Clark: August 3, 1806

Tuesday, August 3rd, 1806. Last night the mosquitoes were so troublesome that no one in the party slept half the night. For my part, I did not sleep one hour. Those tormenting insects found their way into my bier and tormented me the whole night. They are no less numerous or troublesome this morning. At 2 miles we passed the entrance of Jo. Field's Creek, 35 yards wide, immediately above a high bluff which is falling into the river very fast. On the side of this bluff I saw some of the Mountain Bighorn animals. I ascended the hill below the bluff. The mosquitoes were so numerous that I could not shoot with any certainty, and therefore soon returned to the canoes. I had not proceeded far before I saw a large group of ewes, yearlings, and fawns or lambs of the bighorn, and at a distance, alone, I saw a ram. I landed and sent Labeech to kill the ram, which he did, and brought him on board. This ram is not nearly as large as many I have seen; however, he is sufficiently large for a sample. I directed Bratten to skin him, leaving the head, horns, and feet attached to the skin, and to save all the bones. I now have the skin and bones of a ram, a ewe, and a yearling ram of those bighorn animals. At 8 A.M. I arrived at the junction of the Rochejhone (Yellowstone) with the Missouri, and formed my camp immediately on the point between the two rivers, at the place where the party had all camped on the 26th of April, 1805. At landing, I observed several elk feeding on the young willows on the point, among which was a large buck elk, which I shot and had his flesh dried in the sun as a store for the trip down the river. I had the canoes unloaded and every article spread out to dry in the sun. Many of our things were wet, and nearly all the store of meat that had been killed above had spoiled. I ordered it to be thrown into the river. Several skins are also spoiled, which is a loss, as they are our principal dependence for clothes to last us to our homes, etc.

The distance from the Rocky Mountains, at the place where I struck the River Rochejhone, to its entrance into the Missouri is 837 miles. 636 miles of this distance I descended in 2 small canoes lashed together, in which I had the following persons: John Shields, George Gibson, William Bratten, W. Labeech, Toussaint Charbonneau (Toust. Shabono), his wife and child, and my man York. The Rochejhone or Yellowstone river is large and navigable, with but few obstructions, quite into the Rocky Mountains, and probably near its source. The country through which it passes from those mountains to its junction is generally fertile, rich, open plains. The upper portion is rolling, and the high hills and hillsides are partially covered with pine and are stony. In the middle portion, from the entrance of Clark's Fork as low as the Buffalow Shoals (Buffalo Shoals), the high lands contain some scattered pine on the larboard side. On the starboard or southeast side are some hills thickly supplied with pine. In the lower portion of the river, but few pines are to be seen; the country opens into extensive plains, and the river widens and contains more islands and bars of coarse gravel, sand, and mud. The current of this river may be estimated at 4 1/2 miles per hour from the Rocky Mountains as low as Clark's Fork; at 3 1/2 miles per hour from there as low as the Bighorn; at 3 miles per hour from there as low as the Tongue River; at 2 3/4 miles per hour from there as low as Wolf Rapid; and at 2 1/2 miles per hour from there to its entrance into the Missouri.

The color of the water differs from that of the Missouri, being of a yellowish brown, while that of the Missouri is of a deep drab color, containing a greater portion of mud than the Rochejhone. This delightful river, according to Indian information, has its extreme sources with the North river in the Rocky Mountains on the borders of New Mexico. It also most probably has its westerly sources connected with the Multnomah and with the main southerly branch of Lewis's river, while its easterly branches head with those of Clark's River, the Bighorn, and the River Platte, and may be said to water the middle portion of the Rocky Mountains from northwest to southeast for several hundred miles. The Indians inform us that a good road passes up this river to its extreme source, from which it is but a short distance to the Spanish settlements. There is also a considerable fall on this river within the mountains, but at what distance from its source we could never learn. Like all other branches of the Missouri which penetrate the Rocky Mountains, all that portion of it lying within those mountains abounds in fine beaver and otter. Its streams, which issue from the Rocky Mountains and discharge themselves above Clark's Fork inclusive, also furnish an abundance of beaver and otter, and possess considerable amounts of small timber in their valleys. To an establishment on this river at Clark's Fork, the Shoshones, both within and west of the Rocky Mountains, would willingly resort for the purposes of trade, as they would in a great measure be relieved from the fear of being attacked by their enemies, the Blackfoot Indians and Minnetares of Fort de Prairie, which would most probably happen were they to visit any establishment that could be conveniently formed on the Missouri. I have no doubt that the same regard for personal safety would also induce many numerous nations inhabiting the Columbia and Lewis's river west of the mountains to visit this establishment in preference to one at the entrance of Maria's river, particularly during the first years of those western establishments. The Crow Indians, Paunch Indians, Castahanahs, and others east of the mountains and south of this place would also visit this establishment; it may therefore be looked to as one of the most important establishments of the western fur trade. At the entrance of Clark's Fork there is a sufficiency of timber to support an establishment, an advantage that no position possesses from there to the Rocky Mountains. The banks of the Yellowstone river are bold and not very high, yet are not subject to being overflowed, except for a few miles immediately below where the river issues from the mountain. The bed of this river is almost entirely composed of loose pebbles, nor is its bed interrupted by chains of rock except in one place, and even that furnishes no considerable obstruction to its navigation. As you descend with the river from the mountain, the pebbles become smaller and the quantity of mud increases until you reach Tongue river, where the pebble ceases and the sand then increases and predominates near its mouth. This river can be navigated to greater advantage in pirogues than any other craft, yet it possesses sufficient depth of water for batteaux even to the mountains; nor are there any of those moving sand bars so formidable to the navigation of many parts of the Missouri. The Bighorn river and Clark's Fork may be navigated a considerable distance in pirogues and canoes. Tongue river is also navigable for canoes a considerable distance.