom. Besides the geese, ducks, and other birds commonto the country, we have seen fewer buffaloe to-day than yes-terday, though elk, wolves, and antelopes continue in equalnumbers. There is also much appearance of beaver, thoughnone of otter. At the distance of six miles we passed acreek from the south; eighteen miles further one from thenorth; four miles beyond which we encamped. The riveris here one hundred and twenty yards wide, and its water isbut little diminished as we ascend. Its general course is ve-ry straight. From the apparent descent of the country tothe north and above the Broken mountains, it seems proba-ble that the south branch of the Saskashawan receivessome of its waters from these plains, and that one of itsstreams must, in descending from the Rocky mountains,pass not far from Maria's river, to the northeast of the Bro-ken mountains. We slept in peace, without being annoyedby the musquetoes, whom we have not seen since we left theWhitebear islands.

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CHAPTER XV.

Captain Lewis and his party still proceed on the route mentioned in the lastchapter, and arrive at the forks of Maria's river; of which river a particulardescription is given—alarmed by the evidence that they are in the neighbour-hood of unfriendly Indians, and much distressed for want of provisions, theweather proving unfavourable, they are compelled to return—the face of thecountry described—interview with the unfriendly Indians, called Minneta-rees of Fort de Prairie—mutual consternation—resolution of captain Lewis—they encamp together for the night, apparently with amicable dispositions—the conversation that ensued between these new visitants—the conflict oc-casioned by the Indians attempting to seize the rifles and horses of the par-ty, in which one is mortally wounded—captain Lewis kills another Indian,and his narrow escape—having taken four horses belonging to the Indians,they hastened with all expedition to join the party attached to captainClarke—arriving near the Missouri they are alarmed by the sound of rifles,which proves fortunately to be from the party of their friends, under thecommand of serjeant Ordway—the two detachments thus fortunately united,leave their horses, and descend the Missouri in canoes—they continue theirroute down the river to form a junction with captain Clarke—vast quantitiesof game found in their passage down the river—captain Lewis accidentallywounded by one of his own party—they proceed down the Missouri, and atlength join captain Clarke.

Monday, 21. AT sunrise we proceeded along the northernside of the river for a short distance, when finding the ra-vines too steep, we crossed to the south; but after continu-ing for three miles, returned to the north and took ourcourse through the plains, at some distance from the river.After making fifteen miles, we came to the forks of the ri-ver, the largest branch of which bears south 75º west to themountains, while the course of the other is north 40º west.We halted for dinner, and believing, on examination, thatthe northern branch came from the mountains, and wouldprobably lead us to the most northern extent of Maria's ri-

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348 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

ver, we proceeded along, though at a distance over theplains, till we struck it eight miles from the junction. Theriver is about thirty yards wide, the water clear, but shal-low, rapid, and unfit for navigation. It is closely confinedbetween cliffs of freestone, and the adjacent country brokenand poor. We crossed to the south side, and proceeded forfive miles, till we encamped under a cliff, where not seeingany timber, we made a fire of buffaloe dung, and passed thenight. The next day,

Tuesday, 22, we went on; but as the ground was nowsteep and unequal, and the horses' feet very sore, we wereobliged to proceed slowly. The river is still confined byfreestone cliffs, till at the distance of seven miles the coun-try opens, is less covered with gravel, and has some bottoms,though destitute of timber or underbrush. The river heremakes a considerable bend to the northwest, so that wecrossed the plains for eleven miles when we again crossedthe river. Here we halted for dinner, and having no wood,made a fire of the dung of buffaloe, with which we cookedthe last of our meat, except a piece of spoiled buffaloe. Ourcourse then lay across a level beautiful plain, with wide bot-toms near the bank of the river. The banks are about threeor four feet high, but are not overflowed. After crossingfor ten miles a bend of the river towards the south, we saw,for the first time during the day, a clump of cottonwoodtrees in an extensive bottom, and halted there for the night.This place is about ten miles below the foot of the Rockymountains; and being now able to trace distinctly that thepoint at which the river issued from those mountains, wasto the south of west, we concluded that we had reached itsmost northern point, and as we have ceased to hope thatany branches of Maria's river extend as far north as the fif-tieth degree of latitude, we deem it useless to proceed fur-ther, and rely chiefly on Milk and Whiteearth rivers forthe desired boundary. We therefore determined to remainhere two days, for the purpose of making the necessary ob-servations, and resting our horses. The next morning,

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Up the Missouri. 349

Wednesday, 23, Drewyer was sent to examine the bear-ings of the river, till its entrance into the mountains, whichhe found to be at the distance of ten miles, and in a direc-tion south 50º west; he had seen also the remains of a campof eleven leathern lodges, recently abandoned, which indu-ced us to suppose that the Minnetarees of Fort de Prai-rie are somewhere in this neighbourhood; a suspicion whichwas confirmed by the return of the hunters, who had seenno game of any kind. As these Indians have probably fol-lowed the buffaloe towards the main branch of Maria's ri-ver, we shall not strike it above the north branch. Thecourse of the mountains still continues from southeast tonorthwest; in which last direction from us, the front rangeappears to terminate abruptly at the distance of thirty-fivemiles. Those which are to the southwest, and more dis-tinctly in view, are of an irregular form, composed chieflyof clay, with a very small mixture of rock, without timber,and although low are yet partially covered with snow totheir bases. The river itself has nearly double the volumeof water which it possessed when we first saw it below, acircumstance to be ascribed, no doubt, to the great evapo-ration and absorption of the water in its passage throughthese open plains. The rock in this neighbourhood is of awhite colour, and a fine grit, and lies in horizontal stratain the bluffs of the river. We attempted to take some fish,but could procure only a single trout. We had, therefore,nothing to eat, except the grease which we pressed from ourtainted meat, and formed a mush of cows, reserving onemeal more of the same kind for to-morrow. We have seennear this place a number of the whistling squirrel, commonin the country watered by the Columbia, but which we ob-served here for the first time in the plains of the Missouri.The cottonwood too, of this place, is similar to that of theColumbia. Our observations this evening were preventedby clouds. The weather was clear for a short time in themorning,

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350 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

Thursday, 24, but the sky soon clouded over, and it rain-ed during the rest of the day. We were therefore obliged toremain one day longer for the purpose of completing our ob-servations. Our situation now became unpleasant from therain, the coldness of the air, and the total absence of allgame; for the hunters could find nothing of a large kind, andwe were obliged to subsist on a few pigeons and a kettle ofmush made of the remainder of our bread of cows. Thissupplied us with one more meal in the morning,

Friday, 25, when finding that the cold and rainy weatherwould still detain us here, two of the men were despatchedto hunt. They returned in the evening with a fine buck, onwhich we fared sumptuously. In their excursion they hadgone as far as the main branch of Maria's river, at the dis-tance of ten miles, through an open extensive valley, inwhich were scattered a great number of lodges lately evacu-ated. The next morning,

Saturday, 26, the weather was still cloudy, so that no ob-servation could be made, and what added to our disappoint-ment, captain Lewis's chronometer stopped yesterday fromsome unknown cause, though when set in motion again itwent as usual. We now despaired of taking the longitudeof this place; and as our staying any longer might endangerour return to the United States during the present season,we, therefore, waited till nine o'clock, in hopes of a changeof weather; but seeing no prospect of that kind, we mount-ed our horses, and leaving with reluctance our position,which we now named Camp Disappointment, directed ourcourse across the open plains, in a direction nearly south-east. At twelve miles distance we reached a branch of Ma-ria's river, about sixty-five yards wide, which we crossed,and continued along its southern side for two miles, whereit is joined by another branch, nearly equal in size from thesouthwest, and far more clear than the north branch, whichis turbid, though the beds of both are composed of pebbles.We now decided on pursuing this river to its junction with

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Up the Missouri. 351

the fork of Maria's river, which we had ascended, and thencross the country obliquely to Tansy river, and descend thatstream to its confluence with Maria's river. We, therefore,crossed and descended the river, and at one mile below thejunction, halted to let the horses graze in a fertile bottom,in which were some Indian lodges, that appear to have beeninhabited during the last winter. We here discern moretimber than the country in general possesses; for besides anundergrowth of rose, honeysuckle, and redberry bushes, anda small quantity of willow timber, the three species of cot-tonwood, the narrow-leafed, the broad-leafed, and the spe-cies known to the Columbia, though here seen for the firsttime on the Missouri, are all united at this place. Gametoo, appears in greater abundance. We saw a few ante-lopes and wolves, and killed a buck, besides which we sawalso two of the small burrowing foxes of the plains, aboutthe size of the common domestic cat, and of a reddish browncolour, except the tail, which is black.

At the distance of three miles, we ascended the hillsclose to the river side, while Drewyer pursued the valley ofthe river on the opposite side. But scarcely had captainLewis reached the high plain, when he saw about a mile onhis left, a collection of about thirty horses. He immediatelyhalted, and by the aid of his spy-glass discovered that onehalf of the horses were saddled, and that on the eminenceabove the horses, several Indians were looking down towardsthe river, probably at Drewyer. This was a most unwel-come sight. Their probable numbers rendered any contestwith them of doubtful issue; to attempt to escape would onlyinvite pursuit, and our horses were so bad that we must cer-tainly be overtaken; besides which, Drewyer could not yetbe aware that the Indians were near, and if we ran he wouldmost probably be sacrificed. We therefore determined tomake the best of our situation, and advance towards them ina friendly manner. The flag which we had brought in caseof any such accident was therefore displayed, and we con-

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352 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

tinued slowly our march towards them. Their whole atten-tion was so engaged by Drewyer, that they did not immedi-ately discover us. As soon as they did see us, they appearedto be much alarmed and ran about in confusion, and some ofthem came down the hill and drove their horses within gun-shot of the eminence, to which they then returned, as if towait our arrival. When we came within a quarter of a mile,one of the Indians mounted and rode at full speed to receiveus; but when within a hundred paces of us, he halted, andcaptain Lewis who had alighted to receive him, held out hishand, and beckoned to him to approach, he only looked atus for some time, and then, without saying a word, returnedto his companions with as much haste as he had advanced.The whole party now descended the hill and rode towardsus. As yet we saw only eight, but presumed that theremust be more behind us, as there were several horses sad-dled. We however advanced, and captain Lewis now told histwo men that he believed these were the Minnetarees ofFort de Prairie, who, from their infamous character, wouldin all probability attempt to rob them; but being determin-ed to die, rather than lose his papers and instruments, heintended to resist to the last extremity, and advised themto do the same, and to be on the alert should there be anydisposition to attack us. When the two parties came withina hundred yards of each other, all the Indians, except one,halted; captain Lewis therefore ordered his two men to haltwhile he advanced, and after shaking hands with the Indian,went on and did the same with the others in the rear, whilethe Indian himself shook hands with the two men. They allnow came up, and after alighting, the Indians asked to smokewith us. Captain Lewis, who was very anxious for Drew-yer's safety, told them that the man who had gone down theriver had the pipe, and requested that as they had seen him,one of them would accompany R. Fields to bring him back.To this they assented, and Fields went with a young man insearch of Drewyer. Captain Lewis now asked them by signs

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if they were the Minnetarees of the north, and was sorry tolearn by their answer that his suspicion was too true. Hethen inquired if there was any chief among them. They point-ed out three; but though he did not believe them, yet it wasthought best to please them, and he therefore gave to one aflag, to another a medal, and to a third a handkerchief.They appeared to be well satisfied with these presents, andnow recovered from the agitation into which our first inter-view had thrown them, for they were really more alarmedthan ourselves at the meeting. In our turn, however, we be-came equally satisfied on finding that they were not joinedby any more of their companions, for we consider ourselvesquite a match for eight Indians, particularly as these have buttwo guns, the rest being armed with only eye-dogs and bowsand arrows. As it was growing late captain Lewis proposedthat they should encamp together near the river; for he wasglad to see them and had a great deal to say to them. Theyassented; and being soon joined by Drewyer, we proceededtowards the river, and after descending a very steep bluff,two hundred and fifty feet high, encamped in a small bot-tom. Here the Indians formed a large semicircular tent ofdressed buffaloe skins, in which the two parties assembled,and by the means of Drewyer, the evening was spent in con-versation with the Indians. They informed us that theywere a part of a large band which at present lay encampedon the main branch of Maria's river, near the foot of theRocky mountains, and at the distance of a day and a half'sjourney from this place. Another large band were huntingbuffaloe near the Broken mountains, from which they wouldproceed in a few days to the north of Maria's river. Withthe first of these there was a white man. They added, thatfrom this place to the establishment on the Saskashawan,at which they trade, is only six days' easy march; that is,such a day's journey as can be made with their women andchildren, so that we computed the distance at one hundred andfifty miles. There they carry the skins of wolves and some VOL. II. Z z

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354 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

beavers, and exchange them for guns, ammunition, blan-kets, spirituous liquors, and the other articles of Indian traf-fic. Captain Lewis in turn informed them that he had comefrom a great distance up the large river which runs towardsthe rising sun; that he had been as far as the great lakewhere the sun sets; that he had seen many nations, the great-er part of whom were at war with each other, but by hismediation were restored to peace; and all had been invited tocome and trade with him west of the mountains: he wasnow on his way home, but had left his companions at thefalls, and come in search of the Minnetarees, in hopes of in-ducing them to live at peace with their neighbours, and tovisit the trading houses which would be formed at the en-trance of Maria's river. They said that they were anxiousof being at peace with the Tushepaws, but those people hadlately killed a number of their relations, as they proved byshowing several of the party who had their hair cut as asign of mourning. They were equally willing, they added,to come down and trade with us. Captain Lewis thereforeproposed that they should send some of their young mento invite all their band to meet us at the mouth of Maria'sriver, and the rest of the party to go with us to that place,where he hoped to find his men, offering them ten horsesand some tobacco in case they would accompany us. To thisthey made no reply. Finding them very fond of the pipe,captain Lewis, who was desirous of keeping a constant watchduring the night, smoked with them until a late hour, andas soon as they were all asleep, he woke R. Fields, and or-dering him to rouse us all in case any Indian left the camp,as they would probably attempt to steal our horses, he laydown by the side of Drewyer in the tent with all the Indians,while the Fields were stretched near the fire at the mouthof it. At sunrise,

Sunday 27, the Indians got up and crowded round the firenear which J. Fields, who was then on watch, had careless-ly left his rifle, near the head of his brother, who was still

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Up the Missouri. 355

asleep. One of the Indians slipped behind him, and unper-ceived, took his brother's and his own rifle, while at thesame time, two others seized those of Drewyer and captainLewis. As soon as Fields turned round, he saw the Indianrunning off with the rifles, and instantly calling his brother,they pursued him for fifty or sixty yards, and just as theyovertook him, in the scuffle for the rifles, R. Fields stabbedhim through the heart with his knife; the Indian ran aboutfifteen steps and fell dead. They now ran back with theirrifles to the camp. The moment the fellow touched his gun,Drewyer, who was awake, jumped up and wrested her fromhim. The noise awoke captain Lewis, who instantly start-ed from the ground and reached to seize his gun, but findingher gone, drew a pistol from his belt and turning about sawthe Indian running off with her. He followed him and or-dered him to lay her down, which he was doing just as theFields came up, and were taking aim to shoot him, whencaptain Lewis ordered them not to fire, as the Indian didnot appear to intend any mischief. He dropped the gun andwas going slowly off as Drewyer came out and asked per-mission to kill him, but this captain Lewis forbid as he hadnot yet attempted to shoot us. But finding that the Indianswere now endeavouring to drive off all the horses, he order-ed three of them to follow the main party who were chasingthe horses up the river, and fire instantly upon the thieves;while he, without taking time to run for his shot-pouch, pur-sued the fellow who had stolen his gun and another Indian,who were driving away the horses on the left of the camp.He pressed them so closely that they left twelve of their hor-ses, but continued to drive off one of our own. At the dis-tance of three hundred paces they entered a steep niche inthe river bluffs, when captain Lewis, being too much outof breath to pursue them any further, called out, as he didseveral times before, that unless they gave up the horse hewould shoot them. As he raised his gun one of the Indiansjumped behind a rock and spoke to the other, who stopped

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356 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

at the distance of thirty paces, as captain Lewis shot him inthe belly. He fell on his knees and right elbow, but raisinghimself a little, fired, and then crawled behind a rock. Theshot had nearly been fatal, for captain Lewis, who was bare-headed, felt the wind of the ball very distinctly. Not havinghis shot-pouch, he could not reload his rifle, and having onlya single load also for his pistol, he thought it most prudentnot to attack the Indians, and therefore retired slowly to thecamp. He was met by Drewyer, who hearing the report ofthe guns, had come to his assistance, leaving the Fields topursue the Indians. Captain Lewis ordered him to call outto them to desist from the pursuit, as we could take the hor-ses of the Indians in place of our own, but they were at toogreat a distance to hear him. He therefore returned to thecamp, and whilst he was saddling the horses, the Fieldsreturned with four of our own, having followed the Indiansuntil two of them swam the river, two others ascended thehills, so that the horses became dispersed. We, however,were rather gainers by this contest, for we took four of theIndian horses, and lost only one of our own. Besides which,we found in the camp four shields, two bows with quivers,and one of the guns which we took with us, and also theflag which we had presented to them, but left the medalround the neck of the dead man, in order that they mightbe informed who we were. The rest of their baggage, ex-cept some buffaloe meat, we left; and as there was no timeto be lost, we mounted our horses, and after ascending theriver hills, took our course through the beautiful levelplains, in a direction a little to the south of east. We hadno doubt but that we should be immediately pursued by amuch larger party, and that as soon as intelligence was giv-en to the band near the Broken mountains, they would has-ten to the mouth of Maria's river to intercept us. We hope,however, to be there before them, so as to form a junctionwith our friends. We therefore pushed our horses as fastas we possibly could; and fortunately for us, the Indian

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Up the Missouri. 357

horses were very good, the plains perfectly level, and with-out many stones or prickly pears, and in fine order fortravelling after the late rains. At eight miles from ourcamp we passed a stream forty yards wide, to which, fromthe occurrence of the morning, we gave the name of Battleriver. At three o'clock we reached Rose river, five milesabove where we had formerly passed it, and having nowcame by estimate sixty-three miles, halted for an hour anda half to refresh our horses; then pursued our journey seven-teen miles further, when, as the night came on, we killed abuffaloe, and again stopped for two hours. The sky was nowoverclouded, but as the moon gave light enough to show usthe route, we continued along through immense herds ofbuffaloe for twenty miles, and then almost exhausted withfatigue, halted at two in the morning,

Monday, 28, to rest ourselves and the horses. At day-light we awoke sore and scarcely able to stand; but as ourown lives as well as those of our companions depended on ourpressing forward, we mounted our horses and set out. Themen were desirous of crossing the Missouri, at the Grogspring, where Rose river approaches so near the river, andpassing down the southwest side of it, and thus avoid thecountry at the junction of the two rivers, through which theenemy would most probably pursue us. But as this circui-tous route would consume the whole day, and the Indiansmight in the meantime attack the canoes at the point, cap-tain Lewis told his party it was now their duty to risk theirlives for their friends and companions; that he would pro-ceed immediately to the point, to give the alarm to the ca-noes, and if they had not yet arrived, he would raft the Mis-souri, and after hiding the baggage, ascend the river on footthrough the woods till he met them. He told them alsothat it was his determination, in case they were attacked incrossing the plains, to tie the bridles of the horses and standtogether till they had either routed their enemies, or soldtheir lives as dearly as possible. To this they all assented,

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358 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

and we therefore continued our route to the eastward, tillat the distance of twelve miles we came near the Missouri,when we heard a noise which seemed like the report of agun. We therefore quickened our pace for eight miles fur-ther, and about five miles from the Grog spring, now hearddistinctly the noise of several rifles, from the river. Wehurried to the bank, and saw with exquisite satisfaction ourfriends coming down the river. They landed to greet us,and after turning our horses loose, we embarked withour baggage, and went down to the spot where we hadmade a deposit. This, after reconnoitering the adjacentcountry, we opened; but unfortunately the cache had cavedin, and most of the articles were injured. We took what-ever was still worth preserving, and immediately proceededto the point, where we found our deposits in good order. Bya singular good fortune we were here joined by serjeant Gassand Willard from the falls, who had been ordered to bring thehorses here to assist in collecting meat for the voyage, as ithad been calculated that the canoes would reach this placemuch sooner than captain Lewis's party. After a very hea-vy shower of rain and hail, attended with violent thunderand lightning, we left the point, and giving a final dischargeto our horses, went over to the island where we had left ourred periogue, which however we found so much decayed thatwe had no means of repairing her: we, therefore, took allthe iron work out of her, and proceeded down the river fif-teen miles, and encamped near some cottonwood trees, oneof which was of the narrow leafed species, and the first ofthat species we had remarked as we ascended the river.

Serjeant Ordway's party, which had left the mouth ofMadison river on the 13th, had descended in safety tothe Whitebear islands, where he arrived on the 19th, andafter collecting the baggage, left the falls on the 27th in thewhite periogue, and five canoes, while serjeant Gass andWillard set out at the same time by land with the horses,and thus fortunately met together.

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Tuesday, 29. A violent storm of rain and hail came onlast night, and as we had no means of making a shelter, welay in the rain, and during the whole day continued so ex-posed. The two small canoes were sent ahead in order tohunt elk and buffaloe, which are in immense quantities, so asto provide shelter as well as food for the party. We thenproceeded very rapidly with the aid of a strong current, andafter passing at one o'clock the Natural walls, encampedlate in the evening at our former encampment of the 29th ofMay, 1805. The river is now as high as it has been during thepresent season, and every little rivulet discharges torrentsof water, which bring down such quantities of mud andsand, that we can scarcely drink the water of the Missouri.The buffaloe continue to be very numerous, but the elk arefew. The bighorns, however, are in great numbers alongthe steep cliffs of the river, and being now in fine order,their flesh is extremely tender, delicate, and well flavoured,and resembles in colour and flavour our mutton, though it isnot so strong. The brown curlew has disappeared, and hasprobably gone to some other climate after rearing its youngin these plains.

Wednesday, 30. The rain still prevented us from stop-ping to dry our baggage, and we therefore proceeded witha strong current, which joined to our oars, enabled us to ad-vance at the rate of seven miles an hour. We went on shoreseveral times for the purpose of hunting, and procured severalbighorns, two buffaloe, a beaver, an elk, and a female brownbear, whose talons were six and a quarter inches in length.In the evening we encamped on an island two miles aboveGoodrich's island, and early in the morning,

Thursday, 31, continued our route in the rain, passing,during the greater part of the day, through high pine hills,succeeded by low grounds abounding in timber and game.The buffaloe are scarce; but we procured fifteen elk, four-teen deer, two bighorns, and a beaver. The elk are in fineorder, particularly the males, who now herd together in

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360 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

small parties. Their horns have reached their full growth,but ill retain the velvet or skin which covers them. Throughthe bottoms are scattered a number of lodges, some of whichseem to have been built last winter, and were probably oc-cupied by the Minnetarees of Fort de Prairie. The riveris still rising, and more muddy than we have ever seen it.Late last night we took shelter from the rain in some oldIndian lodges, about eight miles below the entrance of North-mountain creek, and then set out,

Friday, August 1, at an early hour. We passed theMuscleshell river at eleven o'clock, and fifteen miles fur-ther landed at some Indian lodges, where we determined topass the night, for the rain still continued, and we fearedthat the skins of the bighorn would spoil by being constant-ly wet. Having made fires, therefore, and exposed them todry, we proceeded to hunt. The next day,

Saturday, 2, was fair and warm, and we availed our-selves of this occasion to dry all our baggage in the sun.Such is the immediate effect of fair weather, that since lastevening the river has fallen eighteen inches. Two menwere sent forward in a canoe to hunt; and now, having re-loaded our canoes, we resolved to go on as fast as possible,and accordingly set out,

Sunday, 3, at an early hour, and without stopping asusual to cook a dinner, encamped in the evening two milesabove our camp of May 12, 1805. We were here joined bythe two hunters, who had killed twenty-nine deer since theyleft us. These animals are in great abundance in the riverbottoms, and very gentle. We passed also a great numberof elk, wolves, some bear, beaver, geese, a few ducks, theparty-coloured corvus, a calumet eagle, some bald eagles,and red-headed woodpeckers, but very few buffaloe. By fouro'clock next morning,

Monday, 4, we were again in motion. At eleven we pass-ed the Bigdry river, which has now a bold, even, but shal-

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low current, sixty yards in width, and halted for a few mi-nutes at the mouth of Milk river. This stream is at presentfull of water, resembling in colour that of the Missouri, andas it possesses quite as much water as Maria's river, wehave no doubt that it extends to a considerable distance to-wards the north. We here killed a very large rattlesnake.Soon after we passed several herds of buffaloe and elk, andencamped at night, two miles below the gulf, on the north-east side of the river. For the first time this season wewere saluted with the cry of the whippoorwill, or goatsuckerof the Missouri.

Tuesday, 5. We waited until noon in hopes of being over-taken by two of the men, who had gone ahead in a canoe tohunt two days ago, but who were at a distance from the ri-ver, as we passed them. As they did not arrive by thattime, we concluded that they had passed us in the night,and therefore proceeded until late, when we encamped aboutten miles below Littledry river. We again saw great numbersof buffaloe, elk, deer, antelope, and wolves; also eagles, andother birds, among which were geese and a solitary pelican,neither of whom can fly at present, as they are now shed-ding the feathers of their wings. We also saw several bear,one of them the largest, except one, we had ever seen, forhe measured nine feet from the nose to the extremity of thetail.

During the night a violent storm came on from the north-east with such torrents of rain that we had scarcely timeto unload the canoes before they filled with water. Hav-ing no shelter, we ourselves were completely wet to theskin, and the wind and cold air made our situation very un-pleasant. We left it early,

Wednesday, 6; but after we had passed Porcupine river,were, by the high wind, obliged to lie by until four o'clock,when the wind abating we continued, and at night encampedfive miles below our camp of the 1st of May, 1805. Here

VOL. II. 3 A

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362 Lewis and Clarke's Expedition

we were again drenched by the rain, which lasted all thenext morning,

Thursday, 7; but being resolved, if possible, to reach theYellowstone, a distance of eighty-three miles, in the courseof the day, we set out early, and being favoured by the ra-pid current and good oarsmen, proceeded with great speed.In passing Martha's river, we observed that its mouth is atpresent a quarter of a mile lower than it was last year. Herewe find for the first time the appearance of coal-burnt hillsand pumicestone, which seem always to accompany eachother. At this place also are the first elms and dwarf ce-dars in the bluffs of the river. The ash first makes its ap-pearance in one solitary tree at the Ash rapid, but is seenoccasionally scattered through the low grounds at the Elkrapid, and thence downwards, though it is generally small.The whole country on the northeast side, between Marthaand Milk rivers, is a beautiful level plain, with a soil muchmore fertile than that higher up the river. The buffaloe,elk, and other animals still continue numerous; as are alsothe bear, who lie in wait at the crossing places, where theyseize elk and the weaker cattle, and then stay by the car-case in order to keep off the wolves, till the whole is devour-ed. At four o'clock we reached the mouth of Yellowstone,where we found a note from captain Clarke, informing us ofhis intention of waiting for us a few miles below. We there-fore left a memorandum for our two huntsmen, whom wenow supposed must be behind us, and then pursued our coursetill night came on, and not being able to overtake captainClarke, we encamped. In the morning,

Friday, 8, we set out in hopes of overtaking captainClarke; but after descending to nearly the entrance of White-earth river without being able to see him, we were at a losswhat to conjecture. In this situation we landed, and be-gan to caulk and repair the canoes, as well as prepare someskins for clothing, for since we left the Rocky mountains we

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