The Journals
of Lewis and Clark: Dates May 1, 1805 - May 4, 1805
The following
excerpts are taken from entries of the Journals of Lewis
and Clark. Dates: May 1, 1805 - May 4, 1805
May 1, 1805
Wednesday, May 1. The wind was in our favor and we were
enabled to use the sails till twelve o'clock, when the wind
became so high and squally that we were forced to come to
at the distance of ten miles on the south, in a low ground
stocked with cottonwood, and remain there during the day;
one of the canoes being separated from us, and not able
to cross over in consequence of the high waves. The country
around is more pleasant than that through which we had passed
for several days, the hills being lower, the low grounds
wider and better supplied with timber, which consists principally
of cottonwood: the undergrowth willow on the banks and sandbars,
rosebushes, redwillow, and the broad-leafed willow in the
low plains, while the high country on both sides is one
extensive plain without wood, though the soil is a dark,
rich, mellow loam. Our hunters killed a buffalo, an elk,
a goat, and two beaver, and also a bird of the plover kind.
May 2,
1805
Thursday, 2d.
The wind continued high during the night, and at daylight
it began to snow and did not stop till ten o'clock, when
the ground was covered an inch deep, forming a striking
contrast with the vegetation which is now considerably advanced;
some flowers having put forth, and the cottonwood leaves
as large as a dollar. The wind lulled about five o'clock
in the afternoon, and we then proceeded along wide fertile
low grounds and high level plains, and encamped at the distance
of four miles. Our game to-day was deer, elk, and buffalo:
we also procured three beaver who are quite gentle, as they
have not been hunted, but when the hunters are in pursuit
they never leave their huts during the day: this animal
we esteem a great delicacy, particularly the tail, which
when boiled resembles in flavor the flesh tongues and sounds
of the codfish, and is generally so large as to afford a
plentiful meal for two men. One of the hunters in passing
near an old Indian camp found several yards of scarlet cloth,
suspended on the bough of a tree as a sacrifice to the deity
by the Assiniboines: the custom of making these offerings
being common among that people as indeed among all the Indians
on the Missouri. The air was sharp this evening; the water
froze on the oars as we rowed, and in the morning.
May 3,
1805
Friday, 3d, the
weather became quite cold, the ice was a quarter of an inch
thick in the kettle, and the snow still continued on the
hills though it has melted from the plains. The wind too
continued high from the west, but not so violently as to
prevent our going on. At two miles from our encampment we
passed a curious collection of bushes about thirty feet
high and ten or twelve in diameter, tied in the form of
a fascine and standing on end in the middle of the low ground:
this too we supposed to have been left by the Indians as
a religious sacrifice: at twelve o'clock the usual hour
we halted for dinner. The low grounds on the river are much
wider than common, sometimes extending from five to nine
miles to the highlands, which are much lower than heretofore,
not being more than fifty or sixty feet above the lower
plain: through all this valley traces of the ancient bed
of the river are every where visible, and since the hills
have become lower, the strata's of coal, burnt earth, and
pumice stone have in a great measure ceased, there being
in fact none to-day.
At
the distance of fourteen miles we reached the mouth of a
river on the north, which from the unusual number of porcupines
near it, we called Porcupine river. This is a bold and beautiful
stream one hundred and twelve yards wide, though the water
is only forty yards at its entrance: captain Clarke who
ascended it several miles and passed it above where it enters
the highlands, found it continued nearly of the same width
and about knee deep, and as far as he could distinguish
for twenty miles from the hills, its course was from a little
to the east of north. There was much timber on the low grounds:
he found some limestone also on the surface of the earth
in the course of his walk, and saw a range of low mountains
at a distance to the west of north, whose direction was
northwest; the adjoining country being every where level,
fertile, open, and exceedingly beautiful. The water of this
river is transparent, and is the only one that is so of
all those that fall into the Missouri: before entering a
large sandbar through which it discharges itself, its low
grounds are formed of a stiff blue and black clay, and its
banks which are from eight to ten feet high and seldom if
ever overflow are composed of the same materials. From the
quantity of water which this river contains, its direction,
and the nature of the country through which it passes, it
is not improbable that its sources may be near the main
body of the Saskaskawan, and as in high water it can be
no doubt navigated to a considerable distance, it may be
rendered the means of intercourse with the Athabasky country,
from which the northwest company derive so many of their
valuable furs.
A quarter of a mile beyond this river a creek falls in on
the south, to which on account of its distance from the
mouth of the Missouri, we gave it the name of Two-thousand
mile creek: it is a bold stream with a bed thirty yards
wide. Three miles and a half above Porcupine river, we reached
some high timber on the north, and encamped just above an
[205]old channel of the river, which is now dry. We saw
vast quantities of buffalo, elk, deer, principally of the
long tailed kind, antelopes, beaver, geese, ducks, brant,
and some swan. The porcupines too are numerous, and so careless
and clumsy that we can approach very near without disturbing
them as they are feeding on the young willows; towards evening
we also found for the first time, the nest of a goose among
some driftwood, all that we have hitherto seen being on
the top of a broken tree on the forks, and invariably from
fifteen to twenty feet or more in height.
May 4,
1805
Saturday 4. We
were detained till nine in order to repair the rudder of
one of the boats, and when we set out the wind was ahead;
at six and a half miles we passed a small creek in a deep
bend on the south with a sand island opposite to it, and
then passing along an extensive plain which gradually rises
from the north side of the river, encamped at the distance
of eighteen miles in a point of woodland on the north: the
river is this day wider than usual, and crowded with sandbars
on all sides: the country is level, fertile, and beautiful,
the low grounds extensive and contain a much greater portion
of timber than is common: indeed all the forepart of the
day the river was bordered with timber on both sides, a
circumstance very rare on the Missouri, and the first that
has occurred since we left the Mandans. There are as usual
vast quantities of game, and extremely gentle; the male
buffalo particularly will scarcely give way to us, and as
we approach will merely look at us for a moment, as something
new, and then quietly resume their feeding. In the course
of the day we passed some old Indian hunting camps, one
of which consisted of two large lodges fortified with a
circular fence, twenty or thirty feet in diameter, and made
of timber laid horizontally, the beams overlaying each other
to the height of five feet, and covered with the trunks
and limbs of trees that have drifted down the river: the
lodges themselves are formed by three or more strong sticks
about the size of a man's leg or arm, and twelve feet long,
[206]which are attached at the top by a whith of small willows,
and spreading out so as to form at the base a circle of
ten or fourteen feet in diameter: against these are placed
pieces of driftwood and fallen timber, usually in three
ranges one on the other, and the interstices are covered
with leaves, bark, and straw, so as to form a conical figure
about ten feet high, with a small aperture in one side for
the door. It is, however, at best a very imperfect shelter
against the inclemencies of the seasons.
Next Journal
Entry
|