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The Journals
of Lewis and Clark: Dates August 10, 1805 - August 11, 1805
The following
excerpts are taken from entries of the Journals of Lewis
and Clark. Dates: August 10, 1805 - August 11, 1805
August 10, 1805
Saturday, 10. Captain Lewis continued his route at an early
hour through the wide bottom along the left bank of the
river. At about five miles he passed a large creek, and
then fell into an Indian road leading towards the point
where the river entered the mountain. This he followed till
he reached a high perpendicular cliff of rocks where the
river makes its passage through the hills, and which he
called the Rattlesnake cliff, from the number of that animal
which he saw there: here he kindled a fire and waited the
return of Drewyer, who had been sent out on the way to kill
a deer: he came back about noon with the skin of three deer
and the flesh of one of the best of them. After a hasty
dinner they returned to the Indian road which they had left
for a short distance to see the cliff. It led them sometimes
over the hills, sometimes in the narrow bottoms of the river,
till at the distance of fifteen miles from the Rattlesnake
cliffs they reached a handsome open and level valley, where
the river divided into two nearly equal branches.
The
mountains over which they passed were not very high, but
are rugged and continue close to the river side. The river,
which before it enters the mountain was rapid, rocky, very
crooked, much divided by islands, and shallow, now becomes
more direct in its course as it is hemmed in by the hills,
and has not so many bends nor islands, but becomes more
rapid and rocky, and continues as shallow. On examining
the two branches of the river it was evident that neither
of them was navigable further. The road forked with the
river; and Captain Lewis therefore sent a man up each of
them for a short distance, in order that by comparing their
respective information he might be able to take that which
seemed to have been most used this spring. From their account
he resolved to choose that which led along the southwest
branch of the river which was rather the smaller of the
two: he accordingly wrote a note to captain Clarke informing
him of the route, and recommending his staying with the
party at the forks till he should return: This he fixed
on a dry willow pole at the forks of the river, and then
proceeded up the southwest branch; but after going a mile
and a half the road became scarcely distinguishable, and
the tracks of the horses which he had followed along the
Jefferson were no longer seen. Captain Lewis therefore returned
to examine the other road himself, and found that the horses
had in fact passed along the western or right fork which
had the additional recommendation of being larger than the
other.
This road he concluded to take, and therefore sent back
Drewyer to the forks with a second letter to captain Clarke
apprising him of the change, and then proceeded on. The
valley of the west fork through which he now passed, bears
a little to the north of west, and is confined within the
space of about a mile in width, by rough mountains and steep
cliffs of rock. At the distance of four and a half miles
it opens into a beautiful and extensive plain about ten
miles long and five or six in width: this is surrounded
on all sides by higher rolling or waving country, intersected
by several little rivulets from the mountains, each bordered
by its wide meadows. The whole prospect is bounded by these
mountains, which nearly surround it, so as to form a beautiful
cove about sixteen or eighteen miles in diameter. On entering
this cove the river bends to the northwest, and bathes the
foot of the hills to the right. At this place they halted
for the night on the right side of the river, and having
lighted a fire of dry willow brush, the only fuel which
the country affords, supped on a deer. They had traveled
to-day thirty miles by estimate: that is ten to the Rattlesnake
cliff, fifteen to the forks of Jefferson river, and five
to their encampment. In this cove some parts of the low
grounds are tolerably fertile, but much the greater proportion
is covered with prickly pear, sedge, twisted grass, the
pulpy-leafed thorn, southern-wood, and wild sage, and like
the uplands have a very inferior soil. These last have little
more than the prickly pear and the twisted or bearded grass,
nor are there in the whole cove more than three or four
cottonwood trees, and those are small.
At
the apparent extremity of the bottom above, and about ten
miles to the westward, are two perpendicular cliffs rising
to a considerable height on each side of the river, and
at this distance seem like a gate. In the meantime we proceeded
at sunrise, and found the river not so rapid as yesterday,
though more narrow and still very crooked, and so shallow
that we were obliged to drag the canoes over many ripples
in the course of the day. At six and a half miles we had
passed eight bends on the north, and two small bayous on
the left, and came to what the Indians call the Beaver's-head,
a steep rocky cliff about one hundred and fifty feet high,
near the right side of the river. Opposite to this at three
hundred yards from the water is a low cliff about fifty
feet in height, which forms the extremity of a spur of the
mountain about four miles distant on the left. At four o'clock
we were overtaken by a heavy shower of rain, attended with
thunder, lightning and hail. The party were defended from
the hail by covering themselves with willow bushes, but
they got completely wet, and in this situation, as soon
as the rain ceased, continued till we encamped. This we
did at a low bluff on the left, after passing in the course
of six and a half miles, four islands and eighteen bends
on the right, and a low bluff and several bayous on the
same side. We had now come thirteen miles, yet were only
four on our route towards the mountains. The game seems
to be declining, for our hunters procured only a single
deer, though we found another for us that had been killed
three days before by one of the hunters during an excursion,
and left for us on the river.
August
11, 1805
Sunday, August
11. Captain Lewis again proceeded on early, but had the
mortification to find that the track which he followed yesterday
soon disappeared. He determined therefore to go on to the
narrow gate or pass of the river which he had seen from
the camp, in hopes of being able to recover the Indian path.
For this purpose he waded across the river, which was now
about twelve yards wide, and barred in several places by
the dams of the beaver, and then went straight forward to
the pass, sending one man along the river to his left, and
another on the right, with orders to search for the road,
and if they found it to let him know by raising a hat on
the muzzle of their guns. In this order they went along
for about five miles, when Captain Lewis perceived with
the greatest delight a man on horseback at the distance
of two miles coming down the plain towards them.
On
examining him with the glass, Captain Lewis saw that he
was of a different nation from any Indians we had hitherto
met: he was armed with a bow and a quiver of arrows; mounted
on an elegant horse without a saddle, and a small string
attached to the under jaw answered as a bridle. Convinced
that he was a Shoshone, and knowing how much of our success
depended on the friendly offices of that nation, Captain
Lewis was full of anxiety to approach without alarming him,
and endeavor to convince him that he was a white man. He
therefore, proceeded on towards the Indian at his usual
pace, when they were within a mile of each other the Indian
suddenly stopped, Captain Lewis immediately followed his
example, took his blanket from his knapsack, and holding
it with both hands at the two corners, threw it above his
head and unfolded it as he brought it to the ground as if
in the act of spreading it. This signal which originates
in the practice of spreading a robe or a skin, as a seat
for guests to whom they wish to show a distinguished kindness,
is the universal sign of friendship among the Indians on
the Missouri and the Rocky mountains. As usual, Captain
Lewis repeated this signal three times: still the Indian
kept his position, and looked with an air of suspicion on
Drewyer and Shields who were now advancing on each side.
Captain Lewis was afraid to make any signal for them to
halt, lest he should increase the suspicions of the Indian,
who began to be uneasy, and they too distant to hear his
voice. He, therefore, took from his pack some beads, a looking-glass
and a few trinkets, which he had brought for the purpose,
and leaving his gun advanced unarmed towards the Indian.
He remained in the same position till Captain Lewis came
within two hundred yards of him, when he turned his horse,
and began to move off slowly; Captain Lewis then called
out to him, in as loud a voice as he could, repeating the
word, tabba bone! which in the Shoshone language means white
man; but looking over his shoulder the Indian kept his eyes
on Drewyer and Shields, who were still advancing, without
recollecting the impropriety of doing so at such a moment,
till Captain Lewis made a signal [356]to them to halt; this
Drewyer obeyed, but Shields did not observe it, and still
went forward: seeing Drewyer halt the Indian turned his
horse about as if to wait for Captain Lewis who now reached
within one hundred and fifty paces, repeating the word tabba
bone, and holding up the trinkets in his hand, at the same
time stripping up the sleeve of his shirt to show the color
of his skin. The Indian suffered him to advance within one
hundred paces, then suddenly turned his horse, and giving
him the whip, leaped across the creek, and disappeared in
an instant among the willow bushes: with him vanished all
the hopes which the sight of him had inspired of a friendly
introduction to his countrymen.
Though
sadly disappointed by the imprudence of his two men, Captain
Lewis determined to make the incident of some use, and therefore
calling the men to him they all set off after the track
of the horse, which they hoped might lead them to the camp
of the Indian who had fled, or if he had given the alarm
to any small party, their track might conduct them to the
body of the nation. They now fixed a small flag of the United
States on a pole, which was carried by one of the men as
a signal of their friendly intentions, should the Indians
observe them as they were advancing. The route lay across
an island formed by a nearly equal division of the creek
in the bottom: after reaching the open grounds on the right
side of the creek, the track turned towards some high hills
about three miles distant. Presuming that the Indian camp
might be among these hills, and that by advancing hastily
he might be seen and alarm them, Captain Lewis sought an
elevated situation near the creek, had a fire made of willow
brush, and took breakfast. At the same time he prepared
a small assortment of beads, trinkets, awls, some paint
and a looking glass, and placed them on a pole near the
fire, in order that if the Indians returned they might discover
that the party were white men and friends.
Whilst
making these preparations a very heavy shower of rain and
hail came on, and wet them to the skin: in about twenty
minutes it was over, and Captain Lewis then renewed his
pursuit, but as the rain had made the grass which the horse
had trodden down rise again, his track could with difficulty
be distinguished. As they went along they passed several
places where the Indians seemed to have been digging roots
to-day, and saw the fresh track of eight or ten horses,
but they had been wandering about in so confused a manner
that he could not discern any particular path, and at last,
after pursuing it about four miles along the valley to the
left under the foot of the hills, he lost the track of the
fugitive Indian. Near the head of the valley they had passed
a large bog covered with moss and tall grass, among which
were several springs of pure cold water: they now turned
a little to the left along the foot of the high hills, and
reached a small creek where they encamped for the night,
having made about twenty miles, though not more than ten
in a direct line from their camp of last evening.
The morning being rainy and wet we did not set out with
the canoes till after an early breakfast. During the first
three miles we passed three small islands, six bayous on
different sides of the river, and the same number of bends
towards the right. Here we reached the lower point of a
large island which we called Three-thousand-mile island,
on account of its being at that distance from the mouth
of the Missouri. It is three miles and a half in length,
and as we coasted along it we passed several small bends
of the river towards the left, and two bayous on the same
side. After leaving the upper point of Three-thousand-mile
island, we followed the main channel on the left side, which
led us by three small islands and several small bayous,
and fifteen bends towards the right. Then at the distance
of seven miles and a half we encamped on the upper end of
a large island near the right. The river was shallow and
rapid, so that we were obliged to be in the water during
a great part of the day, dragging the canoes over the shoals
and ripples. Its course too was so crooked, that notwithstanding
we had made fourteen miles by water, we were only five miles
from our encampment of last night. The country consists
of a low ground on the river about five miles wide, and
succeeded on both sides by plains of the same extent which
reach to the base of the mountains. These low grounds are
very much intersected by bayous, and in those on the left
side is a large proportion of bog covered with tall grass,
which would yield a fine turf. There are very few trees,
and those small narrow-leafed cottonwood: the principal
growth being the narrow-leafed willow, and currant bushes,
among which were some bunches of privy near the river. We
saw a number of geese, ducks, beaver, otter, deer and antelopes,
of all which one beaver was killed with a pole from the
boat, three otters with a tomahawk, and the hunters brought
in three deer and an antelope.
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