|
The Journals
of Lewis and Clark: Dates October 14, 1804 - October 18,
1804
The following
excerpts are taken from entries of the Journals of Lewis
and Clark. Dates: October 14, 1804 - October 18, 1804
October 14,
1804
Sunday, 14th. We set out in the rain which continued during
the day. At five miles we came to a creek on the south,
about fifteen yards wide, and named by us Piaheto or Eagle's
Feather, in honor of the third chief of the Ricaras. After
dinner we stopped on a sandbar, and executed the sentence
of a court martial which inflicted corporal punishment on
one of the soldiers. This operation affected the Indian
chief very sensibly, for he cried aloud during the punishment:
we explained the offence and the reasons of it. He acknowledged
that examples were necessary, and that he himself had given
them by punishing with death; but his nation never whipped
even children from their birth. After this we continued
with the wind from the northeast, and at the distance of
twelve miles, encamped in a cove of the southern bank. Immediately
opposite our camp on the north side are the ruins of an
ancient fortification, the greater part of which is washed
into the river: nor could we distinguish more than that
the walls were eight or ten feet high. The evening is wet
and disagreeable, and the river which is somewhat wider
than yesterday, continues to have an unusual quantity of
timber. The country was level on both sides in the morning,
but afterwards we passed some black bluffs on the south.
October
15, 1804
Monday, 15th.
We stopped at three miles on the north a little above a
camp of Ricaras who are hunting, where we were visited by
about thirty Indians. They came over in their skin canoes,
bringing us meat, for which we returned them beads and fishhooks.
About a mile higher we found another encampment of Ricaras
on the south, consisting of eight lodges: here we again
ate and exchanged a few presents. As we went we discerned
numbers of other Indians on both sides of the river; and
at about nine miles we came to a creek on the south, where
we saw many high hills resembling a house with a slanting
roof; and a little below the creek an old village of the
Sharha or Chayenne Indians. The morning had been cloudy,
but the evening became pleasant, the wind from the northeast,
and at sunset we halted, after coming ten miles over several
sandbars and points, above a camp of ten Ricara lodges on
the north side. We visited their camp, and smoked and eat
with several of them; they all appeared kind and pleased
with our attentions, and the fair sex received our men with
more than hospitality. York was here again an object of
astonishment; the children would follow him constantly,
and if he chanced to turn towards them, run with great terror.
The country of to-day is generally low and covered with
timber on both sides, though in the morning we passed some
barren hills on the south.
October
16, 1804
Tuesday, 16th.
At this camp the squaw who accompanied the chief left us;
two others were very anxious to go on with us. Just above
our camp we passed a circular work or fort where the Sharha
or Chayennes formerly lived: and a short distance beyond,
a creek which we called Chayenne creek. At two miles is
a willow island with a large sandbar on both sides above
it, and a creek, both on the south, which we called Sohaweh,
the Ricara name for girl; and two miles above a second creek,
to which we gave the name of Chapawt, which means woman
in the same language. Three miles further is an island situated
in a bend to the north, about a mile and a half long, and
covered with cottonwood. At the lower end of this island
[110]comes in a small creek from the north, called Keetooshsahawna
or Place of Beaver. At the upper extremity of the island
a river empties itself from the north: it is called Warreconne,
or Elk Shed their Horns, and is about thirty-five yards
wide: the island itself is named Carp island by Evans, a
former traveler. As we proceeded there were great numbers
of goats on the banks of the river, and we soon after saw
large flocks of them in the water: they had been gradually
driven into the river by the Indians who now lined the shore
so as to prevent their escape, and were firing on them,
while sometimes boys went into the river and killed them
with sticks: they seemed to be very successful, for we counted
fifty-eight which they had killed. We ourselves killed some,
and then passing the lodges to which these Indians belonged,
encamped at the distance of half a mile on the south, having
made fourteen and a half miles. We were soon visited by
numbers of these Ricaras, who crossed the river hallooing
and singing: two of them then returned for some goats' flesh
and buffalo meat dried and fresh, with which they made a
feast that lasted till late at night, and caused much music
and merriment.
October
17, 1804
Wednesday 17th.
The weather was pleasant: we passed a low ground covered
with small timber on the south, and barren hills on the
north which come close to the river; the wind from the northwest
then become so strong that we could not move after ten o'clock,
until late in the afternoon, when we were forced to use
the towline, and we therefore made only six miles. We all
went out hunting and examining the country. The goats, of
which we see large flocks coming to the north bank of the
river, spend the summer, says Mr. Gravelines, in the plains
east of the Missouri, and at the present season are returning
to the Black mountains, where they subsist on leaves and
shrubbery during the winter, and resume their migrations
in the spring. We also saw buffalo, elk, and deer, and a
number of snakes; a beaver house too was seen, and we caught
a whippoorwill of a small and uncommon [111]kind: the leaves
are fast falling; the river wider than usual and full of
sandbars: and on the sides of the hills are large stones,
and some rock of a brownish color in the southern bend below
us. Our latitude by observation was 46° 23' 57".
October
18, 1804
Thursday 18. After
three miles we reached the mouth of Le Boulet or Cannonball
river: this stream rises in the Black mountains, and falls
into the Missouri on the south; its channel is about one
hundred and forty yards wide, though the water is now confined
within forty, and its name is derived from the numbers of
perfectly round large stones on the shore and in the bluffs
just above. We here met with two Frenchmen in the employ
of Mr. Gravelines, who had been robbed by the Mandans of
their traps, furs, and other articles, and were descending
the river in a pirogue, but they turned back with us in
expectation of obtaining redress through our means. At eight
miles is a creek on the north, about twenty-eight yards
wide, rising in the northeast, and called Chewah or Fish
river; one mile above this is another creek on the south:
we encamped on a sandbar to the south, at the distance of
thirteen miles, all of which we had made with oars and poles.
Great numbers of goats are crossing the river and directing
their course to the westward; we also saw a herd of buffalo
and of elk; a pelican too was killed, and six fallow deer,
having found, as the Ricaras informed us, that there are
none of the black-tail species as high up as this place.
The country is in general level and fine, with broken short
high grounds, low timbered mounds on the river, and a rugged
range of hills at a distance.
Next
Journal Entry
|
